EL2A 1937 Liberia

Operator: Hank Gould from Akron, OH

Hank Gould was there on the Firestone Plantation during the 1930's, he was from Akron, Ohio and sent to Liberia to start the Firestone radio link back to the states and their commercial rubber enterprise. When he was there, Monrovia was nothing but a small town and shipping had to stand off about 3 miles out in the water as they didn't have docks in town to handle the ocean freight traffic.  He talked about the high humidity. They didn't dare run full power or there would be flash over's of HV plate voltage due to the humidity.  They started with verticals and then switched to Vee beams which kept them in 24 hour contact with the states. They used CW and sent about 1000 words per day. At first they were not permitted to use amateur radio, they were adamant that no ham radio would take place, until they found a friend in the Liberian Govt who became a friend.

QSL Patrick Rigg Collection
Info courtesy of W8SU