It was a curious private telegram, a love letter of sorts sent by Mansfield Robinson, a lawyer from London. The Morse Code message said [quote] "Love from Earth to Mars" [endquote]. The government Post Office's Rugby Radio Station transmitted it in the direction of the red planet on the 24th of October - almost 100 years ago. It goes without saying - the Martians the lawyer had tried to reach sent no reply.
Marking the station’s centenary, on the same date this year, hams of The Rugby Amateur Transmitting Society beamed an antenna toward Mars and sent a greeting three times over 20 minutes, on 144.011 MHz. The society's Steve Jones M1CIZ, told the Warwickshire World website that each outgoing message takes about seven minutes to reach Mars and another seven for any reply. Yes, there were several replies -- but as he told the website, [quote] "I knew that they could not be from Mars." [endquote]
