[Lf] SAQ history from IEEE history society web page.

[hal]

In 1922, construction began in Grimeton, Sweden on a new radio station
to establish superior communication links with the United States. At the

heart of the Grimeton station was an Alexanderson alternator, the
transmitter technology invented by Sweden's own Ernst F W Alexanderson
in 1910. With the Alexanderson alternator, manufactured by General
Electric and sold by RCA, the Grimeton station was able to begin
transatlantic transmissions in1924. At the time of the official
dedication, held in July 1925, King Gustaf V declared to Calvin Coolidge

that the station would greatly strengthen the cultural and commercial
bonds between Sweden and the United States.

Seventy years later, the Grimeton station is still operational. Using
what is claimed to be the last functioning Alexanderson alternator, the
station last year broadcast a message to the IEE's "100 years of radio"
conference held in London. In an age when satellite links makes
intercontinental communication routine, the alternator provides a
stirring
reminder of how far transmission technology has come.

The station facility is in impressive spectacle. The multiple tuned
antenna, carried by six 125 meter masts, each with a 46 meter cross beam

carrying the twelve wires that feed the six verticals at the top of each

mast, is still preserved. The masts each weigh approximately 130 tons
and the twelve antenna wires have a total length of 2,200 meters. All
the buildings at the radio station are preserved, including a village
for the workers that was built nearby.

Can the last surviving Alexanderson alternator be preserved for future
generations? The County Council of Halland is working to have the
station listed as a Cultural Heritage, thereby giving it legal
protection. But protected or not, conservation work is needed to prevent

the site from deteriorating. The present owner of the station, Telia
Mobitel AB is interesting in developing the site as a science museum,
but intensive fundraising is required to realize these ambitions.
For more information, please contact Hans Bergfast, Länsstyrelsen
Hallands län, Kulturmiljöenheten, S-301 86 Halmstad,
Sweden, tel. no. 46 35 13 20 00.