ei1MG – G. Manni, Rome: A Reception Report to New York, November 1927

Introduction

This is the earlier of two cards in the collection from G. Manni of Via Principe Umberto 205, Rome (see also 1MG-1928-01). It is a reception report rather than a QSL for a contact: on 15 November 1927 at 01:15 GMT the American nu2GP, Donald C. Sayer of Richmond Hill, New York, was heard calling CQ in telegraphy at R5, on a detector with two audio stages. The card carries the stamp "Radiofonia QSL Special Free Service" and a printed note on the back inviting foreign amateurs to send their QSLs for Italian stations to "the Traffic Manager of Radiofonia Wireless Review, Casella Postale 420, Roma"; it reached Sayer through the A.R.R.L. bureau. Radiofonia was a Rome fortnightly founded in April 1924 by Augusto and Raoul Ranieri, and in 1927–28 several Roman amateurs (1CY, 1DR, 1MG in this collection) used its QSL service alongside that of the A.R.I.

What the magazine says about 1MG

Nothing in 1927: the call does not appear in Il Radio Giornale before January 1928, and it is missing from the October 1927 list of Italian transmitters, so the station was new, or newly reported, at the time of this card. From January 1928 ei1MG is heard widely: by Spanish listeners in February ("15-II: ei1MG: cattiva modulazione, QSS forte, QRK r4-5", which shows he was already using telephony), by R167 at Reims, by a French air-force lieutenant in Syria, by efEGEZ in Egypt, by listeners in Barcelona, Uppsala, Berlin, Barmen and Königsberg (April 1928), in Estonia and in Sweden (May–June 1928), and in Madrid and Barcelona in August 1928. In November 1928 the magazine printed a photograph captioned "ei 1MG": the operating room with its wall of QSL cards, the same photograph reproduced on the 1928 card.

The magazine never gives Manni's first name or profession, and he did not enter the A.R.I. contests.

The card itself

• To: nu2GP, intercepted calling CQ in telegraphy on 15-11-1927 at 01:15 GMT; D + 2 BF, QRK R5.
• Receiver: Heart, 15–2,000 m. Transmitter: Hartley, 75 W, Valvo valve, 1,800 V DC, 50 mA, aerial current 0.15 A on 43 m.
• Aerial: single wire, 40 m high, 25 m long; no counterpoise, earth.
• Remarks: "Best 73's to A.R.R.L."; signed Manni G.; printed Pinci, Rome; ARRL; "Forwarded by A.R.R.L., Hartford" on the back.

Key Specifications of 1MG

Sources

• Il Radio Giornale, October 1927 (list of Italian transmitters, no 1MG); January, February, March, April, May, June and August 1928 (reception lists); November 1928, p. 34 (photograph "ei 1MG"); scans at introni.it.
• Federico Paoletti, Storia della radiodiffusione in Italia (federicopaoletti.it), entry for 20 April 1924 (foundation of Radiofonia).
• Radio Amateur Call Book, September 1928, and US Department of Commerce lists of June 1926–1928: 2GP, Donald C. Sayer, 11407 St. Anns Ave., Richmond Hill, N.Y.
• The card itself (front and back), K1FM collection.