[K6BW] Alexanderson Day Tonight

[Bill Smith]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-07-06-radio-heritage_x.htm


Sweden radio transmitter on World Heritage list
By Tommy Grandell, Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — A broadcasting relic and new entry on the UNESCO
World Heritage list transmitted its annual message from southwestern
Sweden to amateur radio enthusiasts worldwide Sunday. 

The transmitter is part of the Grimeton radio station, which was built
between 1922-1924 by the Radio Corporation of America — more famously
known as RCA — to boost communication between this Scandinavian country
and the United States some 3,730 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. 

The station includes an aerial system of six 419 foot-high steel
towers. 

Dubbed "the great radio station" by Swedes, it was part of a then-global
network of wireless telegraph communication links. 

It was overtaken first by long-distance telephone and trans-Atlantic
phone cables, then satellites and wireless communications and the
Internet. The "great radio" is just a relic, albeit a working one. 

The transmitter, the heart of which is an alternating-current generator,
was developed by the Swedish-born engineer Fredrik Werner Alexandersson,
a pioneer in radio engineering. 

Educated in Europe, and employed by General Electric in Schenectady,
N.Y., he emigrated to the United States in 1901 and lived there until he
died in 1975. While working in the United States, he became the chief
engineer at RCA. 

Of the 20 or so 200-kilowatt Alexandersson transmitters that were built
in the United States by General Electric and installed worldwide, only
Grimeton remains. 

The transmitter has been kept intact and in working condition since it
started operating on Dec. 1, 1924. 

It was originally used to relay messages from Halland in southwestern
Sweden to the United States, a purpose that continued until after World
War II, when it was converted for use by the Swedish navy and used to
communicate with its submarines. 

It was finally closed in 1955. 

But interest in preserving the station increased and in 1996, Grimeton
Radio, known among radio amateurs as SAQ, was listed as a national
industrial monument in Sweden, ensuring its conservation. 

The annual broadcast had nothing to do with July 4 being the U.S.
Independence Day, said Bo Johansson, president in the Alexander
Association, which oversees the station. 

"It's the Sunday closest to the dedication date, July 2," he said. 

He refused to say what the short message contained. 

"The message is for our listeners, who will report to us if they've
heard it," he explained. 

UNESCO said that the radio station at Grimeton "is an outstanding
monument representing the process of development of communication
technology in the period following the First World War" and "an
exceptionally well preserved monument to early wireless trans-Atlantic
communication."

>From website: http://www.alexander.n.se/  NOTE: 8:30 UTC 1st July is
1:30AM local, July 1, Sunday morning (after midnight tonight).  12:00
UTC is 5:00AM local, Sunday morning.  17.2 kHz CW is a very, very low
frequency signal.  You will likely need a special receiver to pick up a
signal that low.  In fact, a good audio amplifier connected to an
antenna might work if you have a way to filter out 60Hz and hetrodyne
17.2 kHz (or have very good hearing :^).

Good luck and let us know if you can pick up the signal.



                           SAQ Transmissions

                   Transmissions on Alexanderson Day
We plan for transmissions on Alexanderson Day Sunday 1st July. If we are
allowed to use the antenna we start the machine transmitter at 8.30 UTC
 and a message is sent at 9.00 UTC. Second start of the transmitter at
11.30 UTC and a message is sent at 12.00 UTC. The frequency is 17.2 kHz
                                  CW.
                                    
                    QSL-reports are kindly received:
                                    
                      QSL reports can be given via:
                                    
                   - E-mail to: info at alexander.n.se 
                                    
                      - or fax to: +46-340-674195
                                    
                           - or via SM bureau
                                    
  - or direct by mail to: Alexander - Grimeton Veteranradios Vaenner,
         Radiostationen, Grimeton 72, S-432 98 Grimeton, SWEDEN
                                    
Note: SAQ is a member of the Swedish Amateur Association (SSA) and "QSL
                           via bureau" is OK.