The Berliner Funkturm or Funkturm Berlin (Radio Tower Berlin) is a transmitting tower in Berlin, built between 1924 and 1926 by Heinrich Straumer. It is nicknamed "der lange Lulatsch" ("the lanky lad") and is one of the best-known points of interest in the city of Berlin. It stands in the Berlin trade fair ground in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough. On September 3, 1926, the radio tower was inaugurated on the occasion of the 3. Große Deutsche Funkausstellung (Great German Radio Exhibition). The tower is now a protected monument.
Building
method
The tower is built as one large steel framework construction,
similar to the Eiffel Tower in
Paris. The 150 m high
and approximately 600 metric ton radio tower was
originally planned strictly as a transmitting tower, but later
additions included a restaurant at a height of approximately 52 m,
and observation deck at a height of approximately 125 m. Visitors
reach the restaurant and the observation deck by an elevator which
travels up to 4 meters per second.
The radio tower has two very notable structural characteristics.
First, it sits on a square surface area merely 20 meters to a side.
Its ratio of surface area to height is 1:6.9. For comparison, the
Eiffel Tower sits on a square 129 meters to a side, giving
surface-area-to-height ratio of 1:2.3. Second, the radio tower is
probably the only observation tower in the world standing on
porcelain insulators. It was designed as the support tower for a
T-antenna for medium wave, and the insulators were intended to
prevent the drain of the transmitting power down through the tower
itself. However, this was impractical, because visitors would have
been vulnerable to massive electric shocks, so the tower was later
grounded via its elevator shaft. The insulators used were
manufactured in the Koeniglich Preussische
Porzellanmanufaktur (Royal Prussian Porcelain Factory).
On March 22, 1935, the first regular television program in the
world was broadcast from an aerial on the top of the tower. Since
1962, the tower is no longer used for TV transmissions. Since 1973,
the radio tower no longer serves as a regular transmission tower
for broadcasting purposes, but it is still used as relay station
for amateur radio, police radio, and mobile phone services. The
last complete renovation took place in the year 1987 in honor of
the 750th anniversary of the founding of Berlin.
Dimensions of the tower
- height of kitchen: 48.122 m
- height of restaurant: 51.652 m
- height of observation pulpit: 121.492 m
- height of observation platform: 124.092 m
- height of tower shaft: 129.292 m
- height of tower: 150.062 m
- Cross sections of the tower
- spreading of the footings directly above the foundations: 18.5
m
- distance of the foundation edges at the ground: 24.5 m
- cross section in the kitchen: 9.1 m
- cross section at base of restaurant: 15 m
- cross section of the restaurant roof: 18.7 m
- cross section of observation pulpit: 4.4 m
- cross section of observation platform: 7.9 m
- cross section of the basement plates at the ground: 5.7 m
- cross sections lift well
- underneath restaurant: 4.05 m
- above restaurant: 2.4 m
Chronicle of the Berliner
Funkturm
- December 1924: After the end of the First Radio Exhibition,
construction of the radio tower was started. For this fair, at the
location of the today's radio tower, a 120 meters tall antenna mast
was erected, which served as crane for building the tower.
- April 1925: The radio tower is finished in the
infrastructure.
- September 25, 1925: Inauguration of the transmitter on medium
wave frequency 520.8 kHz. A single T-antenna was strung between the
top of the tower and an 80-meter-high guyed steel framework
mast.
- 1925-26: To protect visitors from electrical hazards, the radio
tower was grounded about its elevator shaft, although this directed
the beam of the radio transmitter away from the center of
Berlin.
- March 28, 1926: Acceptance of the radio tower by the
construction offices.
- September 3, 1926: Radio tower opened to the public at the
inauguration of the Third Great German Radio Exhibition
(Funkausstellung).
- 1929: Retuning of the medium wave transmitter to 716 kHz, first
television transmission tests.
- December 20, 1933: the new large transmitter in Berlin Tegel
takes over the broadcast transmissions from the radio tower. After
this, the medium wave transmitter at the radio tower is only a
backup transmitter for Berlin Tegel.
- 1934: Retuning of the medium wave transmitter (as a backup unit
for Berlin Tegel), to 834 kHz
- March 22, 1935: From an antenna of the top of the radio tower,
the first regular television program of the world is
transmitted
- August 22, 1935: Major fire in the exhibition hall at the radio
tower destroys all transmission devices at the radio tower. Flying
sparks also burn out the tower restaurant.
- December 23, 1935: Resumption of television broadcasts.
- 1938: Television transmitting equipment removed from the
tower.
- 1939-1945: The radio tower serves as a warning and observation
post.
- April 19, 1945: Projectiles destroy one of the four legs of the
tower at a height of 38 meters. The restaurant is again burned
out.
- 1945: Repair of the destroyed tower leg with 800 kg screws and
7.2 tons steel.
- 1948: Experiments with directed radio transmission toward the
mountain of Harz.
- May 28, 1950: The tower restaurant reopens.
- 1951: Assembly of one superturnstile antenna on the top of the
tower for the broadcast of FM radio and television programs. With
this antenna, the tower grew around 12 meters, from 138 metres to
150 metres.
- October 1, 1951: Resumption of the television transmissions
which were disrupted by World War II and the immediate post-war
period.
- May 15, 1963: After completion of the 230-meter-high
transmission mast near Scholzplatz, regular transmissions of
television and broadcast programs from the tower were almost
terminated.
- 1973: End of any regular broadcast transmission from the radio
tower.
- 1989: Disassembly of the tower's last transmitters for
broadcast of radio and television.
Similar
constructions
-
Torre Jaume I an
observation tower used as aerial tramway support pillar looks very
similar.
See also
References
-
Archiv für das Post- und Fernmeldewesen (Archives for
the post office and telecommunication system), 29. Class NR. 5.
Bonn, September 1977 (side 392-Seite 421)
-
Archiv für das Post- und Fernmeldewesen, 25. Class NR.
5/6. Bonn, September 1973 (side 668-Seite 671 and page 778 to page
794)
-
Wie man ein Wahrzeichen wird (How to Become a
Landmark), A. and E. Freud, 1976, ISBN 3-921532-04-3
-
65 Jahre Funkturm: Ein Wahrzeichen geht nicht in den
Ruhestand (65th Anniversary of the Radio Tower: A landmark
does not go into the retirement), a publication of the Messe
Berlin GmbH zum 65. Geburtstag des Funkturms (Berlin Fair for the
65th Birthday of the Radio Tower), 1991
- Klawitter, Gerd: 100 Jahre Funktechnik in Deutschland
Funksendestellen rund um Berlin (100 years of radio
engineering in Germany and radio locations in and around
Berlin), Berlin, Wissenschaft und Technik Verlag, 1997.
