The round mane

The Round Man has played a significant role in the development of commercial telecommunications. After the Storting granted NOK 80,000 for the construction of Bergen Radio in May 1911, the station could be officially opened on 1 September 1912, and was the first coastal radio station in the country intended for correspondence with ships, an important and necessary social mission. The station's main purpose was to ensure safety at sea. The radio had weather reports at fixed times, and in 1912-13 four employees dispatched 1,400 telegrams. In 1959-60, the number of telegrams had increased to over 530,000. At most, the station had 25 permanent employees with settled families, a small community of its own.

Bergen Radio's transmission station, 1957. The transmission building in the foreground.

One of the most important coastal radio stations

Rundemanen is located three kilometers north-east of the center of Bergen, at an altitude of 560 metres. The location was chosen partly because it was beyond the range of enemy armored ship guns, partly because the height above the sea should give the signals a longer range. The location made the station one of the most important coastal radio stations until the 1960s. Coastal radio was of great importance to shipping for many decades, especially during the First World War, where the station ensured contact with vessels in the North Atlantic. Later, employees at Rundemanen carried out experimental shortwave broadcasts which meant that the facility was literally noticed and heard all over the world. Its location 560 meters above sea level and three kilometers northeast of Bergen city center made it one of the most important coastal radio stations until the 1960s.

In 1912, the transmitter was a 5 kW spark transmitter from Telefunken which had a range of 350 nautical miles. This transmitter is today at The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo. In 1922 it was replaced with a tube-powered transmitter, the first in Europe. The following year, this transmitter was modified for telephony with the call sign LGN.

 

Flag, raised at King Haakon's death in 1957. The flag was found by M. Grastvedt in May 1940, it had been used as a doormat by Germans during the occupation.

Weather forecast service 

Den rørdrevne senderen ble ombygget i 1923, slik at man også kunne sende ut værmeldinger på telefoni. Fra sommeren 1923 ble det sendt brukt to daglige værmeldinger på telefon og telegraf. Meldingene var basert på værobservasjoner fra skip, som var bearbeidet ved værvarslingsinstituttet, hvoretter Rundemanen sendte ut rapporter om kuling, storm, vindretning og siktbarhet for de viktigste områdene.

 

Magnus Grastvedt, manager of Bergen radio, 1955.

Vital medical assistance

I 1949 ble det i samarbeid med Haukeland sykehus etablert en Medicotjeneste, hvor skip kunne få legeråd fra leger ved sykdom og ulykker ombord. Dette er fortsatt en gratis tjeneste som skip fra alle nasjoner kan benytte seg av, der leger i land stiller diagnose og gir råd til behandling, basert på de symptomer som blir oppgitt. Radio Medico Norway betjener fortsatt Norges største helseregion - havet, og det har gjennom årene vært utført tildels kompliserte operasjoner via denne tjenesten. John Myhre, som betjente radiotjenesten alene fra 1949 til 1984, ble tildelt Den Kongelige Norske St. Olavs Orden for sin innsats. I 2015 var antall henvendelser rundt 3500.

 

Personnel at the Bergen radio receiving station, from left: Signature Apk (Piten?) Nina Ellefsen Barsnes, Horvei and Myka(?) Photo believed to have been taken in 1958-59.

Technical innovations

The competence among the employees at Bergen radio was high. In 1927, they themselves constructed shortwave transmitters and antenna equipment, and took the initiative to dispatch telegrams in the shortwave (HF) range. On 11 February 1927, Bergen Radio received Norway's first telegram on HF, sent from the whaling ship Sir James Clark Ross in Antarctica, approximately 7,000 quarter miles (approximately 13,000 kilometers) away.

As early as 1925, a separate receiving station was established in Fyllingsdalen, so that the facility at Rundemanen became a pure transmitting station, and staffing was considerably reduced. After World War II, the receiving station was moved to Helleneset. In 1960, the shortwave service was transferred to Rogaland radio, while Rundemanen continued as a transmission station for telephone and telegraph on medium wave and from the beginning of the 60s also VHF. The station was staffed until 1982. Then the mess and the clerk's building were demolished at once, but the station building and engine house were allowed to stand. The two houses were listed in 2007.

 

Tor and Jarl Skribeland, July 1957 (assumed).

I 1927 fikk stasjonen skipsradiotjeneste på kortbølge. Tjenesten ble flyttet til Rogaland radio i begynnelsen av 1960-årene, mens Bergen radio holdt frem som kystradiostasjon på mellombølgen. 
I 1930 ble ekspedisjonen flyttet til Fyllingsdalen, mens stasjonen på Rundemannen fortsatte som senderstasjon. Ekspedisjonen ble like etter annen verdenskrig flyttet til Helleneset.

Stasjonen var bemannet frem til 1982. Bergen radio ble nedlagt i 2004 og er i dag fjernstyrt fra Rogaland radio. Radiostasjonens siste oppdrag var Rocknes-havariet (ekstern lenke) i januar 2004, da lasteskipet Rocknes forliste i Vatlestraumen og 18 av mannskapet omkom. Bergen radio betjente da nødkanal 16 og tok seg av all kommunikasjon i området sammen med Rogaland radio.

A community of its own

At one point, as many as 25 people lived on top of Rundemanen, several of them children. Those of school age had to walk the dirt road to Fløyfjellet every day, and take the track to Christi Krybbe school. Originally there were several houses up on the mountain plateau. Radio telegraph operators, technicians, a caretaker, a cook and other crew were accommodated in a large two-storey civil servant's residence. The house contained the manager's apartment and mess on the first floor, while the second floor consisted of dormitories. All rooms had electricity installed, and there was a bathtub in the basement. Water was pumped from a nearby pond. The sewer went straight out into the ground. The officials' residence was demolished in 1982.

 

Inside the transmission room. In the foreground on the right, antenna selector with 1st selector for shortwave transmitters. Otherwise dispatch table for 5000kHz. "Very densely packed room".