| Gerbrandy Tower | |
|---|---|
 Gerbrandy Tower | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Partially guyed tower |
| Location | IJsselstein, Utrecht province, the Netherlands |
| Coordinates | 52°0′36.24″N5°3′12.87″E / 52.0100667°N 5.0535750°E |
| Completed | 1961 |
| Height | 366.8 m (1,203.41 ft) |
The Gerbrandy Tower (Dutch : Gerbrandytoren) is a radio tower in IJsselstein, the Netherlands. It is also known as Lopik tower after the nearby town. It was built in 1961.
The Gerbrandy Tower is used for directional radio services and for FM- and TV-broadcasting. The Gerbrandy Tower consists of a concrete tower with a height of 100 meters (328') on which a guyed aerial mast is mounted. Its total height was originally 382.5 metres (1255'), but in 1987 it was reduced to 375 metres (1230').
On August 2, 2007, its analog antenna was replaced by a digital one reducing its height by another 9 metres (30'). Its height is now 366.8 metres (1203').
This tower type is a partially guyed tower, which combines a lower free standing tower antennas with an upper guyed mast. If the structure is counted as a tower, it is the tallest tower in Western Europe. The Gerbrandy Tower is not the only tower which consists of a concrete tower on which a guyed mast is set. There is one similar but smaller tower with the same structure in the Netherlands, the radio tower of Zendstation Smilde, which consisted of an 80 metres (262') high concrete tower, on which a 223.5 metres (733') high guyed mast was mounted. This structure collapsed after a fire on July 15, 2011. Rebuilding of that tower started in late 2011 and was completed in October 2012; the replacement structure is also a partially guyed tower, now 303 metres (995') high.
The tower is named after Pieter Gerbrandy, Prime Minister of the Netherlands during World War Two.
Nearby, there is another remarkable antenna: the KNMI-mast Cabauw, a mast used for meteorological measurements.
Another nearby antenna, the 196 metre (643') high mediumwave transmitter Lopik, was demolished on September 4, 2015.
On July 15, 2011, there was a small fire in the Gerbrandy tower. Only hours later, a similar tower in Smilde caught fire and collapsed, after which all transmitters in the Gerbrandy tower were shut down as a precaution, leaving large parts of the Netherlands without FM-radio and digital TV (DVB-T) reception.
The ownership of the tower is complex: the concrete main structure is owned by Alticom: a company established in 2007 that bought many assets from KPN. Alticom was part of the European TDG Group, but in June 2011 it was announced that all shares in Alticom were acquired by investment company Infracapital [1] who are the infrastructure specialists of Prudential plc.
Alticom is the owner of the concrete base and the first three meters (10') of ground around this base. The metal mast on top of the structure is owned by NOVEC, which is a subsidiary of the electricity transmission operator TenneT. And the ground on which the tower is built, excluding the first three meters (10') around the base, is (still) owned by KPN. [2]
Tallinn TV Tower is a free-standing structure with an observation deck, built to provide better telecommunication services for the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics regatta event. It is located near the suburb Pirita, six km north-east of the Tallinn city center. With its 313 m (1030.2 ft), the TV tower is the tallest nonbuilding structure in Tallinn. The tower was officially opened on 11 July 1980. The viewing platform at a height of 170 metres was open to the public until 26 November 2007, when it was closed for renovation. The tower began receiving visitors again on 5 April 2012. The building is administered by the public company Levira and is a member of the World Federation of Great Towers.
Zendstation Smilde, also known as the CJ2 Data tower is a 303 m (994 ft) partially guyed tower in Hoogersmilde, Netherlands. Built in 1959 for directional radio services and TV and FM-transmissions, it consists of an 80 m (260 ft) high reinforced concrete tower topped since 2012 by a 223 m (732 ft) television mast. It originally had a tubular 190 m (620 ft) analog TV - UHF antenna for a mast, removed in September 2007 and replaced by a similar 214 m (702 ft) UHF antenna for DVB-T, raising the tower's height to 294 m (965 ft). Destroyed by a fire on 15 July 2011, that mast was removed, and replaced in 2012 with the current steel lattice one.
A guyed mast is a tall thin vertical structure that depends on guy lines for stability. The mast itself has the compressive strength to support its own weight, but does not have the shear strength to stand unsupported or bear loads. It requires guy lines to stay upright and to resist lateral (shear) forces such as wind loads. Examples include masts on sailing vessels, towers for telecommunications, meteorology, and masts on cranes, power shovels, draglines, and derricks, starting with the simple gin pole.
Sender Zehlendorf or Zehlendorf (radio) transmission facility was a radio transmission facility which was in service since 1936, when a short wave transmitter was built on the occasion of the Berlin 1936 Summer Olympics in Zehlendorf as part of the establishment of permanent radio services. This Zehlendorf site, which until the end of World War II was referred to as the Rehmate Radio Transmission Centre, had 26 different antennas at the time.
The Transmitter Ismaning was a large radio transmitting station near Ismaning, Bavaria, Germany. It was inaugurated in 1932. From 1932 to 1934 this transmitter used a T-antenna as transmitting antenna, which was spun between two 115-metre-high free-standing wooden lattice towers, which were 240 metres apart. As this antenna had an unfavourable vertical radiation pattern, which produced much skywave resulting in a too small fading-free reception area at night, in 1934 a new antenna was installed. Therefore, one of the towers was dismantled and rebuilt on a 39-metre-high (128 ft) wooden lattice base. While this work took place, an L-Antenna was used, which was spun between the other tower and a small auxiliary wooden tower. It became defunct in 1977 and was destroyed in 1983.
The Feldberg/Taunus transmitter is a facility for FM- and TV-broadcasting and for directional radio services located on the Großer Feldberg, the highest mountain in the Taunus region of Germany.
The Mediumwave transmitter Lopik was a medium wave broadcasting facility near Lopik in the Netherlands. It was constructed in 1938 and destroyed on September 1, 2015. Its last use was to transmit the Dutch language edition of Radio Maria on 675 kHz. The aerial consisted of a 196-metre (643 ft) guyed steel framework mast, which was insulated against ground.
The Sendeturm Dobratsch is a radio tower on the Dobratsch mountain, the easternmost peak of the Gailtal Alps near Villach in Carinthia, Austria.
The CHCH Television Tower was a 357.5 metre 1,173 feet-high guyed TV mast located at 481 First Road West in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada. The tower housed the primary transmitter for the independent television station CHCH-DT as well as that of CITS-DT, the flagship of the religious Yes TV television system. The tower also housed the transmitter for CING-FM. It was the fourth-tallest structure in Canada while standing.
Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made structures. Masts are often named after the broadcasting organizations that originally built them or currently use them.
A mast radiator is a radio mast or tower in which the metal structure itself is energized and functions as an antenna. This design, first used widely in the 1930s, is commonly used for transmitting antennas operating at low frequencies, in the LF and MF bands, in particular those used for AM radio broadcasting stations. The conductive steel mast is electrically connected to the transmitter. Its base is usually mounted on a nonconductive support to insulate it from the ground. A mast radiator is a form of monopole antenna.
The Wiederau transmitter is the oldest broadcasting facility in Saxony. It is located near Wiederau, a village which is part of the municipality of Pegau, and is used for medium-wave, FM and Television broadcasting.
The Bungsberg telecommunications tower, also known as the Fernmeldeturm Schönwalde, is a 179-metre-high telecommunications tower situated on the Bungsberg, a hill which is the highest point in the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Høiåsmasten is a TV tower used for DAB-, GSM-, FM- and TV-transmission near Halden, Norway. Høiåsmasten, built in 1973, is one of the tallest partially guyed towers in the world and with a height of 238 metres (781 ft) the second tallest tower of Norway. It consists, like the Gerbrandy Tower and Vännäs TV Tower, of a concrete tower as basement on which the guyed antenna mast is mounted. However this mast is, in contrast to that of Gerbrandy Tower, a lattice structure and not a tube structure.
The VRT Zendstation Egem is a 305 metres (1,001 ft) tall guyed mast used as a broadcast antenna. It broadcasts the radio and TV programs of the VRT and Q-Music, JOE fm, and Nostalgie Vlaanderen. There are also a number of antennas for mobile communications attached to the mast.
Col de la Madone transmitter is a very large broadcasting centre operated by Radio Monte Carlo north of Fontbonne, near Nice and Monaco, in France. It was established in 1965 and was used until completion of Roumoules radio transmitter for longwave broadcasting, using 3 320 metres tall guyed mast radiators, which do not exist any more. It was used for broadcasting on 702 kHz and 1467 kHz. Both antennas consist of 2 guyed mast radiators insulated against ground. The masts of the antenna for 1467 kHz are 101 metres tall and oriented in North-South direction. The masts of the antenna for 702 kHz are oriented in East-West direction pointing towards Milan, as it is used for transmitting a radio program in Italian language toward Italy. The western mast of this antenna, which acts as reflector, has a height of 250 metres while the eastern mast which is the radiator is 215 metres taller. Not far to the south, there is a centre for FM-broadcasting close to a military radar site and on Mount Angel there is a 146 metres tall partially guyed tower, which consists of a grounded lattice tower as basement and a guyed mast radiator insulated against ground as top. It was built in 1946 and first used for mediumwave broadcasting, but is today used for TV-broadcasting. Nearby there is also the shortwave transmitter of RMC with several dipole walls.
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NOVEC stands for Nederlandse Opstelpunten voor Ethercommunicatie and is the largest operator of antenna towers for radio-communication in the Netherlands.
The Goes TV Tower is a broadcast tower near Goes, Netherlands.