Caption
Transmitter Hornisgrinde
On top of the Hornisgrinde is the
Transmitter Hornisgrinde, a transmission facility for FM and TV in the Black Forest. There are two towers: a small steel framework tower (at the other end of the street), used for directional services, which belongs to the German Telecom Inc. and a 206 m (676 ft) high concrete tower of the
SWR (Südwestrundfunk = South West German Broadcasting Company), transmitting all radio programs of "SWR", the radio program of "Radio Regenbogen", the radio program of "Deutschlandfunk" and the first TV program of "ARD" for the southwest part of Germany.
Guglielmo Marconi (1874 - 1937,
Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909) used in 1901 a transmitter with
35 kW for transmitting the first wireless signals across the Atlantic between Poldhu, Cornwall, and St. John's, Newfoundland, a distance of 3540 km (2100 miles)...
Today the transmission facility on the Hornisginde radiates more tnan
505 kW of
energy (FM and TV only).
About Hornisgrinde
The
Hornisgrinde, 1164 m (3820 ft), is the highest mountain in the Northern Black Forest of Germany.
The
moor area at the summit of the Hornisgrinde is a nature reserve and is only partly accessible to the public.
Since World War II, part of the Hornisgrinde was military property. Meanwhile, the military utilization ended and the
lookout tower (built in 1910) of the Schwarzwaldverein at the southern end of the Hornisgrinde could be mounted again.
The
Mummelsee is a deep lake at the western mountainside of the Hornisgrinde. It is very popular with tourists travelling along the
Schwarzwaldhochstraße. According to legends, the lake is inhabited by Nixen (mermaids) and the King of the Mummelsee.