The Radio Stations, W9BSP and W9UA
The first transmissions from the amateur radio station on the Ensor Farm south of Olathe came in 1917. Interrupted during World War I, the station came back on in 1922 and continued to operate for fifty years. The Ensors added a room to the east side of their house to accommodate the increases in radio equipment and generators. The transmitter still located there was put into service in 1938. The antenna, supported by an eighty feet high windmill tower, became a local landmark.
Marshal Ensor was an innovator in amateur or “ham” radio operations. He and his sister Loretta conducted Morse code transmission lessons and courses in the fundamentals of radio over this station nationwide in the 1930s. The network of their communications with other amateur radio operators worldwide is illustrated by the thousands of cards and letters they received.
In 1940, Marshall Ensor received the coveted William S. Paley Amateur Radio Award. Named in honor of the Columbia Broadcasting System president, the Paley Award was given to Ensor for his “service to the nation” in voluntarily teaching radio over the radio. He carried his radio experiences into the U.S. Navy during World War II as he served as an electronics officer for the Naval Air Station in Seattle.
The Ensor Farm Historic Site is part of the Johnson County Museum System.
--ALBUM vol. 1, no. 1 (fall 1988)