Point to Point

It was Marconi's dream to bridge the oceans and provide intercontinental communications as a rate that undercut the cost of the undersea cables.  His signals first bridged the Atlantic in 1901.  Only a little more than a decade later his international system was in place and functinging - and earning money.  Soon competitors followed, creating the point-to-point industry - first using giant spark and arc transmitters, then magnificent Alexanderson alternators and finally short wave tube transmitters.  Often the elite point-to-point service was co-located with the marine service which often had to make do with a corner of the operating building and antennas that the point-to-point service no longer needed.  Here is the story of some of these point-to-point stations.