e receiver, and using these, managed to transmit Morse signals over a distance of 2.4 km in 1896. Similar to Morse and Bell, Marconi's status as the inventor of 'radio' owes much to his acumen as a businessman. His invention was not well received in his native, Italy: the Italian Ministry of Post apparently did not consider his invention significant and capable of replacing the electrical telegraph. Perhaps the ministry was concerned about the then small range of transmission of Marconi's wireless telegraph, or comparatively satisfied with their present wired telegraph. Regardless, the ministry's refusal did not daunt Marconi, and he quickly took his invention to the UK. (He may not have been the first to leave his native land in search of better economic prospects elsewhere, but he is one of the most prominent.) It was in the UK that he established his company to commercialise radio telegraphy. His Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company, later known as the Marconi Company, established in 1897, was SO successful that by 1900 his devices were being used on ships, and a permanent wireless telegraph system was installed linking two Hawaiian Islands. While the ownership of the Marconi Company has changed many times since its inception, it existed as an on-going firm more than a century later until it was acquired in 2006 [1]. A Wireless Telecommunications System A general block diagram of a telecommunications system is shown in Figure 10.2. A large degree of commonality exists in technologies developed to realise fixed and wireless tele- communications. There also exist a number of differences due to the medium over which electromagnetic signals are sent and received. These differences mainly concern the modulation techniques and means for sending and receiving electromagnetic waves. Some modulation techniques are more suited to transmission over copper wires, optical fibres or air. While a Source Channel Modulator Pre-equaliser/ source encoder encoder processor Radio channel Source Channel Demodulator Equaliser/ decode