A tower array is an arrangement of multiple

radio tower Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...

s which are

mast radiator Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio ma ...

s in a

phased array In antenna theory, a phased array usually means an electronically scanned array, a computer-controlled array of antennas which creates a beam of radio waves that can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving th ...

. They were originally developed as ground-based tracking

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

s. Tower arrays can consist of free-standing or guyed towers or a mix of them. Tower arrays are used to constitute a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific directions allowing increased performance and reduced interference from unwanted sources. Directional antennas provide increased performance ...

of a

mediumwave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the dayti ...

longwave In radio, longwave, long wave or long-wave, and commonly abbreviated LW, refers to parts of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave broadcasting band. The term is historic, dating from the e ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

. The number of towers in a tower array can vary. In many arrays all towers have the same height, but there are also arrays of towers of different height. The arrangement can vary. For directional antennas with fixed

radiation pattern In the field of antenna design the term radiation pattern (or antenna pattern or far-field pattern) refers to the ''directional'' (angular) dependence of the strength of the radio waves from the antenna or other source.Constantine A. Balanis: “A ...

, linear arrangements are preferred, while for switchable directional patterns (usually for daytime

groundwave In physics, a surface wave is a mechanical wave that propagates along the interface between differing media. A common example is gravity waves along the surface of liquids, such as ocean waves. Gravity waves can also occur within liquids, at t ...

versus nighttime skywave), square arrangements are chosen.

Examples

Tower arrays with guyed masts

Longwave transmitter Europe 1 The Longwave transmitter Europe 1 is the oldest privately owned radio station in Germany, situated between and Berus/Saar, Germany. It transmitted on 183 kHz with a power of 2,000 kilowatts a French speaking programme, Europe 1 toward France ...

* Transmitter Weisskirchen *

Beidweiler Longwave Transmitter The Beidweiler longwave transmitter is a high-power broadcasting transmission site owned by RTL Group and operated by RTL company Broadcasting Center Europe. It was used to transmit the French-speaking programme of RTL on longwave frequency unt ...

Transmitter Wachenbrunn The Wachenbrunn transmitter was a large broadcasting facility for medium wave in Wachenbrunn near Themar, Thuringia, Germany, established in the 1950s. Until 1993 the main transmitter of this facility, the medium wave transmitter for 882 kHz ...

Transmitter Ismaning The Transmitter Ismaning was a large radio transmitting station near Ismaning, Bavaria, Germany. It was inaugurated in 1932. From 1932 to 1934 this transmitter (which replaced the Stadelheim Transmitter at Munich-Stadelheim) used a T-antenna as ...

(VoA-Station)

Tower arrays with free standing towers

Junglinster Longwave Transmitter The Junglinster Longwave Transmitter is a longwave broadcasting facility used by RTL Group, RTL near Junglinster, Luxembourg, which went into service in 1932. Its Antenna (radio), aerial consists of three free-standing steel-framework towers, whic ...

Orfordness transmitting station The Orfordness transmitting station was a major radio broadcasting facility at Orford Ness on the Suffolk coast in the United Kingdom able to broadcast to much of Europe. It closed in May 2012 after more than 30 years of service. In 2017 Radio C ...

References

Broadcast engineering Telecommunications equipment Telecommunications infrastructure Communication towers Radio frequency antenna types Antennas (radio) {{Mast-stub

Examples

Tower arrays with guyed masts

Tower arrays with free standing towers

See also

References