Amateur Radio Special Event stations around the U.K. have been celebrating the 250^th anniversary of Thomas Telford’s birth date of August 9^th 1757. One such station GB 250 TT was established at one end of Telford’s Menai Straits suspension bridge which connects the Isle of Anglesey to the mainland coast of North Wales .

The bridge was opened on January 30^th 1834 and has a span of 580 feet, which was the longest span in the world at that time. It provided a much needed road route to Holyhead, the port which provides a link across the Irish Sea to Ireland

The Special Event Station GB 250 TT was set up in a caravan at the southern end of the bridge by GW3PRL and members of the Dragon Amateur Radio Club (Fig.2). The station operated on the HF bands over a 24 hour period on Thursday August 9^th 2007, 250 years to-the-day of Telford’s birth. 175 contacts were made, 60% on SSB, the remainder on CW

In addition, Members of the GB3TM ATV repeater group were invited to take part in the event. On the Thursday morning, an ATV station on 23cms using the GB 250 TT call sign was established nearby by GW3JGA (in his car boot - left) and a mobile ATV station, operated by GW4KAZ and GW8FEY, with two Alford Slots on 23cms, took up position on the opposite side of the Straits. Almost immediately, two-way ATV operation was established. The received signal from GB 250 TT is shown in (above - left)

The mobile station GW4KAZ then travelled along the main A5 road, through Menai Bridge town eventually crossing the bridge itself, transmitting holiday-style pictures of the boats in the Straits below and the massive structure of the bridge supporting towers above.

A walkabout then took place by GW4KAZ carrying a low-power ATV TX in a rucksack with GW8FEY as cameraman. Several Vintage Cars crossing the bridge to a local car rally provided interesting subjects. A ‘post mortem’ on the ATV part of the event was held over lunch at the nearby Four Crosses Hotel, including a toast to Thomas Telford