“What secrets lie buried beneath this grass?” I ask. This is the site of the former Sender Köpenick. It once stood tall in Berlin-Köpenick. This place near Uhlenhorst was sometimes called Sender Uhlenhorst.
Sender Köpenick was a vital radio transmission facility. It broadcast on medium wave, short wave, and VHF frequencies. The GDR decided to build new medium wave facilities in 1950. Nauen was first considered. However, Soviet objections led to the construction of Funkstelle Köpenick.
Construction started in May 1951. Transmissions began in July 1952. A 250 kW transmitter made by Funkwerk Köpenick was installed. This site became the model for other GDR medium wave transmitter installations.
In 1954, the site was renamed Funkamt Berlin-Köpenick. It came under the control of the Ministry for Post and Telecommunications. A second 250 kW transmitter went into service in 1956. The original prototype transmitter was replaced in 1959. It was replaced by an improved version. Two smaller medium wave transmitters were added.
A 1 kW television transmitter was installed in 1956. This was replaced in 1958. It was replaced by a 10 kW transmitter. TV transmissions from Köpenick stopped. This happened when the Berlin TV Tower went into service.
After 1989, the old medium wave transmitters were removed. Three modern Telefunken transmitters were installed. These were in the antenna tuner building. The 1959 transmitter was shut down in 1993. It was rebuilt in the Königs Wusterhausen radio museum. One of the smaller medium wave transmitters is now at Museum für Kommunikation Berlin.
The medium wave aerial was impressive. It had a 248-meter-high steel tube mast. It was insulated against the ground. A reflector mast of the same height stood 95 meters east. The Geneva Frequency Plan made the reflector mast unnecessary. It was dismantled in 1984. It was rebuilt at Wachenbrunn transmitter site. Hydraulic jacks could lift the masts. This protected them from sonic booms.
Two wire triangle aerials were reserves. Each was mounted on three 50-meter masts. A free-standing steel lattice mast supported directional antennas. These received signals from the Adlershof studio.
Alterations to the Berlin TV Tower in 1997 took over FM and TV transmissions. A new 120-meter mast at Zehlendorf near Oranienburg was constructed. This made the Köpenick facilities redundant. They were shut down in 2002. The transmission mast was demolished on December 16, 2002.
The 250 kW transmitters broadcast Berliner Welle, Berliner Rundfunk, and Radio Berlin International. Smaller transmitters jammed RIAS. They also broadcast Stimme der DDR. From Köpenick, the programme of Berliner Rundfunk was transmitted in FM.
Today only a mobile phone transmission mast remains. It stands in unusual construction for Germany. The Sender Köpenick is now only a memory. The site is a reminder of broadcasting history. It is a silent witness to technological change.