Radio Kootwijk is a hamlet in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

municipality of

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

. It is situated in a heather and forest rich territory in the

Veluwe The Veluwe () is a forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km2; 420 sq. mi.) in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes, including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand ...

region, east of the sandhills of the Kootwijkerzand and the town of

Kootwijk Kootwijk (West Low German: ''Kodek'') (population estimate: 280) is a small village in the municipality Barneveld, located in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. History It was first mentioned between 1333 and 1334 as ...

. Radio Kootwijk has a combined statistical listing with Hoog Soeren, the hamlet consists of about 37 houses. The village is known for its iconic radio transmitter.

Radio transmitter

The housing accommodations of Radio Kootwijk arose as a result of the building of a

shortwave radio Shortwave radio is radio transmission using radio frequencies in the shortwave bands (SW). There is no official definition of the band range, but it always includes all of the High frequency, high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30& ...

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

with the same name, starting in 1918. The transmitter played an important role in the 20th century as a communication facility between the Netherlands and its then colony of

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

. In 1923 Dutch PTT started trans-oceanic

telegraphy Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

using a

longwave In radio, longwave (also spelled long wave or long-wave and commonly abbreviated LW) is the part of the radio spectrum with wavelengths longer than what was originally called the medium-wave (MW) broadcasting band. The term is historic, dati ...

transmitter (a 400 kW

high frequency alternator An Alexanderson alternator is a rotating machine, developed by Ernst Alexanderson beginning in 1904, for the generation of high-frequency alternating current for use as a radio transmitter. It was one of the first devices capable of generating th ...

) from the German

Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television producer, founded in Berlin in 1903 as a joint venture between Siemens & Halske and the ''AEG (German company), Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ("General electricity company"). Prior to ...

company under the callsign PCG, on 24 kHz and 48 kHz. By 1925 the longwave transmitter was changed by a shortwave tube based, electronic transmitter which had a much better performance due to the better propagation of short waves. With this new technology, in 1928 a radio-telephonic connection was established. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

occupying forces blew up the transmitter. Afterward some of the radio towers were rebuilt.PCG History (in Dutch)
/ref> Due to the development of new technologies like

Communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

s, Radio Kootwijk lost its position as main overseas wireless connection point of the Netherlands. In 1980, the last transmission mast was blown up. In 2004 the park lost its last transmitter functions, and was transferred from the

KPN Koninklijke KPN N.V. (Royal KPN N.V. in English), trading as KPN is a Dutch List of telephone operating companies, telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterda ...

company (successor to PTT) to the State Forestry Service, which started attracting new buyers. The main building of the former transmitter park, designed by Dutch architect

Julius Maria Luthmann Julius may refer to: People * Julius (name), a masculine given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) * Julius (nomen), the name of a Roman family (includes a list of Ancient Romans with the name) ** Julius Caesar (100– ...

and named 'Building A', 'The Cathedral' or sometimes 'The Sphynx', was officially appointed as a

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, historical ...

. It is used as venue and scenery for several cultural events and productions, including the American film

Mindhunters ''Mindhunters'' is a 2004 crime slasher film directed by Renny Harlin and starring Kathryn Morris, LL Cool J, Jonny Lee Miller, Patricia Velásquez, Clifton Collins Jr., Christian Slater, and Val Kilmer. It was written by Wayne Kramer and ...

in 2004.

Gallery

File:Gebouw C - rechter voorzijde - Radio Kootwijk - 20410220 - RCE.jpg, Building C File:Loods P (Utrechtse loods) - overzicht linker achterzijde houten loods - Radio Kootwijk - 20410256 - RCE.jpg, Building P File:Kootwijk.jpg, Staff village (1922) File:Radio Kootwijk-monument.jpg, Monument in the village File:Radio Kootwijk (aangezicht).jpg, - Front building A File:Hoog Buurlo - Radio Kootwijk - 46517 -10.jpg, - Rear building A

References

hierradiokootwijk.nl
Article of the Dutch Forestry Service (''Staatsbosbeheer''), current owner of this location.

External links

radiokootwijk.nu
''Tussen Zand en Zenders'' {{Authority control Populated places in Gelderland Apeldoorn Art Deco architecture in the Netherlands