English: Radio operator at French marine radiotelegraphy station Ouessant TSF, callsign FFU, on the island of Ouessant south of the English Channel in the early 1900s. The early spark radio transmitter could not transmit audio (sound), and transmitted information by radiotelegraphy; the operator tapped on a switch called a telegraph key turning the transmitter 500 kHz on and off rapidly, producing pulses of radio waves, spelling out text messages in Morse code. In the earphones of the receiver on the ship, the pulses sounded like beeps, which the shipboard radio operator translated. The ship answers back with its own transmitter 1000 kHz, and the shore operator receives the Morse code in his headphones, translates the Morse code, and writes down the text reply, as shown here. The receiver is visible on the lefthand side of the desk, with a paper tape recorder which recorded the Morse code as an ink line on paper tape.

Translation of French description below: "After having moved to several places on the island of Ouessant, the French radiotelegraphy station Ouessant TSF, Radio callsign FFU (station Française Fixed de Ushant), (from the Stiff), was from 1904 the first French marine ship-to-shore radio station, communicating with a fleet of 80 ships on 500 kHz-1000 kHz. Destroyed in 1913 (surge). The Lampaul FFU station alone provides the transmissions. Destroyed in 1944 by act of war, Ouessant TSF has never been rebuilt."