1NO – Franco Marietti, Turin: Italian Champion of 1925, on Three Wavelengths

Introduction

Franco Marietti's 1NO in Turin was the station that won the first Italian transmitting contest, the R.C.N.I. "Concorso di radioemissione 1925", and Il Radio Giornale followed it month by month from its first transmission in February 1925. The card in the collection, written for u3QT of Parkesburg, Pennsylvania, confirms a contact of 19 February 1926 at 01:50 GMT on 37 metres, and summarises the station as it stood in the middle of the contest: 200 watts input, three transmitters on 5, 20 and 34 metres, and "Transmitter DX: λ90 New Zealand 20,000 km; λ40 New Zealand 20,000 km; λ20 USA". The heading "Radio-Torino" is the amateur club of the Pro Torino, founded in June 1924, of which Marietti was secretary (the card has nothing to do with the later broadcasting station of that name). The address, Corso Dante 8, is the one the magazine printed for him in March 1925.

The first year of 1NO (1925)

Marietti appears in the magazine from May 1924 as a short-wave listener and as the author of articles on receiver design. "Il 15 febbraio ha iniziato le trasmissioni la stazione 1NO, appartenente al sig. Franco Marietti. Fin dalla prima sera furono stabilite comunicazioni bilaterali con dilettanti inglesi e finlandesi, e in seguito con circa 30 dilettanti di quasi tutte le nazioni europee" (March 1925, page 24), at first with "7 watts circa" until the 2,000-volt transformer arrived. He owned a wavemeter calibrated in Professor Mesny's laboratory in Paris and transmitted calibration waves on Mondays from March 1925.

The three DX lines on the card correspond to dated events of that year:

• λ90, New Zealand. "1NO riceve notizia da Rangiota (Nuova Zelanda) che i suoi segnali su 90 metri erano già stati ricevuti colà con buona intensità il 23 marzo alle 18 T.M.G." (October 1925). Giulio Salom confirmed that "tanto la stazione 1MT quanto quella 1NO … sono state ricevute per prime durante il mese di marzo 1925 su onda di 90 metri nella Nuova Zelanda", the first Italian signals heard at the antipodes.
• λ20, USA. "Il 24 maggio 1NO ha stabilito comunicazioni bilaterali con uNKF; u8GZ; u1ASF. L'onda impiegata era di metri 20,8. La potenza alimentazione 80 watts" (June 1925). In his 1926 report he called 1NO "l'unica stazione italiana che abbia comunicato con l'America su onda di 20 metri e inferiore".
• λ40, New Zealand. "1NO (Marietti, Torino) ha realizzato l'11 luglio una comunicazione bilaterale alle 0620 col Neo Zelandese 2XA su 43,5 metri con 110 watt alimentazione" (July 1925), followed by z2AE and z3AL in July and z2AC on 28 August from the seaside with a 9-metre indoor aerial and 80 watts.

On 30 June 1925 at 06:30 he made "la prima comunicazione bilaterale tra l'Italia e il Brasile" with bz1AB on 44.5 m with 100 watts. In the autumn he sat, with Giulio Salom, on the government commission for the regulation of broadcasting, as a member of the U.R.S.I.; the station resumed on 23 November 1925 with thirty American contacts in a week at 15–20 watts, and in February 1926, the month of this card, worked about sixty stations, including c1AR, bz5AB, pr4WW, u3EQ and u3QT.

Champion of 1925

The results of the contest (1 June 1925 – 31 March 1926) were published in June 1926: "1° premio e titolo di campione italiano per il 1925: grande medaglia d'oro 18 K. peso 70 gr., ondametro S.I.T.I. al sig. Franco Marietti", ahead of Silvio Pozzi (1AS), Bruno Brunacci (1GW) and the Associazione Radio Montatori (1RM); "la lotta tra 1AS e 1NO è stata accanita sino all'ultimo mese". The cover photograph is captioned "I concorrenti al Concorso di radioemissione 1925 da sinistra a destra: Colonnetti (1), Brunacci (2), Pirovano (3), Marietti, vincitore (4), Pozzi (6), Soci della Associazione Radio Montatori (7, 8, 9). Nel mezzo il nostro direttore (5)." The prizes were given at the R.C.N.I. seat in Milan on 17 May 1926.

Marietti's own contest report, "Radio 1NO" (June and July 1926, pages 8–10), explains the card's "5 – 20 – 34 metres". The station had moved repeatedly, from "una soffitta di una fabbrica oltre Po" to Finalmarina in August, to Rome for the commission in September, and "alla fine di novembre … in una camera ammobigliata nel centro di Torino". He describes "il trasmettitore su 34 metri" (a 200-watt triode, 100 W input, 1,400 V rectified by diodes, reversed feed-back circuit), "il trasmettitore su 18,7 metri" (first contacts May 1925) and "il trasmettitore su 5,85 metri" ("Col triodo di 200 watt e 200 watt alimentazione la corrente di aereo raggiunge 1 ampère"), quoting u1UW ("Your loudest European station heard here yet!!") and u1CKP ("Very best European sigs ever heard here"). On 5 metres he had built the transmitter but drew a negative conclusion: "Il problema dei 5 metri è ormai completamente sorpassato e risolto in senso negativo" (May 1926). The note on the back of this card, "Remailed by u3EQ, W. J. Deery … talked with him on 5 meter", refers to a 5-metre contact between the two Americans, not to 1NO.

The card itself

• To: u3QT, C. H. Colman, 64 E. Second Avenue, Parkesburg, Pa. (the June 1926 US list confirms the address; the card's "Parkersburg" is Parkesburg in Chester County). "Your sigs wkd here on Feb 19 1926 at 1.50 GMT, 37 m", QSA 5, "easy to be read thru slight QRN", QSB RAC. u3QT is in 1NO's February 1926 list and reported hearing 1NO in September 1926.
• Transmitter: 200 watts input, wavelengths 5–20–34 m. Receiver: detector + 1 audio, 1 to 100 m.
• Transmitter DX: λ90 New Zealand 20,000 km; λ40 New Zealand 20,000 km; λ20 USA; "QSO Europa – Asia – Africa – Nth and Sth America – Oceania".
• Printed "Radio-Torino – ARRL – ADRI", "Radio 1NO – Franco Marietti, Corso Dante 8 – Turin – Italy"; "Pse do not forget ur QSL"; "Best 73's – Franco Marietti".
• Back: "Pse do not forget ur QSL is on! 73 Marietti"; "Remailed by u3EQ, W. J. Deery, Brookline, Pa. Talked with him on 5 meter"; Philadelphia air-mail postmark, 22 March 1926. The June 1926 US list gives 3EQ as Walter J. Deery, 121 Kathmere Road, Brookline, Pa.; 1NO had worked 3EQ in February 1926.

Key Specifications of 1NO (1925–26)

Sources

• Il Radio Giornale, May and July 1924 (Marietti as listener; foundation of Radio-Torino), March 1925, pp. 24 and 27 (first transmissions, address), June, July, August, September, October and December 1925, February, March, May and June 1926 (pp. 1, 4–5, 8–10, "Radio 1NO"), July 1926; scans at introni.it.
• Amateur Radio Stations of the United States, June 1926: 3QT, 64 East Second Avenue, Parkesburg, Pa.; 3EQ, Walter J. Deery, Brookline, Pa.
• Federico Paoletti, Storia della radiodiffusione in Italia (federicopaoletti.it), entries for 23 March 1925 and March 1927.
• The card itself (front and back), K1FM collection.