Grimeton Radio Station

UNESCO World Heritage Site (2004): The Last Working Alexanderson Alternator Transmitter In The World, With Six 127 M Masts, Still Sent On Air On Alexanderson Day · Grimeton, Halland County

Grimeton Radio Station (Grimeton radiostation), in the farmland about 10 km east of Varberg on the Halland coast, was built in 1922-1924 to send telegraph messages across the Atlantic to the United States on very long waves. Its transmitter is an Alexanderson alternator, a huge rotating machine that generates the radio signal mechanically, and Grimeton's is the only one of its kind still in working order anywhere. Six steel masts about 127 m tall stand on a straight line across the fields and carry the antenna. UNESCO listed the station in 2004 as an outstanding monument of early wireless communication. Each year, usually around early July on what is called Alexanderson Day, the machine is started and sends a morse message on 17.2 kHz, heard by radio amateurs around the world. A visitor centre and summer guided tours explain it all. The honest caveat: it is small and specialised, and it is chiefly for technology and radio enthusiasts.

Grimeton, about 10 km east of Varberg in Halland, Grimeton, Halland County, Sweden

The masts can be seen from the surrounding roads and fields at any time, free. The visitor centre and the guided tours of the transmitter hall run mainly in summer, roughly late June to mid-August, often daily in that window, with fewer days or weekends only in the shoulder season and usually no regular public opening in winter apart from pre-booked groups and special days - check the current schedule, as it changes from year to year. The alternator itself is started only on a few special days, above all Alexanderson Day around early July, and often on Christmas Eve; confirm the dates. Tours are not usually booked far ahead except on Alexanderson Day, when it gets busy. Getting there: Varberg has a station with SJ and regional trains on the West Coast line between Gothenburg and Malmo. From Varberg it is about 10 km, 15 minutes by car; regional buses run by Hallandstrafiken are infrequent, so check times. Parking is at the station.

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