From: jpalonus@graph-intron-ical-intron-dy-intron-namics.com   
      
   I'm editing a memoir that my sister's father-in-law has written about   
   his experience as the sole doctor stationed at Easter Island in   
   1953-54. In his book he mentions that he set up a ham radio station,   
   CE-0-AC, and that he had QSL cards printed up.   
      
   But now he hasn't been able to find any to put into the book! If   
   anyone has a copy of a CE-0-AC card, I'd love to get a good scan to   
   include in the book.   
      
   He's Dr. Dario Verdugo-Binimelis, a 90 year old retired Chilean   
   doctor. At the time he was in his late 30s. He, his wife, & 4 young   
   sons up and left for Easter Island for 2 years - no electricity, water   
   from rainbarrels, a leper colony to manage... It's a fascinating   
   story!   
      
   Here's what he says about his experiences as a ham:   
      
   ====================================================   
   As we approached our second year in the island, I decided to become an   
   amateur radio operator to be able to communicate with our family back   
   in Santiago, so I ordered the equipment from Chile for the next annual   
   shipment. I was proudly granted a ham radio operator's license-my ID   
   was CE-0-AC and I had cards printed with a moai [the big statues],   
   which became very desirable . The Navy base on the island lent me a   
   small electrical generator and some fuel, which allowed me to use the   
   radio equipment on limited occasions. After overcoming many   
   difficulties, especially with setting up the electric power with the   
   generator (for which my son Pedro was the 'expert mechanic') and the   
   installation of the antenna supported by a tall mast erected by my   
   children, I was able to make it work. To my surprise however, a couple   
   of days following the proud launch of our radio station, the Naval   
   Governor showed up at my home with his lieutenant to order me to lower   
   the height of the antenna. In his view, it was inappropriate to have a   
   structure on the island that would be higher than the tallest mast   
   where the Chilean flag flew at the Governor's house. I was   
   unsuccessful in convincing him that I was not being disrespectful to   
   the Chilean flag, nor was I challenging the Chilean sovereign or his   
   authority over the island; I even suggested flying the Chilean flag on   
   our antenna.   
      
   As a result of this unsuccessful negotiation with the Governor, we   
   ended up lowering the antenna a few feet after making careful   
   measurements. While it was a good engineering lesson for my four sons,   
   I suspect that it degraded the capability of my ham radio equipment   
   which needed all the help it could get to reach far away distances.   
   (But Pedro did end up studying engineering.)   
      
   I was disappointed to realize that in spite of all my effort to   
   connect with Chile, it was either very difficult, or simply   
   impossible. The first and one of the few times that I could talk with   
   my parents I was so overwhelmed by emotions that my words drowned in   
   my throat. A different story was with the U.S., especially California,   
   where I was able to establish many contacts. When I turned on the   
   equipment and started calling , many ham operators tried to reach me,   
   since it was very unique to contact someone from a place so remote and   
   exotic. The reality is that the ham equipment became more of an   
   entertainment and not the tool that I had envisioned for connecting   
   with our loved ones back in Chile.   
      
   Having a ham radio as our entertainment, we decided that it would be   
   nice to share some of the music that we could receive from far away   
   stations with the Pascuenses [natives], so we organized occasional   
   musical gatherings by placing speakers in front of our porch. We had   
   just paved the 100-foot walkway from the gate entrance to the front   
   porch. Many Pascuenses came that first Sunday afternoon for our   
   get-together. While they enjoyed the music, especially German marches   
   that they had heard during warship visits during WWII, they were most   
   impressed by the paved walkway. They had never seen such "soft large   
   flat rock", and for them it was a pleasure just to walk on it , to the   
   point of asking if they could come back some other day with their   
   families for a promenade. ...   
   ==================================================   
      
   The book, "Life and Solitude in Easter Island", should be available on   
   Amazon by mid-December (hopefully), and this week we're starting to   
   decide where to place the illustrations.   
      
   TIA!   
   Jennifer Simonds   
   Seattle   
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