CHATHAM RADIO – WCC

Chatham is the site of Marconi’s second station on Cape Cod. The first was the famous South Wellfleet station “CC”, which began operation in 1903 and served during the early years of the century. As technology advanced and erosion threatened the South Wellfleet location, Marconi arranged to build a new station on the shores of Ryder’s Cove in Chatham, with construction beginning in 1914.
Marconi’s Wellfleet station had initially used callsign “CC” (Cape Cod), then later “MCC” (Marconi Cape Cod), and finally “WCC” (conforming with international prefix assignments). “Old CC” did not reopen after the war and was dismantled by the Navy in 1919.
Chatham soon became a model for other shore stations that were built on both coasts. In the Chatham facility, under RCA ownership, WCC went on to become the premier ship-to-shore station on the east coast for most of the 20th century. During World War II, the Navy again occupied WCC, with a staff of over 200 Navy personnel. After the war it returned to commercial use and saw thousands of messages a day, serving passengers at sea with ‘RCAgrams’ and freighters arranging their shore operations. Ultimately, newer technology began to replace traditional ship-to-shore communication, and the station was phased out, closing for good in the ’90s.
Today, the buildings at the WCC site remain intact and they appear much as they did when they were first built by Marconi. WA1WCC operates from the original Marconi operations center building, under the auspices of the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center. The CMMC is a non-profit organization working to preserve the history of Marconi in Chatham.
http://www.chathammarconi.org/AmateurRadioClub.html

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