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The Museum came about because of the love of wireless sets of its founder, the late Jim MacDonald. During his lifetime he gathered together an extensive and varied collection of domestic and defence wireless electronic equipment. This was originally housed in a building in St Margarets Hope on South Ronaldsay and was called "An Orkney Wireless Museum". In 1997, the collection moved to its present premises in Kirkwall, close to the Harbour, and is privately run by a registered charitable Trust and staffed by unpaid volunteers and enthusiasts. The Founder James MacDonald (1927 - 1988) was born and brought up on South Ronaldsay. He was locally educated and served his apprenticeship as an electrician and radio repairman. During his boyhood, wireless was rapidly developing and he started to gather old, interesting sets which were becoming redundant. This became the nucleus for his collection which includes such rare and interesting examples as "Kit Sets" and the very, very expensive models by such famous names as Marconi, Cossor, MacMichael, K.B., Lowe and Amplion. With the outbreak of war in 1939, he was listed as in a reserved occupation, and worked for the War Office as a civilian in the great Naval Base at Lyness. He was also employed at other RAF sites such as Netherbutton, with one of the world's first active operational Radar installations. (This was actually the prototype, modified, which was shipped from England, as the one being built for Orkney was not nearly ready. When Orkney's was finished, it was sent to Dover where it was to play such a vital role in the Battle of Britain) When the War ended, Jim set to work acquiring and squirrelling away as many examples of this technology as he could, remembering that much was still classified as Top Secret. Another hurdle was the deliberate destruction of equipment to prevent flooding the market with surplus goods as had happened after the First World War. The result of his endeavours is here. Certainly there are some gaps, but these are the real thing. This equipment played a vital part in the Battle of the North Atlantic and North Sea. It has all seen active service. The Museum story so far. In 1984, Jim was persuaded to display his collection in what he called "An Orkney Wireless Museum" in the family home in South Ronaldsay. He eagerly looked forward to his retirement, hoping to have time to develop his collection but cancer was to rob him of his dream. During his remaining days he talked over his plans with his family and indicated his wishes for his Museum. He died in 1988. Conforming to his wishes, a registered family Trust was set up, in June 1990, to run the Museum. In 1994, the Museum was admitted as a member of the Museums and Galleries Commission of Great Britain and also was awarded a Certificate from the Royal Naval Amateur RAdio Society "For work in collecting, preserving and displaying the radio and electronic heritage of Scapa Flow and the Orkney Isles" In 1997, the collection moved to it's present premises which allowed a greater amount of examples to be displayed. During it's lifetime, the Museum has recieved generous donations from the many friends which it has gained. It has been granted a unique Amateur Radio call sign - GB2 OWM which is activated at every suitable opportunity, for example during the Orkney Science Festival every September, when worldwide contacts are made and QSL cards are exchanged with the stations contacted. There is a Society of "The Friends of the Orkney Wireless Museum" who come from all over the world. Their prime aim is to help raise funds to keep the Museum viable. The local branch organises a team of volunteers to man the Museum every day of the sreason, from April to September. In fact Orkney Wireless Museum is run on an entirely voluntary basis with noone in any way connected with it's running being paid. It is a charity in every sense of the word and welcomes help in any form.
An easy to read, useful broadcast directory which is highly portable and of high quality, aimed at members within the Broadcast Community within the British Isles & Rest of the World. Studios from around the country are listed. The yearbook and website are in their second year and continuing to offer the latest information - with a user friendly search which returns relevant results. With technology moving in leaps and bounds the new ringtones available on many websites sound like the real artist is playing the track. There are called polyphonic ringtones and sound a great deal better than the old plink plonk type of ring tone which now belongs in a museum, perhaps our museum ! Technology has moved on substantially since the days of the wireless and many other communication methods are now available. Examples of these include 0845 numbers , DAB digital radio, mobile phones, internet, email, the list is endless with many more advancements undoubtedly held in the future. The technology of radio broadcast was also adopted for the broadcast of TV programs. Radios have been very successful for sound whereas TVs have been successful for pictures. These days most people have LCD TVs and plasma TVs and spend several hours a day viewing them.TVs and Radios provide excellent entertainment if traveling or at home. The steady advance in telecommunication technology has dramatically reduced the cost of making long distance phone calls. With recent advances such as VoIP and pc-to-phone, it is now possible to make cheap international calls from any location. Advances in communication technology such as the INTERNET and mobile phones have changed our lives forever. Now it is possible and affordable to make cheap calls from any country. However, the new real hot thing in mobile telecom is iphone apps and other mobile apps. This industry is growing extremely fast. This page has some links to d free applications and some pretty good reviews of some hot free applications.The site is definitely worth checking out if you are also on the apps wave.. From time to time the Orkney Wireless Radio Museum has evening audio and visual showings of sound bites and presentations about the technology behind the wireless radio. Of course with modern Essex IT Support and computer systems being in the here and now The Orkney Museum strives to provide a combination of old and new technology for all shows to be entertaining for a wide range of age groups. Since the invention of electricity, we have seen a plethora of electronic items. Another fantastic electronic product is the lava lamp, invented back in 1963. All lava lamps these days are manufactured in china, but without Englishman Edward Craven Walker inventing this beautiful electronic item, we'd be without this rectro masterpiece. from first transmiting radio waves took place a lot has changed in the world. Most things are now wifi. Take mobiles, some of the best wifi phones are available on contracts from only a tenner. These have the ability to connect to any wifi connection. If the old time radio users could see todays tech news they would be exhilarated! Site updated 2009 |
