Solec Kujawski radio transmitter



The Longwave transmitter Solec Kujawski (Radiowe Centrum Nadawcze w Solcu Kujawskim; RCN Solec Kujawski) is a longwave broadcasting facility of Polskie Radio for the AM-LW (longwave) 225 kHz frequency/1333 meters wavelength. Its construction was necessitated by the collapse of the Warsaw radio mast on 8 August 1991 and the resistance of the local population to its reconstruction. Tower Height 948 feet/289 meters and 1080 feet/330 meters. Height above sea level 209 feet/64 meters MSL (Mean Sea Level).

The transmitter was built in 1998–99 on a former military area near Solec Kujawski. The area was originally a hamlet called Kabat (Grosswalde) until World War II, when the Germans established a military artillery and rocket training ground in the area. The transmitter, manufactured by Thomcast, has a power of 1200 kilowatts (used 1000 kW) and is equipped with MOSFET amplifiers. The carrier frequency is, as in earlier days of the Konstantynow transmitter, generated by a set of twin high-accuracy thermally-stabilized quartz oscillators. It transmits the longwave signal of Polskie Radio Program I at 225 kHz frequency, which it has broadcast on since moving from 227 kHz in 1988.

It uses a directional aerial, consisting of a 330 m high and a 289 m high guyed grounded mast 330 metres apart. The taller mast is Poland's eighth highest structure.

Furthermore, there is a freestanding lattice tower close to the station building that is used for directional radio links, which serve among others for passing the program to the station.

On 16 May 2017, an engineer was electrocuted and died during maintenance work on the transmitter. The transmitter therefore had to remain silent for two more days while a safety review was conducted.