Wiederau transmitter

The Wiederau transmitter is the oldest broadcasting facility in Saxony. It is located near Wiederau, a village which is part of the municipality of Pegau, and is used for medium-wave, FM and Television broadcasting.Wiederau transmitter went into service on October 28, 1932 as medium-wave transmitter for broadcasting supply of Saxony on 782 kHz. It had a transmission power of 120 kW and used a T-antenna, which was mounted on two 125-metre-tall wooden lattice towers.In spite of its high transmission power, reception of the Wiederau transmitter was not satisfactory at night times in areas more than 80 kilometres away from Wiederau, because the antenna radiated a great deal of skywave, resulting in fading. Therefore, in 1935 the T-antenna was replaced by a vertical wire antenna, which was hung up in a 150-metre-tall free-standing wooden lattice tower.In 1939, a second mediumwave transmitter was installed at Wiederau. This transmitter, which is still functional, was designed for fast change of transmission frequency and used as antenna a triangular antenna, which could be used for every frequency in the MF-band. During air raids in World War II this transmitter formed, with other radio stations in Germany, a single-frequency network in order to make it as difficult as possible for allied planes to use it for radio navigation.