Page "Reginald Fessenden" Paragraph 15

It was decided to try to establish a transatlantic radiotelegraph service, and, in January, 1906, employing his rotary-spark transmitters, Fessenden made the first successful two-way transatlantic transmission, exchanging Morse code messages between a station constructed at Brant Rock and an identical one built at Machrihanish, Scotland.

( Marconi had only achieved one-way transmissions at this time.

) However, the transmitters could not bridge this distance during daylight hours or in the summer, so work was suspended until later in the year.

Then, on December 6, 1906, " owing to the carelessness of one of the contractors employed in shifting some of the supporting cables ," the Machrihanish radio tower collapsed, abruptly ending the transatlantic work before it could ever go into commercial service.