Hochblauen

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Hochblauen
The Hochblauen as seen from Badenweiler on an old postcard (ca. 1900)
Hochblauen Location within Germany
Elevation	1,165 metres (3,822 ft)
Location	Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Range	Black Forest
Prominence	813 m (2,667 ft)
Coordinates	47°46′39″N 07°42′4″E / 47.7775, 7.70111^[1]
Easiest route	Drive K160 (Kandertalstraße) through Marzell or L140 through Friedrichsheim
Translation	high blue (German)

The Hochblauen is a 1165 meter high mountain in the southern Black Forest. The peak lies within the municipalities of Schliengen and Malsburg-Marzell in Landkreis Lörrach and the community of Badenweiler in Landkreis Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald. It is an ideal viewpoint with views of the Black Forest, Vosges, Jura Mountains, and the Alps.

View northwest from the Hochblauen over the Rhine valley

Variation A of the "Westweg", a long distance trail maintained by the Schwarzwaldverein, leads over the Blauen^[2]. At the top there is an inn with a hotel^[3].

On the Blauen stands a 21 Meter high metal lattice observation tower, built in 1895 by the Schwarzwaldverein.^[4]

Southeast of the Hochblauen is the Stockberg castle ruins, the highest (in elevation) castle in Baden-Württemburg^[5].

[edit] Transmission Tower

Radio Tower

Also at the peak stands a 93 meter tall Deutsche Telekom VHF and microwave radio relay tower. The tower is a reinforced concrete Typenturm, built in 1985.^[6] The following radio stations are broadcast from this tower: SWR1 Baden-Württemberg (89.2 FM/8.4 kW), SWR2 (92.6 FM/8.4 kW), SWR3 (97.0 FM/8,4kW), Deutschlandfunk (105.1 FM/10 kW), Radio Regenbogen (101.1 FM/8,4 kW) und baden.fm (106.0 FM/8,4 kW). The tower is also used by the amateur radio repeater DB0YE.^[7]

The tower serves mainly the southern Upper Rhine valley as well as a large portion of the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Lörrach rural districts. The stations transmitted from the Blauen are also easily received in northwestern Switzerland. Until the end of the 1980's the former SWF broadcast could be heard well beyond the Vosges mountains to the west. Since then the power of the transmissions toward France have been limited by international agreements.