Norddeich radio

Norddeich Radio , callsign DAN (formerly KND, KAV, DAF), was a German coastal radio station near Norddeich (today: Stadt Norden ) in East Friesland . After the establishment in 1907, telegram traffic was carried out by ships all over the world for around 90 years. On December 31, 1998, the plant was finally shut down.

history

From the beginning in 1905/1906

There are some legends about the founding of the coastal radio station. The most widespread version is that, at the behest of Emperor Wilhelm II, a separate coast radio station should be set up after the coast radio station on Borkum refused to accept a telegram from the emperor to his wife. At that time, around the middle of the first decade of the 20th century, there were two competing radio systems, one around the physicist Guglielmo Marconi , the other developed and operated by the Telefunken company from Berlin , with which the ship, the HAPAG steamer Hamburg, on which the Kaiser was. Due to the strong competition, the radio operators had orders not to communicate with the other system.

This version of the founding of Norddeich Radio is now considered unlikely. The coastal radio stations in Borkum and Borkumriff, in contrast to the "Hamburg", were equipped with systems from the Marconi Company , but were under the management of the Deutsche Reichspost and thus indirectly under Kaiser Wilhelm II. A refusal to process telegrams is therefore rather unlikely. More obvious is the variant that the efforts to have an own radio station had already arisen a few years earlier, namely around 1902, when the development of radio technology by physics pioneers such as Ferdinand Braun was rapidly gaining momentum. After the series of tests at the large radio station for wireless telegraphy in Nauen led to more and more success, it was decided to set up a radio station that was supposed to safely cover the western area of the German Bight up to the English Channel primarily for warships . The Marconi station located in Borkum could not communicate with it, as the wavelengths used (Borkum: 156 m, corresponds to around 1.92 MHz, on the other hand, marine: 365 m, corresponds to 821 kHz) and the range was a 30 km line not passed around the island. The Marconi company secured its monopoly through exclusive contracts with German shipowners; in contrast, the Navy decided to use Telefunken devices. The island of Borkum, the most north-westerly point in Germany, was initially planned as the location for the establishment of the fixed radio station, but strategic considerations by the Reichsmarinamt led to the realization that the region around the city of the north in East Friesland, with its marshland soils, was better for spreading electrical waves ( soil conductivity ) favored. In the late autumn of 1905, the contracts were finally concluded with the Telefunken company, in which the delivery and construction of a system was agreed with the following criteria:

One sending and one receiving station each (spatially separated structure)

Range at least 1500 km for radio communications to two masters with antennas at least 35 m long

Range at least 500 km for radio communication to other radio stations in the country

Telegraph speed at least 4 wpm

The first transmission antenna system from Norddeich 53 ° 36 ′ 15 ″ N , 7 ° 8 ′ 19 ″ E was a funnel-like network of bronze wires suspended from four 65 m high towers. The construction work was made more difficult, above all, by the extremely marshy subsoil, which made it necessary to use special wooden plank constructions for driving horse-drawn vehicles. The pop-spark transmitter used with 1.5 kW power was built in a separate building, which was insulated against noise with the help of thick felt sheets and heavy double doors. The radio telegraph station in Norddeich was henceforth connected to the north post office (East Friesland) as an office, from which a post office director was also assigned to coordinate. 53.604166666667 7.1386111111111

The first radio attempts were made in the summer of 1905, long before the Norddeich station was officially commissioned. In April 1906, SMS Munich was able to record the Morse code broadcast like a beacon at a distance of up to 400 km. In July of the same year, the maximum possible reception distance of 600 km was tested.

Start of operations in 1907 and first connections

After the day the technical facilities had been inspected by the Telegraph Versuchsamt previously, the company was under the official call sign on May 1, 1907 KND ( K üstenfunkstelle N ord d taken custody). They were available for warships for two hours each morning and evening. From June 1, radio communications with merchant ships were also carried out. Thus, Germany had now a total of seven public coast stations ( Arcona kar , Bülk kbk , Cuxhaven KCX , Helgoland khg , Borkum cbm , Marienleuchte kmr ). Further range tests by the manufacturing company Telefunken showed that the Morse code of the pop-spark transmitters from Norddeich could still be heard at a distance of more than 1,600 kilometers (wavelength used 2000 m, corresponds to a frequency of 150 kHz).

The regular crew of the coastal radio station at that time consisted of five people per 12-hour shift, four of whom occupied the telegraphic workstations and one as a technician monitored the correct operation of the transmitters. From 1908 an additional person was added as an aerial attendant. When the navy carried out maneuvers, radio operators from their own ranks took over the operation of the station, which was then additionally protected by infantrymen from Aurich. After the antenna masts had been raised by ten meters in 1907, new range records were set with hearing reception of over 2200 km. At the end of the year, knd started broadcasting weather reports (as well as storm warnings) and press content. The weather situation in the German Bight was particularly interesting for deep-sea fishermen and naval units.

From 1910: Norddeich telegraph station

Due to the increasing importance of wireless telegraphy traffic, the Norddeich coastal radio station was separated from the Imperial Post Office in Norden in 1910 and from then on operated as an independent telegraph station in Norddeich . As a technical innovation, two of the extinguishing spark transmitters developed by Telefunken in 1908 were installed in Norddeich , with 2.5 kW and 10 kW as well as antennas increased by another 20 meters, once again increasing the maximum range to more than 3000 kilometers. In 1912, at an international conference in London, a contract was signed that provided for general traffic obligations regardless of the system used , thus breaking the previously existing Marconi monopoly. When it came into force in 1913, Norddeich was assigned the new call sign kav . It was also around this time that horizontally polarized antenna shapes were tried out. After a successful series of tests, a permanently installed wire antenna supplemented the vertical antenna systems. First attempts at wireless telephony from knd in 1912 did not produce satisfactory results over distances greater than 50 kilometers. In the following year, the broadcast newspaper reports were recorded over 5000 kilometers away.

First World War

When Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914, the coastal radio station was placed under the command of the Imperial Navy and hermetically sealed off by infantrymen. They feared sabotage and espionage by the enemy. After the start of the war, the station's capacity utilization increased by leaps and bounds, and all transmitters now worked almost without a break. During the war, the airships stationed in neighboring Hage were also supplied with information from Norddeich. In the later phase of the war, radio communications to German submarines were also handled. After the navy had cleared the radio station in November 1918, it was occupied by members of the workers 'and soldiers' council. It was not until the following year that the soldiers' unrest of the post-war phase came to an end and the expansion of the coastal radio station continued.

1920s: Extension of the range, introduction of telephony

Radio operator meeting in the hotel "Zur Post" in the north (around 1920)

After the First World War, the coast station received a powerful transmitter from naval stocks. Due to the increasing number of telegrams, the staff was increased and the station was manned 24 hours with at least two telegraph operators. The experiments in wireless telephony ( voice radio ) were also continued, meanwhile with prototypes of tube transmitters with output powers between 1 and 2.5 kilowatts. In the summer of 1921, the coast radio station was granted permission to operate additional telephony devices; henceforth the weather report was spoken after the telegram was sent. After the tube transmitters had proven their capabilities in range tests over 6000 kilometers, they found more and more use in coastal radio stations and ships. Since there were more and more problems with the receivers when sending at the same time, it was decided in 1923 to set up a separate receiving station in Westgaste, three kilometers away, 53 ° 35 ′ 58 ″ N , 7 ° 10 ′ 55 ″ E. Both systems were connected to one another via a cable connection. In 1925, a strong autumn storm brought three antenna towers under construction to the collapse, so that the commissioning of other planned transmitters was delayed. 53.599444444444 7.1819444444444

At the end of the twenties the advantageous propagation behavior of shortwaves for international radio traffic was discovered, so that in 1929 a 10 kW shortwave transmitter was installed in Norddeich along with receivers in Westgaste.

1930s: Relocation to Utlandshörn, further business expansion

Because deteriorated by electrical appliances in Westgaste the reception due to increasing interference was far from all settlements in the five kilometers away Utlandshörn 53 ° 33 '47 " N , 7 ° 6' 28" O put a new receiving station on 8 December 1931 in operation. Utlandshörn also became the operations center for all Norddeich Radio systems. The equipment included the most modern reception systems for long , medium , border and short wave as well as several dipoles with reflectors (directional antennas) and wire antennas. On the transmitting side, 20 kilowatt shortwave transmitters for telegraphy and telephony were installed. The global economic crisis at the beginning of this decade also caused the number of telegrams via Norddeich to collapse; however, the positive development continued in the mid-1930s. The 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany brought the local radio stations record numbers of telegrams. Also in 1936 experiments were carried out with the coupling of the public telegraph network to the transmission systems so that telegrams could be sent to the radio officers without an intermediate station. Technical advances in transmitters and receivers have increased the range in radio communications considerably. 53.563055555556 7.1077777777778

Second World War

As in the First World War, Norddeich Radio was strategically important for the coordination of the naval units and thus came under military leadership and protection right at the beginning of the war. Public transport was immediately stopped, and all German ships at sea received - open or hidden - news of the imminent threat of war. In the autumn of 1939 the main radio station in Norddeich consisted of

Operations center Utlandshörn

Receiving radio station Utlandshörn

Norddeich radio station

and a new “Großrundfunksender Osterloog” 53 ° 38 ′ 5 ″ N , 7 ° 12 ′ 11 ″ E , which broadcast the English-language propaganda programs “ Germany Calling ” abroad (under the cover name “Reichssender Bremen” or initially “studio system of the test transmitter N "). 53.634722222222 7.2030555555556

A naval intelligence force was stationed on site and Norddeich Radio was directly connected to the naval command via specially switched telecommunication lines.

All systems at the main radio station in Norddeich were secured against attacks by low-level aircraft with light flak ( 2 and 3.7 cm ). In order to have an immediate replacement in the event of the equipment being destroyed, the Wehrmacht had a radio station set up in Muiderberg aan Zee and a radio station in Kootwijk during the first days of the war in the Netherlands , to which employees from East Frisia were regularly seconded to ensure that they were operational. In the last days of the war, all systems were given a tonne of self-destructive explosives, which were never used.

The Allies never tried to destroy the main radio station Norddeich during the Second World War. The intercepted radio signals were specifically evaluated because they provided valuable information about the locations of German warships and submarines at sea.

1950s: recommissioning and further expansion

From 1957 to 1981, this shortwave touch radio workstation was used to exchange telegrams with ships on all the world's oceans, exhibited in the Museum for Communication in Hamburg

In 1945 parts of the transmission systems were to be shipped to Great Britain or blown up by the occupying powers. Instead, the English quickly became convinced that radio operations in Norddeich and Utlandshörn would certainly serve the safety of their ships. In the same year Hellschreiber were used for the first time and operated on short and long wave.

After the end of the war, all previously offered services were gradually resumed; these include the overseas radio service to South America, near-coast sea radio service on border waves , broadcasting weather reports and time signals, etc. Norddeich Radio was expanded accordingly in order to be able to cope with the strong increase in traffic in post-war Germany. Around 1950, MAN supplied two powerful diesel generators , and a wooden cooling tower was built to match. A new border wave transmitter and a modern antenna switch, with which all 19 transmitters could be switched to the twenty different antennas as required, rounded off the equipment. Around the middle of the decade the program “ Greetings on board ” was broadcast for the first time , in which relatives of people at sea could send Christmas greetings and conversations were held with Germans who were far away. This program was produced directly in Norddeich and broadcast on the NDR radio program . In 1957, the 50th anniversary of the coastal radio station was finally celebrated in a large ceremony.

Old transmission technology exhibited in the Waloseum in Osterloog

1960s and 1970s: Osterloog as the new transmitter location

The 50th anniversary of the broadcast of time signals from Norddeich to ships all over the world aroused interest in the coastal radio station far beyond the borders of the FRG. The brief handling of air traffic via the Norddeich Radio systems was just as good for the media ; this offer was soon discontinued. The number of employees had risen to around 150, which was mainly due to the increasing demand in the area of telephony. A notable technical innovation is the (experimental) image transmission: Some images taken on the high seas when the British Queen said goodbye after a visit to Germany were wirelessly transmitted via Norddeich Radio to the editorial staff of Welt am Sonntag in Hamburg faster than a helicopter at the same time could accomplish. After the Deutsche Bundespost bought back the real estate from Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the coastal radio station was fundamentally modernized from the mid-1960s. This included the relocation of several transmission systems from Norddeich to Osterloog (north of the north) and the construction of additional transmission systems that corresponded to the latest technology at the time. In November 1970 the last transmitter in the Norddeich radio station was switched off. In addition to the remote-controllable transmitters in Osterloog, “Norddeich Radio” with its operations center in Utlandshörn also had other transmission systems near Cuxhaven and in Elmshorn .

1980s: Emerging satellite radio as a competitor to shortwave radio service

The commissioning of the Inmarsat system and inventions such as the GMDSS led to the fact that the coastal radio station, which had been expanded to 260 employees, had passed its peak at the beginning of the 1980s and was less and less in demand in the years that followed. Technical innovations meant that radio officers were no longer required on board the ships and communication became more and more independent. As early as 1989, a considerable proportion of the ships were equipped with the internationally available satellite technology, through which connections to almost any telephone connections worldwide could be established using the self-dialing method. It was possible to make emergency calls including precise position information at the push of a button.

1990s: Gradual shutdown of Norddeich radio

Due to the sharp decline in the overall utilization of German coastal radio stations and the requirement of the EU to reduce the number of Western European coastal radio stations, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom , the new superordinate authority of Norddeich Radio, carried out radical restructuring. Initially, the shortwave traffic from Rügen Radio was affiliated with Norddeich Radio. At the initiative of the employees, the so-called data service center was finally started in Utlandshörn: In order to counteract the further job cuts, the parent company Deutsche Telekom AG began implementing the new DAB technology in 1996 . In 1995/96 all telegraph radio traffic was stopped, the following year the border wave radio was switched off. Elbe-Weser Radio and Rügen Radio had been given up completely, the VHF voice radio service for the North and Baltic Seas was finally carried out from Norddeich Radio until it was finally closed on December 31, 1998. The last radio broadcast read: “ This is Norddeich Radio. Over and out ”. The “Waloseum” ( suitcase word from “whale” and “museum”), a facility of the seal rearing station in Norden-Norddeich, is located in the building of the radio station in Osterloog . Until the end of 2011, a call center operated by Vivento Customer Services (VCS), a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG, was located in the premises of the radio station in Utlandshörn .

In 2001, on the initiative of radio amateurs Mustapha Landoulsi, the radio technology museum Norddeich Radio association was formed , which set up a museum at the historic location of the former radio station in Utlandshörn. It showed u. a. Radios from ships as well as receiving and transmitting devices (including an original work table) from Norddeich Radio. After the demolition and renovation of the buildings in Utlandshörn, the museum moved to Dornum (district of Nesse), where it has been since then.

Norddeich Gonio (DAQ)

As Norddeich Gonio a 1961 officially put into operation device for was radio direction finding referred to with which it was possible for the position, for example, in distress to identify geratenen ships. In practice, a cross bearing was carried out in cooperation with the DF stations Elbe-Weser Gonio and St. Peter Ording Gonio , with which a high level of accuracy was achieved. In addition to being used in emergencies at sea, there was also the possibility of having their exact position determined for a fee for smaller, technically not so advanced ships.

Emergencies at sea with involvement of Norddeich Radio

In September 1957 an emergency call was received from the Pamir , a German sailing training ship that had sunk in a hurricane low in the Atlantic on its return journey from Buenos Aires to Germany . As it later turned out, the ship had been in radio contact with Norddeich during the entire voyage, but had received no warnings of the impending danger. In cooperation with the ships on site, Norddeich Radio coordinated the rescue operations, during which six crew members were ultimately rescued.

In February 1966, Norddeich Gonio located the German ship Hans Peter, which was in distress, and Norddeich Radio led a rescue operation in which the rescue cruiser Georg Breusing and the Borkum tug Atlas participated. This successful rescue was the first DAQ bearing under distress conditions.

The rescue boat Adolph Bermpohl accident in 1967 north of Helgoland for a rescue operation, which was previously also coordinated Norddeich Radio from: After successfully receiving an in distress Dutch crew with the daughter boat broke in the attempt to take over the castaways on the mothership, a Grundsee over the rescue cruiser in, so that the daughter boat Vegesack , which had gone alongside, was pushed under water. Only on the following day was the Adolph Bermpohl found 13 nautical miles southeast of Helgoland with the engine running and uncoupled, the daughter boat only drifting up the keel the following night - there were no survivors.

In December 1978 Norddeich Radio was involved in the search for the missing Munich .

In November 1983 the entire radio traffic between the MS Kampen , which got into distress off Iceland and later sank, and the shipping company in Hamburg was recorded.

Museums

In March 2015 the Museum Norddeich Radio eV was opened in Norden . All workplaces that were used for radio operation are shown in the museum. Guided tours by former employees are also offered. Since then there have been two museums at Norddeich Radio, one in Dornum , the other in Norden (East Frisia) . In the third place, in today's Norder Waloseum , remains of the historic marine radio station can also be viewed in a separate exhibition room.

literature

Gerhard Canzler : Norddeich radio. 1905-1998 . Risius, Weener / Ems 2004, ISBN 3-88761-091-1
Gregor Ulsamer: Lightship Borkumriff - The interesting history of communications on the coast . Gregor Ulsamer, Emden 2004, ISBN 3-00-014964-3 .
Oberpostdirektion Hamburg: 75 years Norddeich Radio 1907–1982 . Hamburg 1982, 108 pages
Rudolf Ludwig: facilities and tasks of a coast radio station . In: Expansion , issue 10/1957, pp. 609–611, Paul-Christiani-Verlag, Konstanz 1957