The Orlunda longwave transmitter was a
longwave broadcast facility in central
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
which broadcast
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...
Programme 1 from 1962 to 1991. The facility is currently in use as a museum.
Planning and construction
The Swedish Telecom Administration Board and its technical department,
Televerket, had begun plans for an upgraded longwave transmitter to serve central Sweden as early as the 1940s. The original facility, located in central
Motala, was both antiquated and poorly situated; the transmitter was inefficient and staff were needed on site to operate it day and night, and signal fading occurred as close as 80 kilometres away. After numerous studies it was determined that a site east of the town of
Vadstena
Vadstena () is a locality and the seat of Vadstena Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden, with 5,613 inhabitants in 2010. From 1974 to 1979 Vadstena was administered as part of Motala Municipality.
Despite its small population, Vadstena is ...
would provide a clear signal to the surrounding area. Construction began in 1958; engineer Folke Strandén designed a ring antenna system consisting of a central mast surrounded by five antennas, to be connected to two 300 kW
Compagnie Français Thomson Houston (CFTH) transmitters. The station itself was built underground in a windowless concrete bunker with 1.5-metre thick walls designed to survive a
Soviet air attack. The bunker would host the power supply, transmitters, transformers, and a V-12 diesel engine to be used as a backup generator. All cables leading to and from the facility were likewise buried underground.
Technical specifications
The two transmitters could be used either independently or together, and featured a CFTH specialty, steam-cooled tubes called "Vapotrones". They had a power efficiency of 66%.
The antenna system was designed to produce a ground wave intended to prevent interference with distant transmitters on the same frequency. The transmitter also broadcast a signal at a 40° angle; this did not affect reception, but its effect on distant stations is unknown. Programs were sent to the facility by telephone cable and were amplified before transmission. The centre antenna, 250 metres in height, was located near the station and the secondary antennas, 200 metres each in height, were arranged in a ring surrounding the station; each secondary antenna was 630 metres from the centre antenna and 630 metres from its neighbours.
Construction was completed in 1961 and the station was officially inaugurated by HRH
Prince Bertil
Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland (Bertil Gustaf Oskar Carl Eugén; 28 February 1912 – 5 January 1997), was a member of the Swedish royal family. He was the third son of King Gustaf VI Adolf and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught, ...
in May of that year. The station began broadcasting in 1962, after the necessary tests and adjustments had been conducted.
Operations
The station originally broadcast Programme 1 of Sveriges Radio, the Swedish national broadcaster, on 191 kHz. Its improved coverage and higher power provided a better signal to hundreds of thousands of listeners in central Sweden. The station was also audible in northern Sweden at night.
Some Swedes complained that it was a mistake to build an expensive longwave facility financed by license fees when the more enjoyable
FM radio
FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...
was gaining in popularity. Critics pointed out that many FM stations could be built for the cost of one longwave station. Televerket responded by stating that the Orlunda station was required because many of its listeners did not yet own FM receivers. However, despite Televerket's insistence on the importance of AM broadcasting, it introduced an FM network only a few years later; the Orlunda facility was the last longwave transmitter and the second-last AM transmitter (
Sölvesborg
Sölvesborg (old da, Sølvesborg) is a locality and the seat of Sölvesborg Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 10,024 inhabitants in 2013.
Sölvesborg is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to ...
was the last) built by Televerket.
Problems
Soon after the station entered service, the
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
international station Stimme der DDR commenced broadcasting on 185 kHz, interfering with reception at longer distances. After several complaints, the
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
government moved the station's frequency to decrease interference.
On 12 July 1970 the station's central antenna was struck by lightning, cutting off a stay, setting an oil-filled stay insulator on fire, and crushing the base insulator. This caused the central antenna to collapse over the bunker, destroying the antenna but causing little damage to the sturdily-built bunker; only a crack in the ceiling was visible from the inside entrance. Power was lowered to 150 kW while the feeders were reconnected to the five ring antennas. The central mast was never rebuilt. When the feeders were rebuilt the power was raised again to 300 kW, but lowered again in the 1970s to 100 kW after the
1973
Events January
* January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union.
* January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...
and
1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
oil crises. This cut listenership as it increased maintenance costs; Televerket made plans to improve Sweden's AM radio network with five new 600 kW mediumwave transmitters and replacing Orlunda with new longwave facilities on the island of
Gotland
Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...
and at
Mora
Mora may refer to:
People
* Mora (surname)
Places Sweden
* Mora, Säter, Sweden
* Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality
* Mora Municipality, Sweden
United States
* Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community
* Mora, Minnesota, a city
* M ...
. This would have improved coverage of northern Sweden and the Swedish speaking areas of Finland, but the plan never reached fruition.
Sveriges Radio later introduced processed sound to increase sound quality, but this had the effect of the modulation transformer almost reaching its alarm limit.
The end
In 1986 the station's frequency was changed to 189 kHz to meet international standards proposed at the 1979 Geneva World Administrative Radio Conference. A
rubidium
Rubidium is the chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have a density higher ...
oscillator
Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...
was installed to stabilize the carrier. In 1987 three of the five remaining antennas were demolished as part of a military anti-sabotage exercise conducted by the
Swedish Army
The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces.
History
Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vas ...
's
Life Regiment Hussars (K 3), of which some recorded sequences can be seen in the 1987 military educational film
Förebudet ( sv). The transmitter beam was later changed on the two remaining antennas to improve reception in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
and
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
without decreasing reception in
Oslo
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
.
Televerket conducted a survey in 1989 to gauge listenership, which revealed that only 200 people tuned in regularly. A request for 3 million
Swedish krona
The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it ...
in additional funding for transmitter maintenance was denied by the Swedish government in 1991, and it was decided shortly thereafter that the station would be shut down on 30 November of that year. Listeners had six months advance notice of the closure. The last broadcast featured a special program ending with the
Swedish national anthem.
In 1994 and 1995 the two remaining antennas were dismantled.
Today
Everything remains at the station today except for the antennas and the V12 diesel engine. It is currently operated as a private museum which may be visited by prior appointment. The lands surrounding the station were sold back to their original owners.
See also
*
List of masts
External links
*
*
* http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b46230
* http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b46231
* http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b46232
* http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b46233
* http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b46234
* http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b46236
Passegen Hem(Swedish language only)
Orlunda radiostation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlunda Radio Transmitter
Radio masts and towers in Europe
Towers in Sweden