1978 Navassa Island DX-pedition

[IK0ZCW]

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!