Ravensburg-Horgenzell transmitter

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Aerial iew of Horgenzell with Ravensburg-Horgenzell transmitter
Aerial iew of Horgenzell with Ravensburg-Horgenzell transmitter

Ravensburg-Horgenzell transmitter is a mediumwave broadcasting facility of Deutsche Telekom used for transmitting the program of Deutschlandfunk on the area of community Horgenzell nothwest of Ravensburg in Baden-Württemberg. It was inaugurated on August 23, 1951 and used until 1959 for transmitting the radio programme of SWF with a transmission power of 40 kW on 1538 kHz. As antenna, it used a 120 metre tall guyed ground-fed lattice steel mast radiator at 47°47'10" N and 9°31'16" E. In 1964 after Bodenseesender took over its task, it was given from SWF to German Federal Post (Deutsche Bundespost) and its frequency was changed to 755 kHz, in order to form a single frequency network with Cremlingen transmitter near Brunswick in Lower Saxony. Because this frequency, which allowed a much better groundwave propagation, was also used by Sottens transmitter in Switzerland, close to its 120 metre tall mast radiator, a 80 metre tall guyed reflector mast had to be built. At daytime a transmission power of 100 kW was used, while it had to be reduced to 30 kW at night. The waveplan of Geneva resulted in a frequency shift together with Cremlingen transmitter to 756 kHz, while Sottens transmitter got a new frequency. The radiation minimum toward Southwest was not required any more. However a new radiation minimum toward Eastsoutheast in the direction of Timisoara in Romania, where a station on the same frequency works, was necessary according to the waveplan of Geneva. To achieve this, a new 120 metre tall ground-fed guyed lattice steel mast radiator was built northwestwards of the old 120 metre mast at 47°47'11 N and 9°31'12" E. After its completion, the new mast worked as radiator, while the old mast got a reflector. The old 80 metre tall reflector mast, which wnt obsolete, was dismantled. With this antenna configuration operation with 100 kW is possible 24 hours per day, at daytime with omnidirectional and at nighttime with directional radiation.

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