Itasca Commander Thompson didn't want the responsiblity for the Navy supplied HF DF equipment or for providing an Operator, so Navy Radioman 2nd Class Frank Cipriani was "borrowed" from the dry-docked Roger B. Taney a few days before the Itasca departed Honolulu on 25 June. By that time, Putnam had sent the Itasca an estimated departure date of 24 or 25 June (Finding Amelia, p52). This would seem to have been sufficient time to prepare for a July 1 or 2 flight. Cipriani was sent ashore on Howland to man the DF rig in the early evening of July 1, Itasca time (Finding Amelia, p83). James Carey, the AP correspondend aboard the Itasca at the time, reported expecting AE to arrive about 10:30 the next morning, which makes me think it was common knowledge among the Howland group, and presumably with Cipriani, too. He may not have known what to expect for battery life, but he began listening at 9 or 10pm immediately that evening. "Official" notification of the takeoff had occured just before 8:00 pm aboard the Itasca. This may have prompted Thompson to send Cipriani ashore to man the DF rig a few hours earlier than planned, since the news pushed the expected arrival time up to 0630. Cipriani had been conserving the batteries, so only picked up the end of Earhart's long dashes at 0800 (her next-to-last transmission), but she stopped before he could get a bearing. The HF DF batteries were dead by 0900 according to Cipriani's log. The Itasca had concluded that Earhart was down by then and had recalled all CG personnel to begin the search (at 8:26). Cipriani stayed ashore. (Finding Amelia, p98).
I found the information very interesting that Cipriani actually heard Amelia on the HF DF rig. For some reason that fact had escaped my attention the first time through. The HF DF reception occured during the only minutes of the flight when Amelia and Itasca were in actual contact with each other (although not "communicating"). This is the most heartbreaking moment of the history, to me. The DF rig had the capability to get a bearing, if she continued long dashes for another 30 seconds, maybe even less. She also heard the Itasca at that time (on 7500? or 3105?). A couple minutes later and she was gone.