ARLA/CLUSTER: Enquanto não saem os vídeos da actual concorridissima DXpedition a Navassa veja os vídeos de 1978

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

1978 Navassa DXpedition video

The video of N0TG/KP1 and W0RJU/KP1 Dxpedition to Navassa Island in
1978 is available on YouTube

1978 Navassa Island DX-pedition. Composed of 10 Amateur Radio
Operators: 5 from Missouri, 3 from New Jersey, 1 from Georgia and 1
from California. They were: N0TG, W0RJU, W0ZH, AD0PP, N0WL, K2KA,
W2PAU, W2ORA, WA4SSU and W6OIG. The 3 hams from New Jersey had been
there before.

Getting to Navassa Is. was kind of tough. We left Kingston at night
and the seas overnight were relentless! But the landing area was on
the lee side of the island, making for calm waters at last! The only
access to the island is the steel ladder, or you scale the rocks! The
island is uninhabited. In the old days, there was a lighthouse keeper
who lived on the island. And guano mining supplied fertilizer needs
for the mainland.

Since those days, the lighthouse in 1978 had been fully automated,
powered by 33 1-volt batteries wired in series. Each battery was about
4 feet long x 8 inches high x 5 inches wide (as I recall).

Regarding the quality of the video: it was originally recorded on
Super-8 film, then hand-spliced and converted to VHS without editing.
One of those conversions (not sure which) was used to make a digital
"video" that was edited into what you see now. Since this 1979 event,
there have been several more visits to Navassa Island.

Of note, the 5 hams from Missouri worked for McDonnell-Douglas in the
aircraft/aerospace field, the 3 from New Jersey worked for RCA (?) and
had worked on over-the-horizon radar (they said it didn't work!). The
one from Georgia was purported to be a nuclear fuel transporter. Which
left me. I was the OSCAR satellite operator and medic. I tended one
badly smashed finger and one STD for one of Captain Tony's crew
(penicillin was the drug of choice and the one I had). The equipment
for the OSCAR operation was donated by a fellow who liked to make
California kilowatt amps (wink, wink)! OSCAR, by the way, stands for
Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio. 33 contacts were made via
satellite. Thousands on the normal ham bands.

At the end of the video, there is a white boat on the horizon that
eventually came up to our boat. It was a dug-out! with 3 Haitians
aboard, the sails being made of T-shirts and rags sewn together!
Hand-made mast. They came looking for food on Navassa. The DX-pedition
was over and any left over food we brought for the 6 days on the
island was surplus. Captain Tony talked to these young guys for a bit.
They had caught one big fish. Their boat was essentially empty of
supplies and gear (safety or sailing). Tony asked if they would trade
for that fish? In exchange he gave them pretty much all of the food
stuffs we had brought but hadn't used (e.g., loaves of bread, cans of
food and other edibles). I still have a warm feeling for Captain Tony
after that!

Watch 1978 Navassa Island DX-pedition