Another anecdote:
Summer of 1981 I was working for the BLM Alaska Wildfire Center in
Fairbanks as a radio tech. That summer a Class-A fire started near the
town of Livengood and only three miles away from the Alaska Pipeline
that brings crude oil from the north shore down to Valdez. There was
great concern that the fire would reach the pipeline so large response
was activated. I was assigned as the Radio Officer for this.
The main base camp was set up on a 2400-foot high ridge that overlooked
the fire. We had a tent dispatch center consisting of two vertical VHF
antennas mounted on two 30-foot fiberglass "Hot Sticks" (so name as the
telescoped from 8-foot and primarily used by power line workers for high
tension lines). From this contact was made over 75-miles to the BLM Base.
A wind storm generated considerable static electricity such that the
HT's lying on the ground would draw a six inch arc if one were to try
picking up the radio. Initially being told by one of the dispatchers
that the "radio bit her", I scoffed that a 6v radio could do that and
promptly demonstrated my "intelligence" by getting shocked when I tried
to pick one HT up. Took me a bit to work out what was happening. There
was a pause in dispatch for almost an hour.
73, Ed - KL7UW
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