User:MerchantOfLight/sandbox

Museum of Communication
The Museum of Communication is a museum in Burntisland, Fife, Scotland. It covers all form of communication, primarily electrical or electronic. This includes telephony, telegraphy, radio, audio equipment, television, radar and ICT equipment. The Museum also has an extensive technical library. from semaphore to modern radio and television. Admission is free.

History
The museum started as the private collection of Harry Matthews, after he restored an Ekco radio that he rescued from a skip in 1973. After restoring a number of other items of 'elderly radio equipment' he decided to set up a wireless collection, in order to show the technological changes that have occurred over the last 100 years. Harry retired in 1982 and moved to Bo'ness, and his Collection came with him. Sadly, a proposal for a permanent home in the town for his Collection was not possible. With help from the Bo’ness Heritage Trust and its ‘Friends’ support group, regular exhibitions were established in the Trust’s headquarters in Union Street. Realising that the Collection had grown beyond the management of one person, the Museum of Communication Foundation Trust (MoCFT) was launched early in 1992. In 1994, Harry transferred ownership of the Collection to the MoCFT by Deed of Gift. In 2003 a permanent home was found for the collection in Burntisland, and the museum opened to the public in May 2005; currently the museum opens from May to September on Wednesdays and Saturdays; group visits can be arranged outwith these days and times.

Exhibitions
The museum has a theme for each year's exhibition; the selected theme for 2024 is Time. Extra exhibits include displays on radar, ASDIC/SONAR, navigation and a range of various types of clocks. In 2023 it was celebrating 100 years of BBC Scotland, and parts of the exhibition appeared in the BBC Scotland programme Tuned in: 100 years of Scottish broadcasting.

Other features include:
 * Early spark-gap (Morse) transmitters
 * Crystal receivers
 * A restored functioning Strowger telephone exchange (actually a six-line PABX but constructed of Post Office Telecommunications equipment).

Collections
The museum has a large collection of Telephony, Telegraphy, radio, audio equipment, television, radar (including a Ferranti AI 23 radar.) and ICT equipment. A separate handling collection is maintained, to support visitor interpretation.

Lectures
The museum runs a regular series of lectures which can be attended in person or via Zoom. Past subjects have included electronic music, Electrons with Attitude, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.