The Heilsberg transmitter () was a large radio transmitting station operated by the

Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG; ''Reich Broadcasting Corporation'') was a national network of German regional public radio and television broadcasting companies active from 1925 until 1945. RRG's broadcasts were receivable in all parts o ...

between 1930 and 1945 in the German

Province of East Prussia East Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's Free State of Prussia, ...

. It was sited approximately northwest of ''Heilsberg'' (known after 1946 as

Lidzbark Warmiński Lidzbark Warmiński (; , ), often shortened to Lidzbark, is a historical town located within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It is the capital of Lidzbark County. Lidzbark Warmiński was once the capital of Warmia and fo ...

), on the road to ''Preußisch Eylau'' (

Bagrationovsk Bagrationovsk (; , ; or '; or ') is a town and the administrative center of Bagrationovsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located close to the border with Poland, south of Kaliningrad, the administrative center of the oblast. It has a ...

History

It went live on 15 December 1930 with a transmitting power of 60 kilowatts, using a vertical cage antenna, which was hung with a rope spun between two tall free-standing wood towers apart. In 1935, the transmitting power was increased to 100 kilowatts and the vertical cage aerial was replaced by a dipole with top capacity and coil, which was carried by a high free-standing wood tower. In 1940, this was replaced with a high

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 ...

of square cross section lattice steel, which was insulated against ground. In addition, a triangle plane antenna and a high guyed mast (also insulated against ground) were installed. On 31 January 1945, the facility was largely destroyed by the withdrawing ''

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

'' armed forces. After

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 ...

a transmitter was operated on the site by the Soviet Foreign Service. From the mid 1950s until the mid 1990s a local program was broadcast there with low power. A shortwave facility for cross-border skywave jamming beamed towards the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

has existed in Lidzbark Warmiński. The jamming facility was shut off for good in late 1988. The present-day Broadcast Transmitting Site () at Lidzbark Warmiński which has a tall antenna is today used for broadcasting of

Radio Maryja Radio Maryja is a religious and political socially conservative Polish radio station. It was founded in Toruń, Poland, on 9 December 1991, by the Redemptorist Tadeusz Rydzyk. The name "Maryja" is a traditional Polish form of the name "Mary ...

on 106,2 MHz with 10 kW ERP and the TV programme TVP 1 on 527,25 MHz with 200 kW ERP.

External links

Heilsberg-Lidzbark-Warminski-military-site-fence

*SkyscraperPage.com
Heilsberg Transmitter - Cage Antenna Support Towers, Lidzbark Warminski
*SkyscraperPage.com
Heilsberg Transmitter - Radio Tower, Lidzbark Warminski
*SkyscraperPage.com
Heilsberg Transmitter - Radio Mast, Lidzbark Warminski
*RadioPolska
Niekomercyjny serwis poświęcony radiofonii i telewizji w Polsce
*RadioPolska
Z archiwum wykazu - 153-1602 kHz (2)
{{coord, 54, 08, 25, N, 20, 33, 52, E, region:PL-WN_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Towers in Poland Lidzbark County Buildings and structures in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship