The transmitter Wilsdruff was a

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the 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 daytime ...

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

broadcasting facility near

Wilsdruff Wilsdruff () is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, in Saxony, Germany, with 14,444 inhabitants (2020). It is situated 14 km west of Dresden centre. Kesselsdorf is one of its subdivisions. Near Wilsdruff there is a facility for h ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Until the nineties there was a transmitter for 1044 kHz with 250 kilowatts transmission power. This was a 153-metre guyed steel tube

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mast ...

, insulated with respect to ground. Since the mid nineties transmission power was only 20 kilowatts. The new transmitter is in a circular building on which the mast stands. The old transmitter of the fifties is a technical monument. The whole facility is a relic from the

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

era with a high fence (double fence with dog track and

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

s) which is still almost complete.

Diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s are employed for an emergency power supply, modified from

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

engines. The program "MDR info" transmitted from here on 1044 kHz until 2013. From 2001 to 2003 a second transmitter for MEGARADIO on 1431 kHz was operated. This also used the steel tube mast as its transmitter. After its shutdown in 2013, the mast was torn down on August 1, 2021.

See also