Nauen Transmitter Station

Nauen Transmitter Station (German: Grossfunkstelle Nauen or Sender Nauen) in Nauen, Havelland district, Brandenburg, Germany, is the oldest radio transmitting installation in the world. It was founded on 1 April 1906 by Telefunken engineer R. Hirsch on a 40-hectare property north of Nauen, leased from Fideikommissar Fritz Stotze.

Before World War I, the Nauen station was a research station of Telefunken. Trial service was initiated on 9 August 1906, and operational service began on 16 August 1906 using spark-gap transmitters. An umbrella antenna was supported by a steel lattice mast 100 metres high, insulated from earth.

Since the station had no commercial power, a 35 HP steam tractor was installed in the transmitter building, a light half timbered house, which powered a 50 Hz alternator producing 24 kVA output power.

Arc transmitters were installed in 1909, which increased the range of the station to 5000 kilometres.

A radio link with the German colony of Togoland was established for the first time in 1911. In the same year the antenna tower was increased to 200 metres in height; however, this tower was destroyed by a storm on 31 March 1912. A temporary replacement antenna was suspended between two 120 metres high masts. This was replaced by a V-shaped antenna supported by five masts at end of 1912. In 1913 the first high power machine transmitter was installed in the station. It worked with frequency doubling using the Arco system, not to be confused with Alexanderson alternator.

A large antenna, 1037 metres long, was installed on 10 February 1914 supported by a 260 metre mast and two 120 metre masts. A new modern transmitter building was also installed.

After the beginning of World War I, the station became very important because the transatlantic cables leading to Germany were cut by the British Navy. During the war, the station was run by the German Admiralty. The British Radio Intelligence Service devoted much effort into intercepting and decoding communications from the station during the war.

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