The Ochsenkopf Transmitter () is a radio and TV tower of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

, which was built in 1958 on the summit of the Ochsenkopf mountain, the second-highest mountain in the

Fichtel Mountains The Fichtel Mountains (, ; ) is a mountain range in Germany and the Czech Republic. They extend from the valley of the Red Main River in northeastern Bavaria to the Karlovy Vary Region in western Czech Republic. The Fichtel Mountains contain an ...

in Northern

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, Germany. The tower replaced a guyed steel tube TV mast that collapsed in January 1958 as result of icing. The tower, which is not accessible to the public, has a hyperbolic-shaped basement with five floors for technical equipment. Above it, there are platforms for directional antennas. The antennas for FM-transmission are on the upper part of the concrete tower, those for TV transmission on a steel tube mast on the top.

Transmitting to the former GDR

Ochsenkopf TV Tower played an important role in transmitting to the former GDR many West German FM and TV programs, notably ARD,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

's first – and between 1952 and 1963 only – television channel. Its signal could penetrate deep into the southern territory of East Germany due to its closeness to the border, its use of a low frequency ( VHF

Band I Band I is a range of radio frequencies within the very high frequency (VHF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first time there was defined "for simplicity" in Annex 1 of "Final acts of the European Broadcasting Conference in the VHF and ...

channel 4), and of vertical

polarization Polarization or polarisation may refer to: Mathematics *Polarization of an Abelian variety, in the mathematics of complex manifolds *Polarization of an algebraic form, a technique for expressing a homogeneous polynomial in a simpler fashion by ...

. Under good conditions, its signal could be received as far away as

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

on the East German-

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

border, even though most aerials there were pointed at the

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

transmitters. The transmitter required large and specifically mounted aerials nicknamed ''Ochsenkopf-Antenne'', or ''Ochsenkopf'' for short, thus making the homes of viewers of western television easily recognizable. A campaign in the early 1960s by East Germany's state youth organisation FDJ aimed at turning away or removing such aerials exploited this fact.

Similar towers

Many other TV towers of similar design were built after 1958 in Germany and other European countries, including: * Święty Krzyż TV Tower in Poland * Brotjacklriegel TV Tower in Germany * Donnersberg TV Tower in Germany *

Ještěd Tower Ještěd Tower () is a television transmitter on top of Mount Ještěd near Liberec in the Czech Republic. Measuring , it is made of reinforced concrete shaped in a "hyperboloid" form. The tower was designed by architect Karel Hubáček, w ...

in Czech Republic * Schladming TV Tower, Austri

* Kitzbüheler Horn transmitter, Austria * Mugel TV Tower, Austria * Slanchev Bryag TV Tower, Bulgari

* Stramni Rid TV Tower, Bulgaria

*

Ostankino Tower Ostankino Tower () is a television and radio tower in Moscow, Russia, owned by the Moscow branch of unitary enterprise Russian TV and Radio Broadcasting Network. Standing , it was designed by Nikolai Nikitin. , it is the tallest free-standin ...

in Moscow, Russia

Transmitted Programs

FM Radio

Television (digital,
DVB-T DVB-T, short for Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial, is the DVB European-based consortium standard for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial television that was first published in 1997 and first broadcast in Singapore in Fe ...
standard)

Launched on November 25, 2008.

Former Programs

Television (analogue, PAL standard)

Shut down on November 30, 2008. The public channels

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

and

Bayerisches Fernsehen (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...

for the region were previously transmitted from the nearby mountain Großer Waldstein.

References

External links

* * http://www.skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?b54478
Video: Final closedown of analogue channel E4
{{coord, 50, 01, 50, N, 11, 48, 29, E, display=title, region:DE-BY_type:mountain_source:dewiki 1958 establishments in West Germany Hyperboloid structures Fichtel Mountains Radio masts and towers in Germany Towers completed in 1958 Buildings and structures in Bayreuth (district)