In his post A Question On An Old Picture, Mike Spishock references a highly sensationalized Daily Mail article.  This same article has a sidebar detailing the various theories regarding AE's disappearance; theory number 4 caught my eye: "Theory Four: Earhart and Noonan make it to Howland Island as planned and are eaten by cannibals." (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12462283/Major-breakthrough-search-Amelia-Earhart-Experts-decipher-hidden-text-aluminum-panel-reveal-new-photo-prove-aviatrix-died-remote-island-spot-smoking-gun.html)

I'm not sure where cannibals would hide on a barren, 1-square-mile atoll, but this theory intrigues me.  Perhaps the crew of Itasca, crazed from sitting in the hot sun straining to hear radio signals, attacked the fliers and had themselves an old fashioned BBQ?  Discuss.

>> Right above the circled area of interest is what appears to be an oval nameplate or tag

Sorry Randy, that's a fish.  Eye on the lefthand side, gills a little further down.  A variety of wrasse would be my guess.

I was going through Tighar forum this afternoon and saw Mike Spishock photo and got a little closer and saw something. Right above the circled area of interest is what appears to be an oval
nameplate or tag. If anyone can see this would be interesting to find out what it belongs too.

Quote from: Randy Jacobson on March 29, 2026, 08:29:54 AMOh my....Marty: your $1000 check is now in the mail! 
Thank you for your kind words.

The kind of respect and gratitude that I feel toward you can't be bought.

You did outstanding work. We are all in your debt!

Oh my....Marty: your $1000 check is now in the mail! 
Thank you for your kind words.

Quote from: Denise Kelsey on March 28, 2026, 05:35:38 PMUnless Kiribati is monitoring satellite imagery, it seems like a really determined individual could go sleuthing undetected. 

That is absolutely true.

Roger Kelly and I interviewed a policeman who had once been assigned to patrol the islands.

There were often signs of intrusion.

During Niku III in 2001, the island was visited by a tuna boat. The first aerial tour of the island was done from that boat's helicopter. Later expeditions used kites and early drones, I believe, to get some high-resolution photography of the sites that interested TIGHAR at that time.

I think another passing boat stopped to investigate a red patch of some kind that they had read about on the website. They said that there was nothing there, which was verified by the next TIGHAR expedition.

I can think of two good reasons to get permits and behave well on the island:

1. If anything is found, ownership will have been determined in advance and the findings can be publicized without fear of retribution from Kirimati.

2. If the expedition needs to call for help because of an emergency, the government will not be upset about the group being there in the first place.

A little off-subject, but...  This article of course mentions PIPA and needing permits to visit Niku, but I've always wondered - would anyone REALLY know if someone were to visit and go digging around? If I were sailing my boat (imaginary at the time of this writing) around the world and wanted to make a stopoff, how would anyone know? The place is uninhabited. Unless Kiribati is monitoring satellite imagery, it seems like a really determined individual could go sleuthing undetected. Of course, as Ric has many times pointed out, actually getting ON the island may be another matter...

Thoughts?

Quote from: Friend Weller on March 27, 2026, 08:52:48 AM.....camels in the clouds? 
https://share.google/dzGI81gHtHfvNnZN0
(Source:  NewsNation)

Pareidolia happens.

The visionaries seem to be pretty thoroughly ignorant of TIGHAR's expeditions to Niku.

<sigh>

Quote from: Colin Taylor on March 27, 2026, 10:07:04 AMThe point of this thread is to ask how she was able to receive a signal on 7500khz but not on 3105 or 6210.

That has been well and thoroughly answered.

AE's one and only receiver could be turned across a full spectrum of usable frequencies.

You can click on this link to read more on this topic than I am quoting here: Radio Equipment on NR16020

Western Electric Model 20B

"The receiver aboard NR16020 was a Western Electric Model 20B. This receiver was designed for communications purposes. It contained no circuitry to enable its use as a navigation receiver.

"The tuning range was divided into four bands. Originally these were:

Band 1, 188-420 KHz (beacon and marine);

Band 2, 550-1500 KHz (standard broadcast);

Band 3, 1500-4000 KHz;

Band 4, 4000-10000 KHz.

"As the requirement for 500 KHz operation existed in Earhart's case, the Band 2 tuning range was factory modified to 485-1200 KHz, covering the lower frequencies at the expense of the upper part of the broadcast band. A 1939 source lists a Model 20BA receiver, with Band 2 covering 485-1200 KHz. Earhart's equipment may have been the prototype for this off-the-shelf model.

"The Model 20B receiver was a remote-control model, with tuning dial, band switch, volume control and other controls located in a Model 27A remote control head linked to the receiver by means of tach-shafts. The remote head was mounted in a center console below the instrument panel in NR16020; the receiver itself was mounted beneath the right seat in the cockpit."

QuoteI note that although she said in her final message that she would repeat on 6210khz, Itasca never heard anything on that frequency and never transmitted on that frequency.

There is an amazing wealth of discussion in this Forum and on the website about the oddities of radio reception.

This is a link to a table of all of the transmissions logged during the last flight: Transmissions heard from NR16020

No transmissions were heard from AE on her daytime frequency for the first four hours of her flight.

Presumably she was transmitting at the times she had planned to do so.

Apparently, there was something odd about her daytime frequency that meant it was hard to receive it when she was close to the receiver.

It is not odd at all that the Itasca could hear her with increasing clarity and volume when she was on her nighttime frequency but heard nothing when she switched to her daytime frequency.

You can click on this link to learn more about the discussion: Radio propagation

So here again is the set of facts that we have covered:

1. There was only one receiver on board during the fatal flight.

2. The loop antenna did not have its own receiver.

3. The one and only receiver on board could be connected to the loop or to the belly antenna.

4. The only transmission AE heard was on 7500 kcs while using the loop antenna to attempt to find a null.

5. When her system was configured to hear voice on her daytime or nighttime frequencies, she never heard any transmissions.


Inference: the DF loop antenna received the Morse code on 7500 kcs. There was something wrong with the belly antenna itself or the circuit that was supposed to connect it to the receiver.

Which is essentially what Randy Jacobson said in his post.

Dr. Jacobson is one of the most remarkable people whom I have met through TIGHAR. Not only does he possess excellent technical credentials but he has spent countless hours transcribing every message about the fatal flight from government archives and designed a Monte Carlo simulation to test various theories about weather conditions and fuel consumption.

When Randy speaks, I listen.

This is a link to a page about him and his work: Randall S. Jacobson, Ph.D.

His work has been phenomenal.

No one has done more than he has to fill in the blanks about the history of the final flight.

The only time AE was listening on 7500, she was using the loop antenna for directional finding.  All other times, she was listening on 3105 or 6210.  The only time she reported hearing something was on the 7500 and loop antenna.