January 2015
The network map for this project has been totally reviewed having found that it extended into the adjacent country Cameroon. In addition, thanks mainly to Barrie Horner, Doug Kennett and John Wilson, more detail has been added. There are still a couple problem areas (involving the Kafanchan station, and some in Cameroon) but hopefully these can be resolved in the near future.
The network is illustrated in the following two maps. The first is shown based on the original Shell maps of 1960 issued to field personnel by the Company. It is quite surprising the level of detail these maps show. The second map is courtesy of Google® because similar maps were not available.
Details of each Terminal and Repeater showing their manning status and service areas can be viewed here. The personnel at these stations, based in individuals memories, is listed here.
Further information
The following listing has been prepared by John Wilson with input from Martin Hinton.
|
Links |
Hop distance (miles) |
Comments |
||
| Westward route from Enugu | ||||
| Enugu – Aboh | 7.7 | To get from Enugu town up to high ground. Resident engineers at Enugu. | ||
| Aboh – Onitsha | 48 | Resident Marconi engineer at Onitsha | ||
| Onitsha – Issele-Uku | 21 | To get across the River Niger. Serviced from Benin. Resident Marconi engineer at Benin. | ||
| Issele-Uku – Agbor | 22.5 | Serviced from Benin | ||
| Agbor – Ugonoba | 24 | Serviced from Benin | ||
| Ugonoba – Benin City | 16 | To drop down from high ground into Benin. Serviced from Benin. | ||
| Benin – Oluku | 10.5 | To get back to high ground. Serviced from Benin | ||
| Oluku – Idanre | 61 | Long hop made possible by location at Idanre of repeater equipment on very high rock formation. Serviced from Akure by resident Marconi engineer. | ||
| Idanre – Ife | 48 | Serviced from Ibadan | ||
| Ife – Ibadan | 46 | Resident Marconi engineers at Ibadan | ||
| Ibadan – Ipara | Before JW time in Nigeria. Replaced by GEC 2.4GHz link | |||
| Ipara – Lagos | Before JW time in Nigeria. Replaced by GEC 2.4GHz link | |||
| Northward route from Enugu | ||||
| Enugu – Aboh | 7.7 | To get from Enugu town up to high ground. Resident engineers at Enugu. | ||
| Aboh – Idah | 64 | Serviced from Enugu | ||
| Idah – Agbaja (Lokoja) | 61 | To cross the River Niger. Resident Marconi engineer at Lokoja. | ||
| Agbaja – Kafanchan | ???Very long hop. Was there a repeater between Agbaja and Kafanchan? | |||
| Kafanchan – Kaduna | 90 ? | |||
| Northward route from Ibadan | ||||
| Ibadan – Oyo | 35 | Serviced from Ibadan. Resident engineers at Ibadan. | ||
| Oyo – Ogbomosho | 29 | Serviced from Ibadan. | ||
| Ogbomosho – Ilorin | 33.5 | Resident Marconi engineer at Ilorin | ||
| Ilorin – Lafiagi | 67 | Serviced from ?? | ||
| Lafiagi – Kataeregi | 67 | Serviced from ?? | ||
| Kataeregi – Minna | 24 | Serviced from ?? | ||
| Minna – Kaduna | 90 ? | |||
| Additional comments by John Wilson: | ||||
| The Westward route from Enugu is accurate from my own experience, having carried out work at all of the locations mentioned, but from Ogbomosho North and Agbaja (Lokoja) North I am less certain. The 90 mile hops to Kaduna seem unusual but I don’t fancy working out the path attenuation at 190 MHz without going back 50 years to my work with Pye Telecom and Marconi. Perhaps 90 miles was attainable given the high towers and high gain stacked Yagi arrays we used. | ||||