[HCDX] Grimeton radio station special broadcast on February 19, 2006

["Mike Terry" <miketerry73@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

VLF Radiostation Grimeton will run two special rare winter time CW
transmissions of SAQ 17.2KHz on 0900 & 1300 UTC Sunday, February 19, 2006.
Each transmission will be about a half-hour in length. SAQ is the world's
only remaining operational Alexanderson Alternator Transmitter and this will
be a great opportunity to try your luck receiving them in optimum wintertime
conditions for VLF!

(Todd WD4NGG, (LWCA)

The Grimeton radio station in Halland County, Sweden was erected in 1922-24
as a link in the worldwide network of broadcast transmitters. With an aerial
system of six impressive steel towers and an Alexanderson alternator, the
transmitter symbolizes a crucial step in the evolution of modern wireless
communications and is the only one of its kind still in operation.

The need for rapid, secure communications between Sweden and the United
States became increasingly evident in the early Twenties. Transatlantic
cables had proven to be highly vulnerable, particularly in wartime. So the
Swedish Parliament appropriated close to 5 million kronor in 1920 for
construction of a major new radio station. Built by RCA and started up on 1
December 1924, the transmitter boasted of the latest technology. King Gustaf
V officially inaugurated it on 2 July 1925. As one link in an international
network of similar transmitters, it played a major role in transatlantic
telegraph communications.

Grimeton's pride, and the heart of the transmitter, is an alternating
current generator dubbed the Alexanderson alternator. Its inventor was Ernst
Fredrik Werner Alexanderson (1878-1975), a Swedish-American engineer and
pioneer in radio and television engineering who obtained more than 300
patents during his lifetime. The Grimeton transmitter has the last complete
Alexanderson alternator still in operation.

The six 127 meter towers are awesome to behold. Spaced 380 meters apart,
each tower has a 46 meter cross beam. Eight wires carry antenna current
between the towers. A vertical antenna wire transmits from each tower.
Adjacent to the towers are the station's buildings, still well preserved
more than 80 years after their design by architect Carl Åkerblad. A little
nearby village houses the staff.

The Grimeton transmitter not only represents a major advance in the
evolution of modern wireless communications, but is one of western Sweden's
biggest structures and a unique historic monument.

http://www.raa.se/varveng/grimetone.asp

See also http://worldheritage.heindorffhus.dk/frame-SwedenVarberg.htm

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