In 1704 a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk requested to be put ashore on one of the islands in the Juan Fernandez archipelago following an argument with his captain. He lived on that island alone for four years. In 1708 he managed to board a passing ship and returned to Scotland where he became somewhat of a sensation. Daniel Defoe based his fiction work Robinson Crusoe on the true story of Alexander Selkirk.
The Juan Fernandez group consists of three islands. Today one of them is
known as Selkirk Island and another is known as Robinson Crusoe Island.
If you would like to see more about the Juan Fernandez Islands,
click here.
On September 22, 1993 I heard a very weak signal going in and out of the noise on 40 CW working mostly European stations. I sat and listened for two hours as the signal slowly gained strength. During this time no one spotted him on the PacketCluster network.
I finally managed to copy his call as CE0ZRC. I called him and he came back to
me. Just as I started my QSO someone spotted him on PacketCluster. He soon
had a huge pileup. But I didn't have to break it!
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