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 Funkturm Berlin - Berlin, Germany
N 52° 30.304 E 013° 16.691
33U E 383136 N 5818608
The world's first TV Tower
Waymark Code: WMVFPD
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date Posted: 04/12/2017
Views: 25
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The Berlin Broadcast Tower (Funkturm in German) has been an active Radio tower from 1925 until 1972 and an active TV tower from 1935 until 1962.
Construction of the tower started immediately after the end of the first Berlin International Radio Exhibition in December 1924. The first radio transmission on medium wave 520.8 kHz took place on September 25, 1925, while the tower was still under construction.
The official inauguration took place at the opening of the third International Radio Exhibition on September 3, 1926.
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Medium wave transmission on 716 kHz and later on 834 kHz took place continuously between 1925 and 1945, although with the construction of larger antennas in Berlin-Tegel in 1933, the tower served only as backup transmitter.
The world's first regular television program was transmitted from here on March 22, 1935.
In 1936, the tower provided the first ever TV coverage of the Olympic Games . Television broadcast continued until the outbreak of Word War II.
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In 1945, During the Battle of Berlin, a grenade hit one of the four legs of the tower. Post-war reconstruction took until 1951, when FM Radio and TV broadcasting resumed.
On May 15, 1963, a 230-meter-high transmission mast (80 meters higher than the Funkturm) was completed at Berlin-Scholzplatz and as a result all TV and most radio transmissions from the tower were terminated. The last regular radio transmission took place in 1973.
Today, the tower is a historical engineering monument and still one of Berlin's most iconic landmarks. Its restaurant and observation deck and its location at the Berlin Trade Fair Center make it a popular destination for both Berliners and tourists.
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A few technical data
Total height: 146.78 meters / 481.6 ft
Height of restaurant: 51 meters / 167.3 ft
Height of observation platform: 124 meters / 406.8 ft
Weight: 600 metric tons / 1.3 million pounds
Year built: 1926
Designier: Architect Heinrich Straumer
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This is the only large tower in the world standing on
porcelain insulators!
A word about the webcam: The Weather Webcam Berliner Funkturm is not located at the tower but on top of the nearby RBB TV Studios, which offer a great look at the tower.
Sources: All information were taken from the respective
German and English Wikipedia articles. |
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Call signs/Frequencies/Channels/Broadcaster:
Das Haus des Rundfunks steht schräg gegenüber.
URL reference to transmitter tower/antenna: [Web Link]
URL Webcam: [Web Link]
Opening hours visitors platform:
Monday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Backup transmitter tower/antenna: no
Legacy transmitter tower/antenna: yes
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Visit Instructions:Provide at least one picture of the Transmitter tower/antenna and a summary of your visit. Do you/did you watch this TV station or listen to this radio station?
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