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07 Feb 2014

Cambridge Wireless celebrates 100 Years of Radio Communications

Cambridge Wireless (CW) celebrated ‘100 Years or Radio’ at yesterday’s inaugural event of the CW Wireless Heritage Special Interest Group. Starting from 1914 with the outbreak of WW1, leading industry experts and history enthusiasts tracked the emergence of radio and its development through to contemporary mobile broadband networks, while also looking at the lessons that can be learnt from advances across the last century.

Politicians were very much aware that the battle for the hearts and minds of Britain would play a key part in the military engagement of 1914 and used early radio technology to broadcast music and motivational speeches across the country as well as to fleets of ships, in an early attempt at propaganda. 100 years on, radio technology has evolved in ways that could only have been dreamt of and has had a major impact socially, politically and economically.

Speakers at the Cambridge Wireless event also presented a fascinating array of radios from their personal collections, each denoting a significant moment in technology and radio innovation, right up to the today’s advanced Smartphones.
Moving on from WW1, Geoff Varrall, Director of RTT Online and Wireless Heritage SIG champion referenced the controversial book, ‘The Origins of the Second World War,’ in which WW2 was dubbed the ‘wireless war’. In his book, historian A.J.P. Taylor argues that WW2 was not caused by Hitler but was the result of a combination of factors including the rapid growth of broadcasting technology.

“New high-gain, low-capacitance EF50 glass valves made by NV Philips of Holland produced televisions that worked in areas with weak reception,” said Geoff Varrall. “This valve was subsequently used in radar products and two way radio systems including  the WS19 Pye dual band short wave/VHF radio set sometimes described as ‘the radio that won the war’.”

Double-decade eras between the Second World War to the early 90s delved into the National Communication Radio System, TV broadcasting, Sony’s release of the world’s first ever low-cost pocket radio, the birth of WiFi, and the role of radio in consumer electronics and cellular services.

Andy Sutton, Principal Network Architect at EE closed the event with a focus on the here and now. Highlighting the changes as well as the similarities that radio and wireless technologies possess in today’s ‘Smart’ society, Andy engaged the audience with the concept of the mobile broadband revolution.

The Wireless Heritage SIG is championed by key figures within the wireless industry: Stirling Essex of Espansivo, Steve Haseldine of Deaf Alerter, Andy Sutton of EE, Geoff Varrall of RTT Online and Nigel Wall of Climate Associates.

The Wireless Heritage SIG was established to address how the past has the ability to inform the future and followed previous successful Cambridge Wireless events such as ‘May Day, May Day’ and ‘Cellular 25’ that have focused on  the history of radio technology.

CW is grateful to Taylor Vinters for sponsoring and hosting this event. To find out more about the CW Wireless Heritage SIG, please visit www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/sigs/heritage

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