About this episode
This episode discusses the Grimeton transmitter and clarifies misconceptions about its technology.
Foundations of Amateur Radio The thing I love most about this amazing hobby of amateur radio is the sheer size of the community and the depth of knowledge that comes with it. Case in point, the other day I mentioned the spark gap transmitter at Grimeton in Sweden. A few hours after releasing my comments into the void I received a message from Paul SA7CND who lives, wait for it, 153 km from the transmitter. He's been on-site while it was running, transmitting on 17.2 kHz. Paul pointed out that the Grimeton transmitter is not a spark gap transmitter at all. It's actually an Alexanderson alternator, an entirely different beast, and all the more interesting for it. Invented by Swedish electrical engineer and inventor, Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson, he received a patent for it in 1911 whilst working for General Electric. He died in 1975, aged 97 with 345 patents to his name. Before I dig in, because you know I will, the transmitter at Grimeton was officially opened on the 1st of December in 1924. Built to increase Swedish independence after World War I revealed its vulnerability to foreign controlled transatlantic telegraph cables. Serving as a telegraphy station capable of…
Topics covered
- amateur radio
- spark gap transmitter
- Alexanderson alternator
- telegraphy
- Grimeton transmitter
Keywords
- community
- knowledge
- history
- Ernst Frederick Werner Alexanderson
Mentioned in this episode
Products: SAQ, Quisk, SuperSID, SAQrx, Grimeton, Alexanderson, SK6SAQ
Places: Sweden, the Atlantic ocean
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