"Fjällbudkavlen" 1950, a 3 day international relay orienteering competition both above and below the timber line, was held in Jämtland, a province in central Sweden, close to the Norwegian border. Most checkpoints were unmanned, but for safety reasons one of them - about half way on the daily 30 kilometers running distance - had to be radio equipped.
SM5GQ and I organized the expedition to Jämtland. We brought two portable and one fixed station -- of course homebrew equipment! The most portable station had an input of a little less than one watt and was powered by batteries. The heavier station got its power from a surplus hand-cranked generator and had an input of 8 watts. Both stations were crystal controlled. As we were going to operate from slightly below the timber line, we could use the method of attaching a weight to the end of the antenna wire and throw it up some suitable tree.
In 1950, the PTT board did not allow exceptions from the rule which banned third party traffic, so -- as members of the voluntary signallers organization -- we used military traffic methods and callsigns.
The first day I operated from a summer grazing at an abandoned chalet, with a view reaching tens of miles. The topography between me and the finishing point was favourable, so I used the lightweight almost-one-watter.
Combined antenna tuning and sock-drying
The second day I operated the HQ station at that day's finishing point.
The third day I left a jeep at the end of a narrow forest road, and walked four kilometers (two miles and a half) and found the checkpoint well before the competitors arrived there. There were several dry, dead trees at the side of a bog, excellent for putting up the antenna wire. Many of them had long burned marks, often in spiral around them - strange, I thought.
The hand-cranked generator was degraded to foot-cranked, because it would be difficult to operate the generator with 1½ hand and the morse key with the remaining ½. Laying on my back with the transmitter on my chest and the generator at my feet, I had both hands free for keying and making notes.
In the afternoon, I had sunk several inches into the soft moss, almost to the subsoil water level, which is very high in bogs. Thus, I was well connected to earth potential. I heard crackling in the headphones and also thunder echoing between the mountains, but there was - I thought - a satisfactory time interval between the two sounds.
When I turned half an inch to distribute the ubiquitous moisture even between my shoulder-blades, the antenna came loose from the transmitter and swung away a couple of meters. When it swung back, I grabbed it and was to plug it into the transmitter, when a lightning struck a tree about two hundred meters away.
That was an interesting experience.
I did not get any physical injuries, however, and (according to my own judgment) no mental injuries either. And the radio equipment was not damaged, because the antenna wasn't plugged in.
Then the shortwave traffic continued until all competitors had passed. Afterwards, I had a look at the tree which was struck by the lightning. It had a burnt slot, turning spirally around its stem, and suddenly I understood very well what had caused the death of my antenna tree and its neighbours.
Today's radio amateurs with handheld equipment weighing less than half a pound have been deprived of many interesting experiences!
