The Ochsenkopf Transmitter (German: Sender Ochsenkopf}) is a 163 metre tall radio and TV tower of reinforced concrete, which was built in 1958 as replacement for a 50 metre tall guyed steel tube TV mast, which collapsed in January 1958 as result of icing, on the summit of the 1024 metre high Ochsenkopf mountain, the second highest mountain in the Fichtelgebirge mountain chain in Northern Bavaria, Germany. Ochsenkopf TV Tower, which is not accessible for tourists, has a characteristic hyperbolic shaped basement, in which are 5 floors with technical equipment. Above it, there are platforms for directional antennas. The antennas for FM-transmission are on the upper part of the concrete tower, that for TV transmission on a steel tube mast on the top.
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Ochsenkopf TV Tower played an important role for the former GDR's supply with West German FM and TV programmes - notably ARD, West Germany's first - and between 1952 and 1963 only - television channel. Its signal could penetrate deep into the southern territory of East Germany due to its closeness to the border, its use of a low frequency (VHF Band I channel 4) and of vertical polarization. Its signal could be received as far away as Görlitz on the East German-Polish border under good conditions, even though most aerials there were pointed at the West Berlin transmitters.
The technical characteristics of the transmitter in turn required large and specifically mounted aerials nicknamed Ochsenkopf-Antenne or short Ochsenkopf, thus making the homes of viewers of western television easily recognizable. A campaign in the early 1960s by East Germany's state youth organisation FDJ aimed at turning away or removing such aerials exploited this fact.
Many other TV towers of similar design were built after 1958 in Germany and other European countries.
These are e.g.:
| Program | Frequency | ERP |
|---|---|---|
| Bayern 1 | 90.7 MHz | 100 kW |
| Bayern 1 | 91.2 MHz | 20 kW |
| Bayern 2 Radio | 96.0 MHz | 100 kW |
| Bayern 3 | 99.4 MHz | 100 kW |
| DLF | 100.3 MHz | 100 kW |
| Bayern 4 Klassik | 102.3 MHz | 100 kW |
| Antenne Bayern | 103.2 MHz | 100 kW |
| B5 Aktuell | 107.1 MHz | 100 kW |
shut down on 30 Nov 2008
| Program | Frequency | ERP |
|---|---|---|
| ARD (BRF region) | Ch E4 vertical | 50 kW (used to be 100 kW) |
The public channels ZDF and Bayerisches Fernsehen for the region used to be transmitted from the nearby mountain Großer Waldstein.
launched on 25 Nov 2008
| Channel | Frequency [MHz] |
Multiplex | Programme im Multiplex | ERP [kW] |
Antenna Diagram rund (ND) / gerichtet (D) |
Polarisation horizontal (H) / vertikal (V) |
Modulation | FEC | Guard Interval | Bit Rate [MBit/s] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E23 | 490 | ZDFmobil-Bouquet |
|
50 | ND | H | 16-QAM | 2/3 | 1/4 | 13.47 |
| E29 | 538 | ARD Bouquet | 100 | ND | H | 16-QAM | 2/3 | 1/4 | 13.47 | |
| E40 | 626 | BR-Bouquet |
|
100 | ND | H | 16-QAM | 2/3 | 1/4 | 13.47 |
![[1]](http://www.dxradio-ffm.de/AUTSchladming.jpg){kind=link}