Northern Ireland radio amateurs celebrate BBC centenary

An amateur radio station set up to celebrate the centenary of the BBC is coming to Northern Ireland.

The station, with the anniversary callsign GB100BBC, is run by the BBC's own staff amateur radio group.

Events marking 100 years of the broadcaster are being held throughout the year.

GB100BBC was granted a special licence from the broadcasting regulator, OFCOM, and began operating from Broadcasting House in London on New Year's Day.

Now, it's Northern Ireland's turn to host the station and among those taking part in the event will be two BBC newsreaders, Radio Ulster's Keith Burnside, and Radio Four's Jim Lee.

Keith is retiring later in June after 44 years in broadcast journalism.

"It was once suggested to me that radio amateurs don't tweet." said Keith. "This is far from the truth."

"We were the first to tweet using Morse Code to send a short, succinct message."

Thousands of contacts have already been made with radio amateurs as the centenary station has operated from BBC locations across the UK.

The special-event station, callsign GB100BBC, will be in operation on shortwave from Broadcasting House in Belfast from 12:00 on Sunday 12 June.

It will operate on VHF and UHF from the BBC's main transmission at Divis Mountain, near Belfast, from 12:00 on Tuesday 14 June.

Northern Ireland has a special place in radio history.

In 1898, the "wireless telegraphy" pioneer Guglielmo Marconi carried out a test transmission in County Antrim.

The scientist and his assistant, George Kemp, rigged a up a 32m tall aerial on a cliff in Ballycastle.

It spanned the water - a distance of some eight miles - between Kenmara House on the cliff above the harbour and the east lighthouse on the island.

Although he was born in the Italian city of Bologna, Marconi's mother was Irish and the granddaughter of the whiskey distiller, John Jameson.