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"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.


Wavescan N638, May 16, 2021

The German Shortwave Service at Koenigswusterhausen - 2

As we return to the radio scene at Koenigswusterhausen, which is located a dozen miles south east of Berlin in Germany, we note that four major buildings upon this estate have been in use as transmitter houses during the past 100 years. This facility was originally an army encampment, and it was in use for the testing of very early wireless equipment.

In 1911, an army battalion began experimental transmissions on a hill that was known at the time as Windmill Hill. Initially, primitive mobile transmitters were set up on horse drawn carts, and the antenna wires were attached to small aerial balloons.

What is now identified as Sender Haus Nr. 1 was constructed specifically for the installation and operation of experimental wireless transmitters, and it was inaugurated as the German Army Central Radio Station in 1916. That building, which still stands to this day, is the oldest transmitter building in Germany.

After the end of World War I, the Koenigswusterhausen estate was taken over by the German Post Office in September 1919 for use as their main wireless communication station. Morse Code transmissions provided quick business communication, mainly with similar, though smaller, wireless stations throughout Germany. The original callsign in Morse Code for Koenigswusterhausen was LP, though quite frequently the station was also identified colloquially as KWH, as would be expected.

Just one year later, Dr. Hans Bredow supervised what became their now historic Christmas Broadcast on December 22, 1920, an event that is acknowledged as the beginning of radio broadcasting in Germany. This truly historic broadcast was presented over a modified 5 kW spark transmitter that radiated on 350 m. (857 kHz). (Some authorities state that this broadcast was noted on 2700 m 110 kHz.)

Senderhaus Nr. 1 became the first transmitter building at Koenigswusterhausen for regular radio programming on what are now recognized as the longwave and mediumwave broadcasting bands. Several very tall, self-supporting towers were erected close by to the transmitter building, and smaller towers carried the feeder lines from the Senderhaus to the antenna towers.

After the 1920 introductory broadcast, a new broadcasting transmitter was constructed and installed into Haus Nr. 1, and it was taken into a regular program service three years later, with Sunday music concerts, on October 29, 1923. Over a period of time, this transmitter was noted on various longwave channels, such as 2370 m., 2400 m., 2700 m. and even 4000 m. (127 kHz, 125 kHz, 111 kHz and even 75 kHz).

In 1925, the nationwide Deutschlandsender broadcast service was established at Koenigswusterhausen, with several high towers and a 4 kW transmitter on 280.4 m. (1070 kHz) that was subsequently upgraded to 75 kW. During the late 1920s, several lower powered transmitters were installed progressively, and they were in use for program broadcasting and also for regional communication.

These transmitters, and the channels in use, were identified with similar callsigns, such as, for example, AFP and AFT. In 1936, a diesel generator was also installed in Haus Nr. 1.

These days, a large and important radio museum is housed in this same Sender Haus Nr. 1. On display is a grand assortment of old wireless and radio equipment, including some of the original transmitters. One special transmitter on display is a 100 kW Telefunken that had previously been installed at Horby in Sweden.

Due to the increasing need for wireless and radio transmitters in Germany, a second transmitter building, Senderhaus Nr. 2, was constructed in 1923. Initially several telegraph transmitters with power levels up to 50 kW were installed, though soon afterwards a longwave broadcast transmitter was also installed.

Then, in 1932, a powerful 100 kW Telefunken broadcast transmitter was transferred from Tegel, 5 miles northeast of Berlin, and it was re-installed in Haus Nr. 2. This unit, which became quite famous as Sender 21, carried programming from studios in Berlin as Berliner Welle, on 1635 m. (183 kHz).

During the dramatic events of the European War in the middle of last century, the radio stations at Koenigswusterhausen (and Zeesen also) were on the air for a cluster of services: Program broadcasting to central Europe and beyond, jamming unwanted incoming radio signals, decoy transmissions, and wartime communications.

It is also true that these radio stations at Koenigswusterhausen remained largely undamaged during belligerent fighting. As the Russian army moved in towards the city of Berlin in 1945, their forces were commanded to capture the Koenigswusterhausen/Zeesen radio stations without damage.

And that's where leave this story for today, and we will pick it up again in two weeks' time.