A global event, organised to honour a radio pioneer, has been hailed a success.

Norfolk's radio amateurs contacted almost 200 other enthusiasts from across the world during an all-day special event at Caister Lifeboat Visitor Centre yesterday (Saturday).

The Norfolk Amateur Radio Club (NARC) took part in the event to honour Guglielmo Marconi on International Marconi Day.

Marking the Italian inventor's birthday and commemorating the village's original Marconi wireless station, which was established in 1900, radio hams at the Caister centre managed to contact 193 other radio amateurs in 35 different countries.

Using the call GB0CMS and a mixture of Morse code, telephony (speech) and data (PSK teletype), contacts were made with other radio amateurs across the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA.

Notable contacts were with other special Marconi stations in the UK, Italy and Ireland.

The village's original Marconi station was in a house in the High Street known as Pretoria Villa and its original purpose was to communicate with ships in the North Sea and the Cross Sands lightship.

On Saturday – the closest to Marconi's birthday – stations around the world set up at sites with historical links to the inventor's work. These included Poldhu in England, Cape Cod in Massachusetts, Glace Bay in Nova Scotia, Villa Griffone in Bologna, Italy and many others.

With numerous other local radio amateurs and members of the public visiting the station, NARC public relations officer, Steve Nichols – who organised the event – said: 'Conditions weren't brilliant due to a solar disturbance, but we started off by talking to Ian VK3MO, an amateur near Melbourne, Australia.

'We then went on to make contacts with other radio enthusiasts all over Europe and as far as North Carolina, USA, using speech and Morse code.

'We never used more than 100 Watts power – about the same as an incandescent light bulb.

'Our thanks go to Caister Lifeboat for letting us set up the station.'

Norfolk Amateur Radio Club meets at 7pm on Wednesdays at the City of Norwich School, Eaton Road in Norwich, with formal proceedings starting at 7.45pm.