
I visited this WHS in July 2016. Although I had visited the country once before, this is the first WHS I visited in Sweden and it didn't disappoint. 45 minute guided tours in English (Day shift) of the radio station are held at 13:00 and at 15:00. I arrived at around 11:00 and spent some time hiking alongside the antennae, reading the information boards, exploring the underground bunker and taking photos. The station is rightly proud to be a WHS and there are signs everywhere to display its inscription. The UNESCO plaque is just next to the visitor centre besides the water cooling 'fountains' while the actual UNESCO inscription certificate is displayed inside the radio station, above the entrance. An informative 20-30 minute video is displayed and I would recommend watching it before the tour as the tour really complements the video shown. The young tour guides really make an effort to give an overview of the main highlights of the station, its importance and its world heritage inscription. I was really surprised to find out that the tour guide knew about WH travellers and that she actually was an interested "beginner" herself. The Grimeton Radio Station (SAQ) is the last remaining fully-operational radio station of the 8 which were originally linked to Radio Central on Long Island, US (5 US stations + one in Caernarvon, Wales, one in Warsaw, Poland and this one in Varberg) which has the only working Alexanderson alternator radio transmitter in the world. It is one of those industrial heritage sites on the list that can be appreciated by all, even if you're not so keen on industrial heritage sites. It will also help younger people appreciate modern technology breakthroughs which we sometimes take for granted. This is how the station was operated back in 1920s: somebody who wanted to send a telegram would visit the local telegraph office. The contents of his telegram would be transmitted with Morse signals via the radio central in Gothenburg to the Grimeton Radio Station through telegraphic wires. From Grimeton, the transformed wireless Morse signals (the telegram) would be sent to the United States and forwarded to the desired recepient. The highlight of this WHS is perhaps the way in which the wireless Morse signals were transmitted, i.e. using the longwave transmitter consisting of 4 main parts: the auxiliary system used to control the transmitter, the Alexanderson alternator creating the power needed for the antenna current, the magnetic amplifier modulating the carrier wave with Morse characters and the multiple antenna transmitting the signal out at 17.2 kHZ. The Grimeton Radio Station still transmits at least twice a year, once at the beginning of July on Alexanderson Day and once on Christmas Eve. Since my visit was after Alexanderson Day I made an extra effort to install the SAQ software (http://dl1dbc.net/SAQ/) on my laptop to actually receive the beeping signal. On the day I wasn't that impressed but now that I visited the station and understood the process behind such a great pre-electronic breakthrough I can really appreciate its importance.
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