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Canada Celebrates Marconi Experimental Station XWA
By Ghyslain Gagnon, Denis Couillard, David Bart
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On December 17, 2021 in Montréal, the École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) – Université du Quebec together with Ultra-Montreal marked the completion of an important end-of-study project aimed at commemorating the centenary of the first commercial radio broadcasts in Canada. Matthieu Dugal, from the SRC/CBC radio show Moteur de recherche, hosted a panel discussion at ÉTS on the future of telecommunications. The panel was also broadcasted live on the radio and internet from a special event station XWA-1 as part of a graduation project aimed at replicating the technical feat achieved by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada 100 years ago.
COMMEMORATIVE EVENT
Denis Couillard from Ultra Communications (formerly known as the Canadian Marconi Company) and Ghyslain Gagnon from ÉTS Montreal coordinated activities. Parks Canada canceled their participation, including a guest appearance from a government minister, the night before the event due to rapidly rising COVID-Omicron cases across Canada in the first weeks of December. ÉTS, Ultra and their other partners regrouped that same night and went forward with the event. The group wanted to recognize completion of the student project that started two years earlier, and wanted to allow engineers and radio-enthusiasts to commemorate the December 1919 broadcast programs of XWA. Event activities were located just a few hundred feet from the actual site of the Marconi station’s December 1919 regular test broadcasts.
Special event temporary exhibit featuring posters and radio artifacts (operational vintage AM receivers from 1930s to 1970s and a military grade RF diplexer). (Courtesy ÉTS)
THE PROJECT
ÉTS trains 25% of all Québec engineers and ranks second in Canada for the number of undergraduate degrees granted in engineering. In late 2019, Ultra and ÉTS initiated the student project together with Carleton University and support from Communications Research Center Canada (CRC), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), La Société Radio-Canada (SRC i.e. the French language CBC). The ambitious project, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of radio broadcasting in Canada, mobilized six teams of senior engineering students over two years to design, build,
A 1918 Gramophone supplied by Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner played 1918-20 records to provide ambiance and also music for the XWA-1 RF and IP broadcast. (Courtesy ÉTS)
ÉTS Dean of research Ghyslain Gagnon presenting the Ultra-ÉTS student project with a short video clip featuring, among others, Ultra’s Director of Solution Development Denis Couillard. (Courtesy ÉTS)
Ultra-ÉTS student project video presentation from junior Engineer Slam Layouni. (Courtesy ÉTS)
Video clip showing junior Engineer Alexandre Péllerin in front of the 5m antenna his team calibrated for the project’s AM transmitter. (Courtesy ÉTS) test and deploy a 99W AM radio broadcast transmitter in downtown Montreal. December 17, 2021 marked the completion of this unique project; which showed how resourceful, highly motivated students could undertake and successfully complete a very demanding engineering project, despite severe interruptions, obstructions and constraints imposed by the COVID crisis. Several ÉTS and Ultra engineers and technicians directly supported this effort which culminated in the radio and IP broadcast of the project on XWA-1, an AM1350 station conceived and built by students. The XWA-1 station 5m high antenna was installed on the main ÉTS building roof, and the broadcast was received by the vintage AM receivers on-site and distributed live to a larger audience via the Internet streaming system set-up by the students for the event.
THE COMMEMORATION
On December 17, 2021, in commemoration of the December 1919 first, regular, radio broadcast, test programs of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada’s XWA experimental station, a special event station XWA-1 broadcasted music from a 1918 gramophone and held a discussion panel moderated by Matthieu Dugal, a well know SRC/CBC radio host. The well attended Panel was entitled “Telecommunications of the Future” and included the Ultra Director of Solutions Development Denis Couillard, SPARK Systems founder and ÉTS Professor Frédéric Nabki, and ÉTS Professor and National Research Chair Annie Levasseur. Other participants to the celebration included François Gagnon (Director General of ÉTS), Ghyslain Gagnon (Dean of Research at ÉTS), Alain Cohen (President of Ultra Communications), Keith Blanchet (Vice-President Sales & Marketing at Ultra), an Ultra company field technician who had supported the students, and many professors, students, and radio enthusiasts. The event was hosted at ÉTS and included an exhibition of radio technology history and innovations that Ultra and ÉTS had jointly created. The activities were a success and provided everyone a chance to network afterward at a wine and cheese gathering courtesy of the sponsor Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner, a local Montreal Museum dedicated to the protection and interpretation of audio and radio waves heritage.
IEEE MILESTONE
The IEEE has since approved the installation of an IEEE Milestone Plaque, proposed by Ghyslain Gagnon and Denis Couillard. The Milestone process involves a proposal application, research and compilation of supporting documentation, and working with experts to prove and support the merits of the achievement, which are ultimately reviewed and approved by the IEEE board of directors. David Bart on the IEEE History Committee served as the IEEE History Committee Milestone Advocate. Dr. Marc Raboy, Beaverbrook Professor Emeritus in Ethics, Media and Communications Department of Art History and Communication Studies McGill University Montreal, Quebec, Canada was one of the experts. James Kreuzer, the Librarian and Assistant Curator from the Antique Wireless Association, served as the second expert. Both David Bart and Jim Kreuzer are long time members of the Radio Club of America, and they enjoyed this opportunity to support Canadian recognition of Marconi’s achievements. Parks Canada intends to install the plaque later in 2022. The plaque will read: Milestone: Emergence of Radio Broadcasting with Experimental Station XWA, 1919 Location: Montreal, Canada Citation: By December 1919, from this site, licensed experimental station XWA (later named CFCF) was broadcasting regular programs of recorded music and news, helping to establish commercial radio. On 20 May 1920, XWA broadcast a live radio event, reaching an audience assembled in Ottawa, 170 km away. The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada used a 500W YC-3 military transmitter and adapted wireless telephony technology for this achievement. Information: https://ieeemilestones.ethw.org/MilestoneProposal:Emergence_of_public_radiobroadcasting_with_ experimental_station_XWA,_1919
December 17, 2021, panel on the Telecommunications of the Future. (L-R) SPARK Systems founder ÉTS Professor Frédéric Nabki, Ultra Director of Solutions Development Denis Couillard, ÉTS Professor and National Research Chair holder Annie Levasseur and SRC/CBC radio moderator Matthieu Dugal. (Courtesy ÉTS)
MARCONI STATION XWA
This IEEE Milestone commemorates the invention and practical implementation of radiobroadcasting as a viable industry. The early pioneering years are not always well documented, and some achievements were accomplished in similar timeframes in Europe and North America. Montreal and its XWA experimental station played a significant role in defining the new path for radio and creating a new industry. Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada licensed its XWA experimental station at the end of 1914, carryingout radiophone transmission tests as early as March 1919. XWA established regular broadcasting test programming on weeknights in December 1919, broadcasting news, weather, recorded music and live music performances with a 500W transmitter for its Montreal audience. XWA transitioned to permanent programing with a 100 miles range “national” Montreal-Ottawa broadcasting event that captured the Canadian public imagination on May 20, 1920. The pioneering work of MWTCC and XWA engineers led to the establishment of a significant number of commercial French- and English-language radio stations in May 1922 that brought live music, sports, theatre plays, social discussion, and political debates into homes, significantly changing how Canadians consumed information and entertainment. As the industry continued to expand in the 1930s, these commercial stations provided the initial infrastructure for national radio and formed the basis for the public broadcasting system in Canada. Unlike many other commercial stations of the era, XWA conducted various tests and transmissions during World War I since it was granted an experimental station license in late 1914 to help provide technical support and wireless operator training to the Canadian Army and Navy. Owned and operated by the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada (MWTCC), XWA was first located at the company’s Rodney Street factory in Montreal, before relocating in 1918 to the upper floor of the company’s new factory on William Street (Griffintown). XWA experimented with radiophones and explored new commercial applications of the technology as early as March 1919, months before the end of the war (June 28, 1919) and before the formal Canadian government restrictions to nonmilitary use of the airwaves were lifted (April 15, 1919). Starting in spring 1919, XWA engineers conducted numerous AM voice transmission tests over water and land in the Montreal area. Local radio amateurs and ships in the vicinity participated with the tests. Test broadcasts in fall 1919 on a more powerful 500W transmitter including gramophone recordings received an enthusiastic public response that convinced MWTCC that commercial broadcasting might be a viable business opportunity. In fall 1919, the company sets-up its new Scientific Experimenter, Ltd. branch at 33, McGill College Avenue to manage the sales and promotion of its radios and radio components to the general public, thus facilitating the acquisition of radio broadcast receivers by amateurs. Regular audio broadcasting test programs started on December 1, with XWA broadcasting news, weather forecast, recorded music and even live music performances on Monday and Saturday afternoons and on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday nights. By January 1920, the original idea of using broadcasting as a means to significantly increase sales of radio apparatus took hold, and MWTCC managing director A.J. Morse eventually decided to gamble on this opportunity. On May 20, 1920, under the technical leadership of MWTCC Chief Engineer J.O.G. Cann, a national broadcasting event was organized between XWA Montreal and the Royal Canadian Society assembled in Ottawa and supported by the Canadian Naval Service. That night, a series of speeches, music recordings and live music performances were broadcast over more than 160km (100 miles) in both directions. This grand Montreal-Ottawa two-way broadcasting demonstration took place almost one month before the celebrated June 15, 1920 broadcast by the Marconi Chelmsford Works radio station in England. MWTCC’s earliest production of commercial receivers emerged around this time, with MWTCC’s Model C designed at the William Street factory that same year (1920) and offered for sales to the general public in 1921 and 1922. It consisted of three separate boxes, a passive tuner, a detector and a 2-tube amplifier. When complete with tubes, amplifier, antenna and batteries, the Model C was offered at 195 $CAN which at the time represented more than half the price of a new Ford Model-T car. Montreal-based Northern Electric Canada also offered a regenerative radio receiver kit (“Coupled Circuit Tuner with Tuned Feedback”) for amateurs in 1921.
CLOSING
The work by the MWTCC and XWA engineers between March 1919 and May 1920 led the way to establishing many commercial stations and to the subsequent emergence of the public broadcasting system in Canada.
Marconi Experimental Radio Station XWA, Montreal, during its famous Montreal-Ottawa broadcast on May 20, 1920. MWTCC Engineer J. Argyle is seating on the left with Chief Engineer J.O.G. Cann on the right. (Courtesy Historical Society of Ottawa)
In subsequent years, XWA, operating from 1919 to 1922, later became 9AM, CFCF (originally sharing time with CKAC), CIQC and eventually CINW, a now-defunct radio station in Montreal. CFCF is considered Canada’s first commercial radio station, and one of the first radio stations in the world. The station left the air 90 years later, on January 29, 2010. We look forward to the installation of the IEEE Milestone later in 2022, and hope to see everyone at another live event to celebrate these achievements.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Professor Ghyslain Gagnon obtained a bachelor’s degree (B. Ing.) in electrical engineering (2002) from ÉTS, and a doctorate in electrical engineering (Ph.D.). from Carleton University (2009). He has been a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at ÉTS since 2008, head of the LACIME research laboratory on wireless communications and microelectronics, and is currently Dean of Research. Highly inclined toward research partnerships with industry, his research aims at microelectronics, digital signal processing, and machine learning with various applications, including health care, media art, and building energy management. Denis Couillard is a graduate in Electrical Engineering (B. Ing.) and Technology Management (M. Sc. A.) from École Polytechnique de Montréal. He has been active in the telecommunications industry for over 35 years, including the development and launch of several radiocommunication products and innovations. Denis is the author of a book on strategic technology management and holds two U.S. patents in electronic attack and protection. Denis is currently Director, Solutions Development at Ultra Electronics TCS in Montreal. Formerly known as the Canadian Marconi Company. David P. Bart, KB9YPD, is the National Director of Restructuring and Complex Litigation at Baker Tilly US, LLP. He is Executive Vice President of the Radio Club of America, Chairman of RCA’s Publications Committee, a Life Member, and Fellow. He is also a Life Member and Director of the Antique Wireless Association. He is treasurer of the IEEE History Committee and former vice president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. David has published extensively on radio and electrical communications history.
