The Transmitter Solt ( hu, Solti rádióadó) is a radio transmission facility for 540 kHz MW (Medium Wave) near

Solt Solt (Croatian: ''Šolta'')Hrvatski glasnik br.35/2007.
Prvo mjesto na međunarodnome ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, serving as the primary transmitter site for Kossuth Rádió.Fucskó Lajos: A magyar középhullámú műsorszórás (History of the Hungarian medium wave broadcasting, 1924-1975), Híradástechnika, 1975 (Hungarian)
/ref> With an output power of 2000 kW (2 MW), it is the most powerful radio transmitter in Europe and is among the most powerful radio transmitters in the world.Hlatky Béla: Egy évforduló nyomában – 30 éves a solti adó (Solt Transmitter is 30 years old), Híradástechnika, 2008 (Hungarian)
/ref> Its intended broadcast area covers the Hungarian-speaking territories of Central- and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

, however successful reception of the Kossuth Rádió was reported from as far as

Michigan, United States Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It uses a 303.6-metre tall

guyed mast A guyed mast or guyed tower is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines (diagonal tensioned cables attached to the ground) for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not ha ...

. The transmitter site (including all its original equipment) has been a preserved industrial

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

since 2013.

Location

Transmitter Solt is located in the

Great Hungarian Plain The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, hu, Alföld or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain. (However, the Great Hungarian plain ...

, 4 km north from

Solt Solt (Croatian: ''Šolta'')Hrvatski glasnik br.35/2007.
Prvo mjesto na međunarodnome ...

and 80 km south from

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

History

By the early 1970s, interference from the increasing number of powerful MW transmitters across Europe rendered the Lakihegy Transmitter inadequate to provide the required coverage (covered approximately 50% of the territory of Hungary in 1972) so the Magyar Posta (Hungarian Post) and the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

decided to build a new transmitter with improved characteristics. The high priority project involved Hungarian,

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

engineers from several companies and organizations. Construction works started in 1974, with several farmhouses and

barn A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Alle ...

s having been demolished on the intended site. The transmitter was completed in 1977 and went on air the same year. It underwent a substantial renovation and equipment modernisation in 2017.

Equipment

The original 1977 transmitter was made of two identical, Soviet-made

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

based 1000 kW units, combined for the required 2000 kW output power. It was replaced in 2017 by a solid state Nautel NX2000 consisting of five

DRM DRM may refer to: Government, military and politics * Defense reform movement, U.S. campaign inspired by Col. John Boyd * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, a former socialist state (1975–1992) on Madagascar * Direction du renseignement milita ...

-enabled NX400 units combined for 2000 kW output. The original vacuum tube transmitter (being a preserved industrial monument) remains on site as a functional backup unit.

References

Press photos on the webpage of the operator (Antenna Hungária Zrt.)
* * {{coord, 46, 50, 3.51, N, 19, 1, 53.64, E, region:HU_type:landmark, display=title Radio masts and towers in Hungary Towers in Hungary Hungary–Soviet Union relations Hungarian People's Republic Industrial archaeological sites in Hungary Towers completed in 1977 Buildings and structures in Bács-Kiskun County 1977 establishments in Hungary

Location

History

Equipment

See also

References