OMEGA transmitter Saint-Paul
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OMEGA transmitter Saint-Paul
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| Basic data | ||||
| Place: | Saint-Paul | |||
| Overseas Department: | Reunion | |||
| Country: | France | |||
| Coordinates: 20 ° 58 ′ 27 ″ S , 55 ° 17 ′ 24 ″ E | ||||
| Use: | Military use | |||
| Owner : | United States Navy | |||
| Demolition : | April 18, 1999 | |||
| Mast data | ||||
| Construction time : | 1974-1976 | |||
| Building material : | steel | |||
| Total height : | 427 m | |||
| Total mass : | 780 t | |||
| Data on the transmission system | ||||
| Waveband : | VLF transmitter | |||
| Send type: | terrestrial radio navigation | |||
| Shutdown : | September 30, 1997 | |||
| Position map | ||||
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The OMEGA transmitter Saint Paul was a transmitter of the OMEGA navigation system at Saint-Paul on the French island of Reunion . It was built from 1974 to 1976 on the Plaine Chabrier and had a 427 m high self-radiating transmission mast , which was planned and built by the company Joseph Paris and was the tallest structure ever erected on French territory. Since the transmission mast is too short to radiate the very low transmission frequency of just over 10 kHz , it was electrically lengthened .
This transmission mast was a grounded steel truss structure with a cross-section in the form of an equilateral triangle with a side length of 3.65 meters and a weight of 780 t, which carried a 30 t heavy ring with a diameter of 30 m on the top, on which the transmitting antenna in the form a shield antenna was attached to insulators that were designed for a voltage of over 300 kV . This shield antenna was guyed to concrete blocks that were 730 m away from the mast. For better accessibility, a ring road was built directly behind the anchor blocks of the shield antenna. In total, the facility took up an area of 170 hectares. The antenna was fed from the tuning house, which was about 260 m away from the mast and has the dimensions of a small apartment block, via a rope that leads vertically upwards from it. The transmitter used had an output power of 300 kW, the emitted power was 10 kW. Pulses between 0.9 s and 1.2 s were sent at the frequencies 10.2 kHz, 11.05 kHz, 11.33 kHz, 12.3 kHz and 13.6 kHz, which followed one another at 200 ms intervals .
The transmitter was in operation until the OMEGA navigation system ceased operations on September 30, 1997. On April 18, 1999, the mast was demolished by detonation. Several statically relevant nuts were exchanged for those filled with explosives, so that only 92 grams of explosives were required. The voting house existed in 2016 and has not been given a new function. The area of the former broadcasting station is almost completely unused to this day.