Rügen radio
Rügen Radio ( call sign : DHS / Y5M) was a coastal radio station in Germany . It had its operations center in Glowe , the transmitter was in Lohme on the island of Rügen .
The beginnings
Due to the steady growth of shipping at the beginning of the 20th century, radio support for ships in the Baltic Sea was urgently required. The main task should be radio watch and radio communications to safeguard human life at sea. Therefore, on September 11, 1911, a coastal radio station was put into operation in Swinoujscie . It was named "Coast station Swinoujscie" (at the same time the name for calls in radio communications) and the letters DAS were assigned to it as a call sign (international distinctive signal and, so to speak, a "short name" in Morse radio communications) .
1930 to 1932
From 1930 it became necessary to build a more efficient coastal radio station. On this occasion, a change of location was made in order to get the coast station closer to the center of the sea area to be served. Because of the preferential direction of radiation, a location in the north of the island of Rügen was favorable.
Field strength measurements showed that the most favorable point for setting up a radio reception center is Glowe at the beginning of the Schaabe and for setting up the radio transmission center is Lohme, 10 kilometers to the east on the Jasmund peninsula .
It should be noted that at that time radio traffic on medium and border waves was considered. That was enough to supply all shipping in the area of the central and southern Baltic Sea. More distant sea areas were connected by other coastal radio stations. At that time, shortwave was only just beginning to be developed for bridging great distances.
The radio reception center was built about 400 meters from the eastern entrance to Glowe. The radio transmitter was built on the hill south of Lohme, the "Teufelsberg". The newly established coastal radio station was given the name "Coastal radio station Rügen Radio", but kept the callsign DAS as a "souvenir" of the previous location in Swinoujscie . In 1932, personnel and technical facilities were relocated from Swinoujscie to the new locations on Rügen.
Second World War
In the course of the Second World War , Rügen Radio was integrated into the radio system of the Navy . Among other things, it was reported that from Glowe telecommunications intelligence (interception and decryption of enemy radio links) in the direction of the North Atlantic had been carried out.
In 1945 the company was stopped. Two days before the arrival of the Red Army , Rügen radio was blown up. What was left was a house right on the street.
1945 until the "turning point"
In the course of the gradual development of the state- owned fishing industry, a fleet of cutters was created in Sassnitz on Rügen . To steer them and to look after the people at sea, it was not possible to dispense with radio communications . Therefore, from the end of 1948 onwards, the fish combination began negotiations with the then head office for radio communications. This agreed to set up a new coast station.
The reconstruction of the devastated coast station took place under the direction of Oberpostdirektion Schwerin by the Telegraph Building Authority Stralsund . On September 22nd, 1949 at 3:00 a.m., she started telephony radio communications with the first two cutters of the Sassnitz fishing fleet from Lohme . The callsign of the new coast station became DHS .
The growth of the deep-sea fishing fleet of the GDR , the expansion of the fishing areas to the North Sea , later to the North Sea and the Barents Sea , required an expansion of the technical systems of Rügen Radio as well as the spatial separation of the radio transmission and reception point in order not to receive the inefficient ship transmitters to impair one's own strong transmission.
The transmitting station remained in Lohme, while the receiving station in Glowe was initially housed in some rooms of a residential building. The building of the radio reception center was rebuilt based on the old style and put into operation in 1953.
In 1953, a so-called “ship press” was sent out to provide up-to-date information to seafarers . It appeared daily with the latest from business, politics, culture and sport. In the distance, this news from home was highly valued by the crews.
From 1957/1958, communications links from Rügen Radio to GDR ships were established on all oceans . From 1958, the first shortwave radio calls were also carried out. At the end of 1964 there were around 480 marine radio stations (that is the name customarily used for a ship in connection with the marine radio service) in the GDR that were able to keep in touch with their homeland via Rügen Radio .
The development of the GDR's trading and fishing fleet and the increased number of foreign ships calling at the ports made it necessary to retrofit the technical and operational systems of this coastal radio station. These extensions were mainly realized in 1965 and 1966.
The next expansion of tasks came to Rügen Radio when the Suez Canal was closed due to the Six Day War in the Middle East . The considerably further sea routes around the Cape of Good Hope and through the Panama Canal became necessary and had to be secured by radio. In 1967 radio traffic was carried out with around 560 GDR ships.
From 1968 a dispatcher station for shortwave telegraphy was set up in order to be able to coordinate the increased long-distance traffic more effectively.
The directional receiving antennas used up to now had been planned and built several years in advance for the sea areas traveled at that time. In the meantime, many other areas have also been driven. And a proper coastal radio station had to be able to "hear" on all marine shortwave frequencies and in all directions with directional antennas. From 1972 onwards, a system of eight V antennas (one each for a 45 degree opening angle) was used on a single mast. This "V-star" has proven itself well until the end of the shortwave traffic from Rügen Radio . In addition to the advantages of the more stable radio connection, the effort for maintaining the antenna park was also greatly reduced.
In 1973 the GDR was politically recognized, accepted into the UN , and joined the Universal Postal Union and the International Telecommunications Association . This did not remain without effects on the work of Rügen Radio . The GDR coastal radio station also gained importance for shipping companies in “non-socialist” countries. Telegrams and conversations were now "allowed" to be conducted via Rügen radio . The revenues from this radio traffic rose within one year (from 1973 to 1974) by 50 percent .
At the end of the 1970s, the GDR received new call signs for its radio stations, namely the call sign series Y2A… Y9Z. That was consistent, because the regulations for the radio service stipulated that the nationality of a radio station should be recognizable from its call sign (first and second characters). Until then, there were no discernible differences in the allocation of callsigns. Rügen Radio now received the callsign Y5M .
After the turning point and the end of Rügen Radio
After the GDR joined the Federal Republic of Germany, Rügen Radio returned to the old DHS call sign .
On 3 October 1990 which took place accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany. As far as the coastal radio service was concerned, the following situation arose: In western northern Germany there were the very well-equipped coastal radio stations Norddeich Radio , Kiel Radio and Elbe-Weser Radio , which belonged to the German Federal Post Office . The Deutsche Bundespost was far more efficient than the Deutsche Post of the GDR .
Kiel Radio and Elbe-Weser Radio were already working in the local area, i. H. with ships in the North and Baltic Seas. Norddeich Radio also carried out shortwave long-distance traffic with ships on all oceans in addition to the short-range. In addition, the coastal radio stations in the old federal states were no longer fully utilized because an increasing part of the radio traffic in the coastal area was handled via the mobile network , an increasing part of the radio traffic with distant ships was via satellite connections and fewer and fewer German crew members at sea drove, and thus also the private radio traffic via German coastal radio stations decreased. So it made sense to concentrate long-distance traffic (on shortwave) only at Norddeich Radio . Rügen Radio stopped long-distance traffic.
The Glowe radio reception center was technically re-equipped and even took over the entire German VHF coastal radio service in the Baltic Sea for a few years, while Kiel Radio was closed. Because coastal radio traffic continued to decline, and the services on medium and border waves were no longer worthwhile and became unnecessary for the safety of shipping, Rügen Radio completely stopped the coastal radio service in 1998 . The VHF coastal radio service was initially concentrated at Norddeich Radio until this was also dissolved.
The last of the transmission masts that had shaped the townscape of Lohme up to that point was dismantled on April 4, 2018.
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This text is based on the memories of Georg Fiege, former head of office of Rügen Radio.
Web links
- Literature on Rügen radio in the state bibliography MV
- The official homepage of the veterans of Rügen Radio
- Private homepage for coastal radio
Coordinates: 54 ° 34 ′ 17 ″ N , 13 ° 29 ′ 3 ″ E