Fire Island
Fire Island is part of the barrier islands off the south shore of Long Island, NY. It is located along a primary approach to New York harbor and, as such, has been the location of radio installations for navigation and communications since the earliest days.
MRHS member Richard Dillman had the opportunity to check out rumors of a former Coast Guard radio installation on Fire Island in 2002. He writes:
On my last visit to Long Island I met with radio historian Van Field. During our discussions he mentioned some Coast Guard radio transmitters located on Fire Island, a long barrier island soutn of Long Island. I had heard of these transmitters before but always pictured them as some type of rusted relics. That's when Van showed me two photographs he had taken at the site. In one of them I recognized what appeared to be the twin of our beloved BL-10. The other transmitter was a RCA multi-frequency HF set generally similar to the MF transmitter in appearance.
On Monday, 23 December I met with Bob LaRosa of the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society. With him as an escort we went to "checkpoint", the building where the transmitters are located, now occupied by NPS rangers.
