Heusweiler transmitter

The transmission system for the frequency 1422 kHz in the foreground. In the background on the left you can see the transmission mast for the frequency 1179 kHz, which can hardly be seen in the picture.

Basic data

Place:

Heusweiler

Country:

Saarland

Country:

Germany

Altitude :

288 m above sea level NHN

Coordinates: 49 ° 20 ′ 42.4 " N , 6 ° 54 ′ 52.2" E

Use:

Broadcasting station

Accessibility:

Transmission system not accessible to the public

Owner :

Saarland radio

Demolition :

September 21, 2018 (blown up)

Data on the transmission system

Tower / mast 1
Height:	50 m
Construction time:	1946
Operating time:	1946-2015

Tower / mast 2
Height:	120 m
Construction time:	1948
Operating time:	1948-2015

Tower / mast 3
Height:	120 m
Construction time:	1965
Operating time:	1965-2015

Waveband :

AM station

Radio :

MW broadcasting

Shutdown :

December 31, 2015

Position map

Heusweiler transmitter

The Heusweiler transmitter was a medium wave transmitter of the Saarland Broadcasting Corporation north of Heusweiler . It was the most powerful medium wave transmitter of the ARD with a maximum transmission power of 1200 kW .

history

Height diagram of the transmission masts of the long and medium wave transmitters of the Deutschlandfunk

The Heusweiler transmitter went into operation on December 23, 1935. In the early days he used a T-antenna , which was suspended from a 35 meter and a 31 meter high, guyed wooden tower. On March 17, 1945, the transmitter was destroyed by the war.

On June 19, 1946, broadcasting began again in Heusweiler. First a T-antenna was used, which was replaced in the same year by a 50-meter-high guyed steel truss mast insulated from earth . This mast existed until it was blown up on September 21, 2018 and was later mainly used as a reserve antenna. In 1948, a 120 meter high steel truss mast, insulated from the ground, was erected as a transmitting antenna. From initially just 2 kW, the transmission power was increased several times in the following period. On October 4, 1958, the medium-wave transmission power was increased from 20 kW to 100 kW. The station could thus be received in Germany as far as Hamburg and Berlin.

In 1965 a second transmission mast of 120 meters was built in Heusweiler and in 1973 the output was increased to 1200 kW. The Heusweiler station was thus the most powerful medium wave station in Germany and the most powerful ARD station. From 1973 to 1994, the transmitter served to broadcast the Europawelle Saar program of the Saarländischer Rundfunk on the frequency 1421 kHz or (from November 23, 1978) 1422 kHz, which was broadcast during the day with the full power of 1200 kW and at night with 600 kW .

From 1994 to 2015, the Deutschlandfunk program was broadcast via this station . The transmission power was initially reduced to 600 kW all day. In February 2008, the tube transmitter from 1973 was replaced by a fully transistorized system from Transradio Sendersysteme Berlin with a carrier power of 400 kW. The system is prepared for DRM operation. On December 31, 2015, the broadcast of the DLF on this station was stopped.

Heusweiler transmitter in July 2014; 50 meter high transmission mast in the foreground, the two 120 meter high transmission masts in the background

Information board of the Saarländischer Rundfunk (December 2015)

At the end of 2005, Saarland Broadcasting had put a second medium-wave transmitter into operation in Heusweiler for its information program, Antenne Saar, during the daytime hours. For this purpose, the former reserve transmitter for the frequency 1422 kHz with the 50 meter high transmitter mast was used. This program was broadcast on the frequency 1179 kHz with an output of 10 kW. From November 2, 2009 to December 31, 2015, the transmitter was in operation around the clock.

Talks with RTL subsidiary Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) about continuing to use the Heusweiler station instead of its own station Marnach failed in mid-2015.

Since the medium wave era in Germany ended at the end of 2015, the system in Heusweiler is no longer needed by the Saarland broadcasting service - the two 120-meter antennas and the 50-meter antenna were blown up. The broadcaster is trying to find a tenant for the building.

On December 31, 2015 at 11:57 p.m., the transmitter was finally switched off. As a special farewell action, the 1422 kHz frequency of Deutschlandfunk broadcasted the old pause signal of Deutschlandfunk, which had not been used in the program for years, in a continuous loop. The frequency 1179 kHz of Antenne Saar was switched off abruptly in the middle of the ARD info night.

Originally, the masts were supposed to be dismantled "between late autumn 2017 and early 2018" and the transmitter would disappear from the scene. "First quarter 2018" was later named as the new date. Finally, the two 120-meter-high transmission masts and the 50-meter antenna were blown up in a controlled manner on September 21, 2018 at 7:33 p.m. using cutting charges.

particularities

In the 1970s, a wire cable network was stretched over half a kilometer of the route over the Federal Motorway 8 , which runs in the immediate vicinity of the transmitter, as a shield in order to prevent the antenna from interfering with drivers. At the same time, the wire cable network served as an extension of the transmitter's earth network .

The wire rope net over the motorway was removed the day after the blast.

Another special feature is the now closed indoor outdoor pool below the transmitter, which at the time was heated with the transmitter's cooling water. The reduction in output and various technical adjustments had contributed to the fact that the water there was no longer as warm as it used to be.