The Delimara Transmitting Station (also known as Cyclops) was a relay station of German

international broadcasting International broadcasting consists of radio and television transmissions that purposefully cross international boundaries, often with then intent of allowing expatriates to remain in touch with their countries of origin as well as educate, inform ...

station

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

at Xrobb l-Għaġin on the

Delimara The Delimara peninsula (''Maltese: Dellimara'') is a peninsula located on the southeastern tip of the island of Malta's South Eastern Region, forming half of Marsaxlokk's coast on Marsaxlokk Bay. The towns of Marsaxlokk and Birżebbuġa are loca ...

peninsula in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. It was used as short- and

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is a 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 daytim ...

transmission Transmission or transmit may refer to: Science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Transmission (mechanical device), technology that allows controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual tra ...

site. It opened in 1974 and covered southern Europe and the Middle East.

Relations with Malta

The site was governed by agreements between Deutsche Welle and the Government of Malta. The land was granted to DW in 1971 but was transferred back to Malta in an agreement in November 1982. In September 1982 the Maltese government cut electricity to the relay station due to their improved relations with Libya, and the passage of the Maltese Foreign Interference Act. The station closed on 1 September 1982 and the new international agreement was signed in November 1982. Radio Mediterranean was a joint Maltese-Algerian public station which broadcast from this transmitter from 1983. The Government of Malta had an agreement with Libya in 1975 to broadcast the Voice of Friendship and Solidarity from this relay station.

The site

It consisted of two parcels of land: In-Nigret in

Mqabba Mqabba () is a town in the Western Region of Malta. It has a traditional Maltese village layout, with a population of about 3,339 inhabitants, as of January 2019. The focal point is the Parish Church of the Assumption, found at the core of the v ...

(11 and a half tumoli) and Xrobb l-Ghagin in

Marsaxlokk Marsaxlokk () is a small, traditional fishing village in the Southern Region, Malta, Southern Region of Malta. It has a harbour, and is a tourist attraction known for its views, fishing and history. As of March 2014, the village had a populati ...

(167 tumoli). The 1982 agreement allowed the maximum of three short wave transmitters of up to 250 kW each, and two medium wave transmitters of up to 600 kW. For the medium wave transmissions, which took place on 1557

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base uni ...

with a transmission power of 600 kW, it had two

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

s, insulated against ground, which were guyed with

polymeric A polymer () is a substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, bot ...

guy Guy or GUY may refer to: Personal names * Guy (given name) * Guy (surname) * That Guy (...), the New Zealand street performer Leigh Hart Places * Guy, Alberta, a Canadian hamlet * Guy, Arkansas, US, a city * Guy, Indiana, US, an uninc ...

s. The short wave antennas were mounted on free-standing

lattice tower A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding vertical latticework, framework tower. This construction is widely used in transmission towers carrying high-voltage electric power lines, in radio masts and towers (a self-radiating tower or as a ...

s. Direction was achieved by different slewing of the various antennae available. Malta - Marsaxlokk - Triq Delimara - Xrobb L-Ghagin 03 ies

Originally, the medium wave antenna consisted of three masts, each 88 metres tall, but at one mast one (Parafil) guy melted as a result of the high electric field values halfway up from the anchor point. Unfortunately there was also a storm at this time, which resulted in mast collapse. This was later replaced. Delimara Transmitter was shut down in 1996. The site was used as a fish farm and is now a nature reserve. One of the old site buildings is now used as a hostel.

References

External links

Xrobb L-Ghagin Nature Park
{{coord, 35.8411, N, 14.5699, E, source:wikidata, display=title Broadcast transmitters Communications in Malta Marsaxlokk Towers in Malta Former radio masts and towers 1996 disestablishments in Malta