This was the first transmitter built by Marconi and used by him on his estate in Italy. The Italian government at first refused to support his work and he was financed by the British Ministry of Posts. (Marconi's mother was British.) His successes apparently convinced his own government and in 1903 he continued his work aboard the royal Italian yacht Carlo Alberto, loaned to him for the purpose of carrying out radio transmission experiments at sea.

In 1907, commercial wireless service across the Atlantic began. The station at Cape Breton, Novia Scotia is shown here on opening day.