Marnach transmitter
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Marnach transmitter
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| Basic data | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place: | Parc Hosingen - Hosingen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canton: | Clervaux | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country: | Luxembourg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Altitude : | 540 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates: 50 ° 2 ′ 30.8 " N , 6 ° 4 ′ 56.6" E | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Use: | Broadcasting station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner : | Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Demolition : | February 11, 2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Data on the transmission system | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Waveband : | AM station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio : | MW broadcasting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Send type: | DRM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shutdown : | December 31, 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The transmitter Marnach was a radio station on the western slope of the Schwaarzenhiwwel , a 540 meter high elevation in the municipality of Clervaux in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg .
It worked on the frequency 1,440 kHz in the medium wave range and was one of the most powerful radio transmitters with a transmission power of up to 1,200 kilowatts .
construction
The transmission system consisted of two directional antennas: The main antenna with three transmission masts 105 meters high, insulated from earth, as well as the former England antenna with a 60-meter-high, braced steel framework mast insulated from earth (dismantled at the end of 2014) and a free-standing 65-meter reflector high steel lattice tower with a triangular cross-section.
The 3 masts of the main antenna and the reflector tower of the former England antenna were dismantled at the beginning of 2016.
history
Structure of the transmission system and start of transmission
Radio Luxembourg broadcast its English-language program from January 15, 1951 on the Junglinster station . From 1953 Dutch programs were also broadcast on medium wave. However, in order to improve reception and to be able to broadcast a German-language program, an expansion of the transmission system was necessary. In 1955, a new transmitter was built on the Schwaarzenhiwwel, about 1.5 kilometers southeast of the town of Marnach . This went into operation on December 14, 1956 with 200 kilowatts of power and two transmission masts and replaced the transmitter in Junglinster. The program was fed to the Marnach transmitter via a direct cable connection to the studios in the Villa Louvigny .
In the course of 1956, another medium wave transmitter with an output of 150 kilowatts was relocated from Junglinster to Marnach and the transmission output was increased to 350 kilowatts.
On July 15, 1957, the German-language program of Radio Luxembourg began on the Marnach transmitter. The broadcasting time was initially daily from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., from the end of 1957 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. In April 1958, the program was finally broadcast all day, with the exception of the evening hours, when the English-language program continued to be broadcast.
Construction and collapse of the VHF transmitter
From November 1962 until the new transmitter in Hosingen was put into operation, VHF transmitters were initially installed in Marnach for the VHF frequency 97.0 MHz. In May 1967 another VHF transmitter was added on the frequency 88.9 MHz. On January 17, 1969, the 220 meter high VHF transmission mast , which was erected in 1960, overturned and damaged the transmitter building. Until the new transmitter in Hosingen was commissioned, a temporary antenna was used for the VHF broadcasts.
Further expansion
In 1963 another mast was added to the daytime antenna to improve the directivity of the daytime broadcasts to Germany (90 °) and the nighttime broadcasts to Great Britain (314 °). A switchable directional radiation could be achieved by feeding the masts differently.
In the summer of 1964 the building was expanded and in September 1965 another 300 kilowatt transmitter was put into operation, increasing the transmission power to 600 kilowatts. In November 1967, another medium wave transmitter was installed, which replaced three old transmitters from 1952 and 1955. In October 1968, the commissioning of another 600 kilowatt transmitter increased the transmission power to 1,200 kilowatts. Due to the high transmission power, reception from Great Britain to Scandinavia to Eastern Europe was possible.
On January 14, 1970, the 60 meter high transmission mast of the night antenna was put into operation, which should improve the directional radiation to Great Britain. The corresponding reflector mast was put into operation on December 3, 1976.
In the mid-1970s, two more masts were added to the main antenna, which should improve the directional radiation to Germany (90 °). However, these masts were dismantled again in 1979 because the antenna did not meet the desired requirements.
As part of the Geneva Wave Plan , the frequency was changed from 1439 kHz to 1440 kHz in 1978.
In 1981, the 300 kilowatt medium wave transmitter from 1967 was dismantled and replaced by a new 300 kilowatt medium wave transmitter. In the following year, the 600 kilowatt medium wave transmitter from 1965 was replaced by a new medium wave transmitter of the same strength called the Telefunken S4006.
Two generators were available to power the transmitters in the event of a power failure.
Later years
Until December 30, 1991, the English-language service of Radio Luxembourg , which was finally completely discontinued on December 31, 1992, was broadcast by Marnach. Since then, the German-language program RTL Radio has been broadcast on the station . Other broadcasters joined later, including since January 1, 2002 Radio China International , which has rented a few hours of airtime that evening. From January 2001 to April 2003 the German-language program Megaradio also broadcast from this station. During this time, the programs of Megaradio and RTL Radio were broadcast with 300 kilowatts of transmission power, while the religious program providers used 1,200 kilowatts of transmission power. As of September 8, 2003, the broadcast power was increased to 1,200 kilowatts due to a relaunch of the morning broadcast on RTL Radio from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. This morning performance increase was reversed in 2005.
In 2005, a new medium wave transmitter of the type TRAM / P 600 was installed by the company Transradio Sendersysteme Berlin (formerly Telefunken Sendersysteme), which arrived at the transmitter station in Marnach on December 20, 2004. The transmitter enabled an output power of 600 kilowatts in the analog amplitude modulation and 280 kilowatts in the digital Digital Radio Mondiale . Most of the time, the transmission system was operated digitally with 240 kilowatts during the day and 120 kilowatts at night. The directional radiation was towards Germany (45 °) during the day and towards Great Britain (320 °) at night. The three old transmitters (two Telefunken S4006 as the main transmitter and one Telefunken S1445 / 2 as a reserve transmitter with 600 kilowatts each) were retained. Since the antenna only allows a maximum RF output of 1,200 kilowatts, it would not be possible to interconnect the old transmitters with the newly installed 2,000 kilowatts.
On January 1, 2005, RTL Radio started broadcasting in DRM from the Marnach station using this newly installed station after tests carried out in December 2004 between 1:05 am and 4:50 am and between 9 am and 6 pm . However, these programs were discontinued in early 2011.
Since the end of the DRM broadcasts, the station was out of service between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. At the beginning of December 2011, however, broadcasting was resumed with analogue broadcasts during this period.
As of October 2015, from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. (including several programs from various missionary organizations ) and from 5:55 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. RTL - Germany's hit radio , from 7.30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Wednesdays from 19 : 25 o'clock) religious broadcasts from various mission organizations (including from 1958 to the beginning of 2015 the Werner Heukelbach mission organization and, most recently, the Schweizer Missionswerk Freundesdienst since 1959 and, for a long time, the Lutheran hour mission organization) and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Radio China International broadcast in German in analog modulation. The rest of the time the transmitter was off-air. To mark the daily shutdown of the station at 1 a.m., the Luxembourg national anthem was played after the radio China International broadcasts had ended . After switching on the station a few minutes before 5 a.m., RTL Radio played the pause signal ; sometimes a 1000 Hz test tone, until it was faded into the current RTL program at 5 o'clock sharp. The programs from RTL - Germany's Hit Radio and from the religious program providers were mostly broadcast with 300 kilowatts of power, while the programs of Radio China International were broadcast with 600 kilowatts of power.
Dispute over radiation exposure and averted closure of the transmission system
In 2002 the citizens' initiative “Fir méi Liäwensqualitéit” (German for more quality of life) was founded. Since 2003, she has carried out several class actions and petitions against the operator BCE, as there were frequent reports of malfunctions in electrical devices from the public. The immission limit of 3 V / m required by the citizens' initiative was sometimes exceeded nine times in measurements. The trigger was a morning special broadcast from 2003 to 2005 with 1,200 kilowatts of power, for which BCE received permission in 2002, according to the citizens' initiative. Since the transmission system could always be operated with a maximum transmission power of 1,200 kilowatts and the transmission power has been reduced to 250 kilowatts since the 1990s, this argument was unjustified. Due to the dispute, a new construction of the transmitter in the village of Helzingen was even considered in 2007. In 2010 and 2011, a class action judgment ruled that the operator must comply with the immission limit. On October 3, 2011, the communications minister made preliminary announcements that the transmitter would be shut down; the operating license of the transmitter was extended one last time until October 3, 2014. After the shutdown, a new data center was to be built on the current transmitter site. However, a postponement was obtained until December 30, 2014. As a result, BCE appealed and achieved an overturning of the judgment, as there is no emission limit for transmission systems at EU level. The court decided that the immission limit of 3 V / m required by the citizens' initiative should not be applied to transmission systems. Thus RTL was allowed to operate the broadcasting system beyond December 30, 2014; the area around the transmitter should not have been built up so densely. At the same time, China Radio International extended the broadcasting contract with BCE beyond this date. According to press reports, the interference was particularly pronounced when operating the antenna directed to England, which, however, has not been used since September 2013.
In the course of the final shutdown of the station, "Fir méi Liäwensqualitéit" saw itself as the winner and a few weeks before the shutdown set up a countdown to the final shutdown with the title "End of interferences in ...".
Shutdown
According to a report by the Tageblatt from the end of 2014, the transmitter operator BCE saw a shutdown of the transmitter system at the end of 2015 as "very likely".
In March 2015 it was announced that BCE had sold the 5-hectare transmitter site to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , which, after the decommissioning at the end of 2015, would like to demolish the transmitter system by April 2016 at the latest in order to create a business center for companies in the telecommunications and audiovisual media sector erect. According to its technical director Eugène Muller, BCE planned to switch to the medium-wave frequency 1422 kHz from the Heusweiler transmitter , as medium-wave operation was highly profitable, primarily due to the transmission by Radio China International and the mission organizations. Despite concrete negotiations with Saarländischer Rundfunk , the plans failed because the relevant market had shrunk too much in a short time. The 60 meter high transmission mast of the England antenna, which had not been used since September 2013, was dismantled at the end of 2014.
In December 2015, it was decided to build the business center that was actually planned for this location in the neighboring district of Fischbach and to build a dormitory for 300 refugees on the current transmitter site.
On the night of December 31, 2015 from 1 to 3 a.m. and at noon from 1 to 3 p.m., the last broadcast of the English-language Radio Luxembourg on December 31, 1991 was broadcast again; on January 1, 2016 at 1 a.m., the station should finally be switched off after the broadcast of Radio China International with the Luxembourg national anthem. For legal reasons, however, BCE was forced to cancel the current program of Radio China International at 11:57 p.m. and to switch off the station for good at 11:59 p.m. after the Luxembourg national anthem had been played.
The three 105 meter high transmission masts were dismantled on February 11, 2016 by cutting the anchor ropes. The 65 meter high reflector tower of the former England antenna finally followed in March 2016.
Others
- Due to the change in directional radiation, short operational interruptions were observed every day at around 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. until the England antenna was abandoned in September 2013.
- The medium wave frequency 1440 kHz transmitter Marnach counted next to the short wave frequency 6090 kHz of the transmitter Junglinster and the FM frequencies 88.9 MHz and 97.0 MHz of the transmitter Dudelange and the transmitter Hosingen (also from Marnach until 1969) to the four happy waves of the former Radio Luxembourg .
photos
Main antenna, consisting of three identical 105 meter high steel framework masts
England antenna, consisting of a 60 meter high steel lattice mast (left) and a 65 meter high steel lattice tower as a reflector (right)
England antenna transmission mast (dismantled in 2014)
England antenna reflector
General view of the plant, July 2013
Web links
- Transmitting masts of the day antenna. In: Structurae
- Transmission mast night antenna. In: Structurae
- Reflector mast night antenna. In: Structurae
- Information about the transmitter at wabweb.net
- Website of the citizens' initiative Fir méi Liäwensqualitéit
- Info page of the broadcasting network operator BCE
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Information about the Marnach station on the website of Hansjörg Biener ( Memento from November 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ https://backstage.rtlgroup.de/public/htm/ge/Dailynews_FS.aspx?id=dailynews_217D39B92ECA4F70B3DACD6C85031415&newsdate=22122015
- ↑ Information about Radio China International on the website of Hansjörg Biener ( Memento from March 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ transradio.de: 600kW MW Marnach, Luxembourg
- ↑ a b c 1440 kHz from Luxembourg should be switched off
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from November 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ fmscan.org: Marnach AM transmitter info
- ↑ This pause signal from the oldies broadcaster RTL from the 90s was played until the last time before the broadcast started
- ↑ Euro-African Medium Wave Guide
- ↑ lq-marnach.lu: Will it be “broadcast” soon? - Newspaper article from the Luxemburger Wort published on the website of the Initiative against the Sender ( Memento from May 17, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 574 kB)
- ↑ Activités futures sur le site de l'émetteur de Marnach ( Memento of October 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Guido Romaschewsky: A broadcaster, a community - and a citizens' initiative: What hasn't been said about Marnach. (pdf) Tageblatt, May 31, 2014, archived from the original on December 22, 2014 ; accessed on June 21, 2014 .
- ↑ a b Kai Ludwig: Medium wave 1440 kHz remains in operation. radio eins media magazine, June 19, 2014, archived from the original on December 8, 2015 ; accessed on June 21, 2014 .
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from January 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from November 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from December 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.radioszene.de/77566/luxemburger-sendeanlage-marnach-wird-ende-2015-stilllege.html
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from July 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.wort.lu/de/lokales/nach-plaenen-fuer-fluechtlingsdorf-it-gewerbezone-von-marnach-nach-fischbach-566938d00da165c55dc4f53c
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from January 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ A piece of radio history has disappeared on Tageblatt.lu (accessed on February 21, 2016)