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Home , Bengt Lundvall, Ernst Alexanderson

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N:r 4 2006 Civilingenjör CARL-HENRIK WALDE

Civilingenjör Carl-Henrik Walde arbetade under åren 1958-2003 inom marinförvaltningen, senare Försvarets materielverk. Han var 1974-1982 chef för den marina Sambandsbyrån och 1982-1989 för den gemensamma Radiobyrån. Efter pensionsavgång är han idag en av de drivande krafterna inom den Svenska Nationalkommittén för RadioVetenskap (SNRV), ett expertorgan under Kungl. Vetenskapsakademien. Han är radioamatör med anropssignalen SM5BF.

Swedish submarine communication during 100 years, the role of Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, and how the Royal helped Varberg at Grimeton (SAQ) to world heritage status.

Abstract Schenectay, N.Y., designed radio equip- ment and antenna systems for world- Submarine technology as well as that of wide use. From late 1924, the Alexander- radio, ”wireless” at the time, started in son VLF alternator and multiple tuned the 1890’s. This paper will give an over- antenna system at the Swedish Telecom view of the development over a hundred radio station Grimeton, were used for years concentrating on the two most im- public communication from SAQ to portant submarine communication tech- USA. niques, viz. the ”longwaves” (VLF and During WWII and for some years af- LF) to a submerged sub and the ”short- ter that, the Royal Swedish Navy used waves” (HF) from a sub on or just below SAQ for traffic to submarines, in retro- the water surface. spect crucial for the survival of the sta- VLF was introduced during the Se- tion, still in perfect working order. SAQ cond World War (WWII) using already is the only remaining pre-electronic available systems for public correspon- for transatlantic work and dence, soon followed by establishments was put on the Unesco World Heritage dedicated to submarine use. HF burst List in 2004. transmission was introduced in WWII by the German Navy, in during the 1960’s. Introduction Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, a Swedish On July 2nd 2004, Unesco put Varberg emigrant to the of Ameri- Radio at Grimeton (SAQ), on the World ca working with at Heritage List, declaring:

379 ”The Varberg Radio Station at Grime- in Sweden at that time. The site is an out- ton in southern Sweden (built in 1922- standing example of the development of 1924) is an exceptionally well preserved telecommunications and is the only survi- monument to early wireless transatlantic ving example of a major transmitting sta- communication. It consists of the trans- tion based on pre-electronic technology.” mitter equipment, including the aerial sys- Ernst F. W. Alexanderson, the fore- tem of six 127-m high steel towers. Though most one to be honoured, was unfortu- no longer in regular use, the equipment nately not credited with his full name in has been maintained in operating condi- the Unesco declaration. Without Alexan- tion. The 109.9-ha site comprises build- derson, designer of the radio equipment ings housing the original Alexanderson and the antenna system, SAQ had never transmitter, including the towers with their succeeded in attaining world heritage antennae, short-wave with status; this paper will show his role. SAQ their antennae, and a residential area with is unique in another way being the only staff housing. The architect Carl Åkerblad world heritage object to be visited far designed the main buildings in the neo- away by DX radio reception. classical style and the structural engineer With one exception or two, the naval Henrik Kreüger was responsible for the officers in the references and in the text antenna towers, the tallest built structures were/are fellows of Kungl. Örlogsmanna-

Grimeton in the 1920’s (Foto: Gustaf Björkström, Länsmuseet Varberg)

380 sällskapet (KÖMS, the Swedish Royal riments. Being an engineer and entrepre- Academy of Naval Sciences). The refe- neur, he was the first person to under- rences are in chronological order, of stand that these waves could be used for them a few are of a general nature and wireless communication and, in 1901, he difficult to assign to any particular part of covered the Atlantic. He became regard- the paper. The article is public domain ed by everybody, including Popov, as the and based on an SAQ conference contri- father of radio, and was awarded the bution17) and on the communications 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics, shared with chapter of Captain Roderick Klintebo’s Karl Ferdinand Braun, ”in recognition of book celebrating the Swedish submarine their contributions to the development centenary14). Those wanting to dig more of .” deeply into the topic are recommended In the beginning, emissions were ge- to read the book. nerated by electric sparks producing Some people have questioned my ear- damped waves, i. e. the signal amplitude lier articles as including classified matt- decreased with time until the next spark ers, but all contents are of a general natu- occurred. This system was restricted to re. The ”disclosed” facts are known to morse telegraphy and had a wide radio everybody in the field – let us thus inclu- spectrum limiting the number of stations de the general public. on the air. At the turn of the century, constant amplitude and CW became pos- th sible with the Poulsen electric arc conver- It started in the 19 century ter and the Goldschmidt, Arco-Slaby, First, a bit of early radio history for the Béthenod-Latour and Alexanderson ty- younger generations: In the 1860’s James pes of rotary machinery. In the 1920’s, Clerk Maxwell, then at King’s College in transmitting tubes had arrived and the London, wrote a letter to his cousin say- famous Rugby station used these from its ing: ”I have a paper afloat which, til con- start in 1925. vinced to the contrary, I hold to be great guns.” In the 1870’s, he published his the- ory on electromagnetic waves which was Ernst F. W. Alexanderson confirmed experimentally by Heinrich Ernst Fredrik Werner Alexanderson Hertz ten years later. Nikola Tesla’s work (1878-1975) was born in Uppsala, Swe- on AC for power and light applications den, graduated at the Royal Technical In- included high frequency alternators and stitute (KTH) in in 1900 and already in the early 1890’s he foresaw then spent some time at the Technical transatlantic wireless telegraphy employ- University in -Charlottenburg ing continuous waves (CW). In May where he got a good basic knowledge of 1895, Alexander Popov demonstrated a ”radio”. His future was decided very ear- receiver to predict arriving thunder- ly by his reading Charles P. Steinmetz’s storms. It is rumoured and may well be book on the ”Theory and Calculation of true that he also had sent wireless signals Alternating Current Phenomena.” Alex- to ships, a fact then concealed by the Im- anderson went to the United States in perial Russian Navy. In September 1895, 1901 and after a while Steinmetz recom- made his first expe- mended him for a job at General Electric

381 (GE) in Schenectady, New York. There neers); they merged in 1963 to become he stayed for the rest of his long and cre- IEEE. Alexanderson was elected a mem- ative life working with practically every- ber of the Royal Swedish Academy of thing in electricity from AC and DC to Engineering Sciences in 1924 and of the and transistors. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1934. He was awarded many decorations, honorary doctorates from the University of Uppsala and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and, at 94, his 345th patent was registered.

The alternator and the multiple tuned antenna Just after the turn of the century, Alexan- derson began to design HF alternators based on an idea of Reginald A. Fessen- den who used one for his broadcasting experiment on Christmas Eve 1906 when voice, singing and music bewildered the radio officers of ships along the US east coast.1) The design of the 200 kW alterna- tors for VLF was ready in 1918. Including the very impressive multiple tuned an- tenna, they were manufactured by Gene- ral Electric and sold by the Radio Corpo- ration of America (RCA) around the world. The network included 18 trans- mitters in continental USA, Hawaii, Wa- les, and Sweden (two for SAQ, owned by the Royal Swedish Telegraph Board, Swedish Telecom). Two alternators with an output power of 200 kW could be used one at a time or in parallel. The rotating disc of the mo- Alexandersson as a young engineer at tor-generator was 1.6 m in diameter and General Electric (Foto: Telemuseum) the air gap 1 mm. At 2 100 rpm, the rotor peripheral velocity was 180 m/s illustra- ting the seriousness of the mechanical In 1919 he received the Medal of Ho- problems. The towers carried twelve nor from IRE (Institute of Radio Engi- 2 200 m long wires that connected the six neers, 1921 serving as its president) and vertical antenna elements from the top in 1944 the Edison Medal from AIEE of each tower.10) (American Institute of Electrical Engi- In October 1924, the first message

382 The twin altenators in 1951 supervised by Albert Nilsson, Swedish Telecom (Foto: Telemuseum) from SAQ, i. e. ”Varberg Radio” at Gri- Submarine communication meton on the Swedish west coast, was before the Second World War sent to the ”Radio Central” of RCA at Rocky Point, Long Island, USA. The wave- ”Wireless” was introduced in our navy in length was about 18 000 m, soon changed 1899, the driving force being Lieutenant to a frequency of 17.2 kHz. The commer- (later ) Charles Léon de Champs. cial service ”via RCA” started December After some years, he was accompanied 1st 1924. On July 2nd 1925, the station was by Ragnar Rendahl, a brilliant Swedish inaugurated by King Gustaf V sending a engineer working at AEG/Telefunken in telegram to Calvin Coolidge, President , who became the first ”electro of the United States, praising the new engineer” of the Royal Swedish Navy. link to America. He also praised ”the demo- After the first decade, the merchant ma- cratic shelter under which millions of rine followed suit and Karlskrona Radio Swedes had found new homes.” opened for public correspondence on We will now put the history of SAQ July 15th 1910, its callsign SAA still kept on standby giving submarine communi- for the communication center of our cation a break-in. navy.16)

383 In TiS Rendahl wrote the first ”Års- berg, who had installed the receiving berättelse (yearly report) i radiotelegra- equipment in Illern, said that he convinc- fi.”2) For Karlsborg Radio, the main Swe- ed Weinberg that such reception was pos- dish Telecom transmitter facility before sible. The Illern logbooks of July 11th-12th Grimeton, he advocated an LF transmit- 1925 do not mention radio, but they con- ter similar to Alexanderson’s, but of his firm that the tests were made as the sub- own design. The organizations involved marine dived and surfaced a few times disputed on the most suitable technique outside Varberg. We hope to find docu- and Swedish Telecom installed a spark ments giving more details of the result transmitter (the ”alarm clock of Euro- which were not mentioned in the last pe”). According to Gösta Brigge, Ren- ”Årsberättelse i radiotelegrafi”, written dahl took on a formidable job which he by Anderberg and printed in TiS in performed in excellence.4) 1928.3) In 1914 or 1915, HMS Svärdfisken If, besides tests, VLF was used to sub- (the Swordfish) was the first submarine merged submarines before WWII is not to get wireless. Using LF spark transmitt- known; this will continue to be an impor- ers for morse telegraphy on wavelengths tant research area where help will be of 300, 450 and 600 m, submarine radio most welcome. traffic did not differ much from ordinary means of communication. Thermionic valves (electronic tubes) were invented Submarine communication in in the 1910’s and with them, HF telepho- the Second World War ny became possible. The submarines Submarine communication in WWII was were the first Swedish units to get tube vastly improved by the great sea powers equipment, the SRA (Svenska Radioak- beginning to use VLF, the tiebolaget) transmitter AU-200-II and from Rugby and the Kriegsmarine from receiver SMU.4) As antennas, the subma- Nauen, later followed by ”Goliath” in rines used insulated wires forward and Kalbe an der Milde about 130 kms west aft of the conning tower with the usual of Berlin. Goliath, biggest in the world, artillery people conflict. The loop for D/F was built in great haste 1941-43, had an (direction finding) navigation was used output power of 1 MW and a large, high- also for radio communication, sometimes ly efficient antenna, based on the princip- with better performance than the wires, les of the Alexanderson multiple tuned sometimes not. For good reception, the system. It had global coverage with an antenna could not be lower than a few antenna depth in the South Atlantic of metres below the surface. 10 m below the surface. The HF return Admiral Erik Anderberg’s personal channel was ordinary morse, the German notes (still kept with his sons) say that he Navy later introducing a primitive burst was in Varberg in 1925 commanding transmission system called ”Kurier” in HMS Rigel. He went to Grimeton to which the 0.43 second message was dis- agree upon a test from SAQ to submerg- played on an oscilloscope, photographed ed HMS Illern (the Polecat), command- and evaluated in ”Koralle”, the bunker ed by Lieutenant Commander (later of Admiral Dönitz in Bernau 30 kms Captain) Sten Gustaf Weinberg. Ander- northeast of Berlin.

384 In 1941 and with considerable fore- like retractable HF antenna mast should sight, the signals department of the Swe- improve our existing HF transmitting dish Navy drew up a plan for submarine system. No document mentioned burst communication settling for SAQ with its transmission, an area possibly regarded low frequency and high power as the too secret to be includ-ed in notes, not main VLF station to the Swedish subma- covered at all or discuss-ed only in a rines. HF communication from the sub- smaller circle of people. marines was considered ”unsolvable”, here interpreted as possible only for sub- HMS Sjöormen – Swedish marines on the surface. In neutral Sweden, SAQ at Grimeton submarine communication continued to be used for public cor- improves respondence that was increasingly im- The Sjöormen (Sea Serpent) class, deliv- portant as one of the few possible com- ered the 1960’s, regarded as a milestone munications links with belligerents as for Swedish submarine development well as non-belligerents. It was also used with better radio communications includ- to our submarines, e.g. for messages to ing radically improved VLF/LF recep- the downed HMS Ulven (the Wolf), sent tion, burst transmission on HF and new from ”Per-Albins ledningsvagn” (the mo- principles of system design. This system bile communication center of the Swedish step created a powerful submarine com- premier), the reception confirmed by the munications system along the principle radioman of HMS Delfinen (the Dolphin) ”standards above all” that has been un- which took part in the search. changed. Our policy facilitated installa- tion, maintenance and upcoming modifi- Submarine communication cations as well as retrofitting the Hajen and Draken series and using well-tried after WWII equipment for newbuildings. In studies and notes of meetings in the With few exceptions, the Sjöormen years following the war, the Swedish Na- equipment were new, either designed for val Staff showed continued excellent the purpose or available as COTS. The foresight in submarine communication. transistor had been invented in the mid Lieutenant Commander Bengt Lundvall 1940’s, a technology step comparable to (later Admiral) reported from his visit to that of the thermionic valve. It took some the Admiralty that, in addition to VLF time for this technology to mature and Rugby, the Royal Navy had 40 kW LF only the burst transmission system was transmitters (frequency range 40-50 fully solid state with discrete transistors kHz) giving very limited depth of recep- and core memory. Satellite systems were tion, but quite suitable in low saline wa- disregarded; as an independent nation, ters like the Baltic. He also said that the we could not "control" them. In a recent British had removed the D/F loop and TiS, Commander Håkan Nilsson and all wire antennas and installed two cros- Captain Anders Järn, gave their views on sed coils, possibly with ferrite cores, with a underwater communications calling for reception depth of 20 m (most probably systems not available today and thus out- from Rugby). He added that a periscope- side the scope of my article.18, 19)

385 HMS Sjöormen at sea. The HF transmitting antenna is the mast with the horisontal disc; the VLF receiving antenna radome is at the top of the conning tower, aft. (Foto: Kockums)

Longwave to the submerged for the latter a higher one. In the Katte- submarine gat, VLF is needed; in the Baltic LF is optimum. The signal from the In principle, the depth of VLF/LF recep- transmitter goes along the ground and tion depends on over the water surface and then almost • water salinity vertically down to the submarine. The • transmitter radio frequency dominating attenuation is in the water • transmitter power and the locality of the transmitter is of • transmitter antenna efficiency less significance. • distance to transmitter As mentioned earlier, the Royal Swe- • modulation method and signal dish Navy needed to supplement SAQ processing efficiency with an LF transmitter of its own, opti- • data transfer rate mized for the Baltic. It was to be installed • sensitivity and selectivity of sub an- near the small town of Trosa. However, tenna and receiver system the location was regarded as vulnerable Three parameters, viz. water salinity, and was changed to the village of Ruda transmitter radio frequency and trans- west of Oskarshamn. Swedish Philips de- mitter antenna efficiency, interact. For livered a 40 kW LF transmitter, Jucho the first two a lower frequency is better, GmbH in Germany the 200 meter umbrel-

386 la mast, i. e. with toploading wires. Ruda to Goliath. It comprises eight 100 kW Radio opened for traffic on December 1st transmitter units, each with a 350 m mast. 1959; plans for a second installation did For depths of the order of 100 m, lower not materialize. frequencies are needed. Systems with fre- A decade later, the Swedish National quencies of about 80 Hz, used by USA Defence Reseach Institute (FOA) was (terminated) and Russia, need great trans- asked to study how to cover the Baltic mitter powers and giant antenna systems, with another LF station. Neither geo- out of the question for a small nation. graphical databases, nor sufficient calcu- For reception, two crossed ferrite lating power were available. Thus, the loop antennas on the rear upper part of study was based an manual methods, a the conning tower were used. Swedish simple but ingenuous way of overlaying Philips made the antenna and the solid two identically scaled viewgraphs, one state aerial tuner/amplifier. It was easy to with circles of transmitter field strength, specify: the best possible sensitivity and one a map with curves of needed field selectivity for weak signals and that at strengths for the desired depth of recep- the expense of everything else. This unit tion. The result was very astonishing: the was delivered before schedule, had excel- optimum site was west of Oskarshamn, lent performance and a lower price than i. e. near Ruda; FOA then proposed two estimated – a very rare situation. It got a lower power transmitters.5, 6)After trying long life, eventually being replaced by different ways to implement these, they NATO standard equipment from Brad- eventually came about, based on two ley, UK, being recommended by Odd- disused Air Force jamming transmitters, bjørn Strømsnes and Henning Landbo, an idea once suggested by Commander my Norwegian and Danish opposite Percy Björling. numbers at the time. At a meeting in Grimeton in 2003 I As submarine receivers, we chose Ra- was asked, then retired, by Captain Bo cal RA117 (including VLF preselectors) Rask, Commanding Officer of the Sub- which had an innovative method of fre- marine Flotilla, to write a memorandum quency control, well suited to morse tele- on longwave stations where SAQ, its low graphy, the main method of communica- frequency and its large antenna system tion at the time. In the 1970’s, the receiv- might be considered as possible resour- ers were changed to the new navy stand- ces.13) Today, along the lines of the memo, ard contracted jointly with the Royal Da- the stations are being modernized with nish Navy. It was fully solid state and was solid state equipment, MSK modulation manufactured by Standard Radio, Swe- and remote control, i. e. to the general den (part of the ITT group). It is easy to state-of-the-art of submarine communi- operate, very reliable, and still in use. cation. To reach depths of the order of 10 m, HF and burst transmission the VLF frequency range of 14-25 kHz is used. One station, possibly the strongest In principle, a burst transmission radio in the world, is the German NATO facil- system should ity of Ramsloh (Rhauderfehn), 70 kms • expose the transmitter antenna over west of Bremen, in essence comparable water as little as possible

387 • allow antenna tuning without trans- a standard teleprinter, its ”bell” function mitting power used to alert the radio officer on watch. • use high transmitter power Since then, some refinements, not men- • have a well structured chain of receiv- tioned here, have been included; other ers with diversity and redundancy refinements, not mentioned here, may • forward messages to the combat cen- await their turn. tre in a quick and secure way The HF transmitter (Ra850) was de- • have a flexible frequency manage- signed by GEC, UK (later part of the ment based on wave propagation prog- Marconi group, now Ericsson). The Eng- noses lish called it the ”Squash” transmitter, its • employ a data transfer rate and modu- double meaning probably intentional. lation suitable for the actual wave The transmitter could give 1 kW in burst propagation mode, but had only a few fixed frequen- • use efficient signal processing inclu- cies, not really acceptable. The matter ding forward error correction was heavily discussed, but it was decided • avoid stereotype messages that we should go on, albeit there were • have a quick and secure ciphering sys- less expensive frequency flexible trans- tem mitters on the US market. Rather soon, we had to add a syntheziser, made by El- It should be mentioned that a return mer SpA, Italy (later part of the Marconi channel, in this case VLF or LF, is needed group, now Ericsson). In the 1970’s, the to acknowledge received messages. transmitter was changed to the new navy In the 1950’s, Marinförvaltningens standard from Standard Radio, as reli- ”Telelab” (the electronics laboratory of able as the receivers. the Navy Board), started work on a high- It is difficult to get an electrically as ly secret burst transmission system, well as mechanically good submarine HF ”Snaggen”, including a better submarine antenna enabling the transmitting sub- HF antenna. Snaggen was tested on air, marine to stay under the surface. Com- the antenna as a model scaled to a higher mander (E) Sven Linder negotiated with frequency. Unfortunately, this was the the US Navy, which had one or two types time when key personnel, including that of of retractable antennas designed for nu- Telelab, left for consulting firms, a trend clear submarines, and a contract was sign- that was encouraged. We, the young inex- ed with ITT. These antennas were excel- perienced engineers, had to continue the lent, although expensive, and very effi- job of aquiring the equipment. cient – someone asked if a new coast ra- Signal processing had not come far dio station had gone on air. They turned those days and the first data code, primi- out to be very reliable and got a long life ; tive and binary, had to be chosen by me. they were kept in the Challenger class in It indicated symbol errors, no more, and the Republic of Singapore Navy. we had to rely on the redundancy of the diversity receiver chain, the structure of which has been immune to all reorgani- Grimeton in danger, but saved zations. At that time, ciphering was one- SAQ was in commercial telegraph servi- time pad and messages were recorded on ce slightly beyond the Second World War

388 1939-1945. After that period, the alterna- sador to the Royal Academy of Sciences tor and its antenna system stood a very and similar organizations in the Swedish small chance of surviving because inter- capital. continental communications had been ta- Grimeton Radio was listed as a natio- ken over by HF radio. However, the Royal nal industrial monument in October Swedish Navy still needed SAQ and its an- 1996. A year later it was honoured as the tenna system and without being aware of foremost one of that year and also put on our cultural foresight, we remunerated the the list of the most important sites of the maintenance costs, predominantly for the country. Protected by Swedish law, the painting of the antenna towers. station buildings, the alternator and the Unfortunately, the naval interest de- multiple tuned antenna of Grimeton Ra- creased as the Kattegat on the west coast dio will for ever be kept in working or- of Sweden was no longer a priority area. der. In 1995, the Radio Services of Swedish Telecom decided to close SAQ, still very well maintained and in perfect working Royal support order. As people prepared themselves to On the first day of the new millennium, listen to the last transmission, other peo- SAQ sent a message from the King of ple started a resistance movement. As Sweden, H. M. Carl XVI Gustaf, the our first victory, we succeeded in getting ”etat” keyed by Lars Kålland SM6NM (a a few months of postponement. professional radio officer): Thus, the ”last SAQ transmission” by ”Seventyfive years ago the first wire- the one and only remaining Alexander- less messages were sent from the radio sta- son alternator could be heard in Septem- tion at Grimeton in Sweden to the United ber 1995 at the IEE London conference States of America. The new link was supp- ”A Hundred Years of Radio” as well as lied with the ultimate in modern radio in the United States. Many radio ama- technology at that time, invented by the teurs and professionals were present at Swedish-American Ernst F. W. Alexander- the conference and, signals being heard son, USA. in the auditorium, they took down the In that first message from Grimeton live message received by courtesy of seventyfive years ago, my great grand- BBC.9) father King Gustaf V expressed the hope Luckily, interest to preserve the sta- that better communications would strength- tion and to maintain it in working order en the relations between peoples and na- increased and after a very short time the tions. Today the only existing Alexander- situation was totally reversed. The Swe- son transmitter is again sending a message dish National Heritage Board, the Coun- around the world. ty of Halland, the town of Varberg and Today the unique radio transmitter at the Radio Services of Swedish Telecom Grimeton meets a new millennium. My gave generous support, backed by very message today is, however, the same as hard pressure from radio enthusiasts, ra- that sent by King Gustaf V seventyfive dio engineers, radio officers and radio years ago. With modern technology and amateurs. Living in the outskirts of means of communication, the possibilities Stockholm, I became sort of SAQ ambas- of deepened understanding, peace, demo-

389 cracy and free exchange of opinions be- work, SAQ was put on the Unesco World tween the peoples of the world will in- Heritage List on July 2nd 2004, exactly 79 crease. years from the station inauguration. Finally, I wish A Happy New Year to Thanks are due for intense efforts by nu- all of you around the world, who are liste- merous people all over Sweden including ning to this transmission!” the Swedish Government, the Swedish The message was reported received National Heritage Board, the county of by about a hundred listeners in Europe Halland, the town of Varberg, the Radio and in the United States, Minnesota be- Services of Swedish Telecom and the ing most distant. supporting non-profit society of Alexan- der. The Unesco declaration is a major achievement for radio people and a ma- nifestation for a nation like Sweden which is reckoned among the foremost countries in IT and radio communica- tions.12) The celebrations started only a few hours after the Unesco decision. The Halland County Governor, Mrs. Karin Starrin, spoke to the crowd from a balco- ny at the main square in Varberg. On the 2004 ”Alexander Day” two days later, 1 600 people visited the station to see and Transmission of the royal message hear SAQ transmitting the news. The re- (Foto: Hans G Larsson, TeliaSonera) turn channels were amateur radio to SA6Q, email and fax – things change with time. th On September 5 2001, King Carl Swedish Telecom has generously do- XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia visited nated SAQ to the World Heritage Foun- Grimeton and sent another ”etat” from dation of Grimeton adding a very sub- SAQ to the People of the world, keyed stantial amount for further operation by myself (not a professional, just a radio and maintenance. Thanks are due also to amateur). Sitting there, the royal couple the Royal Swedish Navy which earlier standing behind, was great. The radio- put in a lot of money. The station is in al- gram read: ”on july 2 1925 my great most mint condition and the towers have grandfather inaugurated grimeton radio recently been completely repainted. and on jan 1 2000 saq transmitted my mil- The visitors’ centre, sponsored by the lennium message stop today on our royal town of Varberg and the Varberg Savings tour we send our best wishes from saq = Bank Foundation, opened on July 2nd carl gustaf rex silvia regina” 2005, exactly 80 years from the SAQ in- auguration. It will contain activities to The world heritage stimulate young people to show interest Some of us got world heritage in mind al- in natural science and technology, an ready in 1996. After eight years of heavy ”Alex’s lab” having already been created

390 in an additional building. The station is SAQ in a peaceful world shown at regular intervals and the alter- Unesco was born on November 4th 1946. nator is run on dummy load about once a For 60 years, the organization has been week during the summer. The 2 200 m fulfilling an ambitious goal: ”to build long multiple tuned antenna is an eye- peace in the minds of men.” That inclu- catcher from the west coast railway, from des the preservation of the natural and the E6 highway and through submarine cultural objects on the World Heritage periscopes in the Kattegat. The SAQ list. Within the framework of Partnership website will tell you how and when to go for Peace (PfP), the 80 year old transmit- there. ting facilities of Grimeton and SAQ are ready to support this Unesco goal. SAQ still on air as a tribute to ”Alex” Acknowledgements From the spark era 1900-1920 and the I am indebted to books, journals and pro- electronic tube era 1920-1960, we are in ceedings and to my friends everywhere the era of transistors and integrated cir- for support in writing this article and ear- cuits. Over these years, we have been lier papers on SAQ. Special thanks go to able to follow the development of sub- Hans Bergfast and Karl-Gustav Strid marine communications from signal flags SM6FJB for their expertise in preparing up to the fully solid state radio communi- the world heritage application, to Försva- cations of our navy. In the systems of to- rets Historiska Telesamlingar (FHT, the day, with their efficient signal processing Swedish Defence Historical Collections) and remote controlling of distant equip- for financial support and to KÖMS and ment, one component is unique: the pre- Krigsarkivet (KrA, the Military Archives electronic radio station at Grimeton, one of Sweden) for valuable help in my re- of its foremost sponsors being the Royal search. Swedish Navy. I also like to mention the support Ernst Alexanderson was inducted from Gunnar Brodin whom I first met at posthumously into the US National In- KTH in the 1950’s. He became a profes- ventors Hall of Fame in 1983. He was sor at his alma mater and found an inter- very well known in USA, less so in his est in Alexanderson and his work. He end- native country. We hope that also Swe- ed his career as Marshal of the Realm, i.e. dish people will catch up when visiting royal court CEO. Coming out of the SAQ which will go on air once a year on wings at the royal visit in 2001, wearing Alexander Day in late June or early July. his doctor’s hat, he substituted for Ernst The cooling water fountains, the clicking Alexanderson and delivered the first relays, the liquid variable resistors and speech, quite appropriate for our fore- the rumbling 50 ton alternator will recall most Alexanderson expert. His sudden the atmosphere of the 1920’s – please pay appearance amazed his immediate su- tribute to ”Alex, the complete chief engi- periors, our king and queen, who had not neer.” been told in advance.

391 References 13) C.-H. Walde. ”Radiosamband till ubåt, PM 1) E. F. W. Alexanderson. ”Trans-Oceanic Ra- om långvågsstationer för Försvarsmakten” dio Communication”, Proc. IEEE, vol. 8, pp. (in Swedish), memorandum to the Submari- 263-285, (1920); ibid. (reprint), vol. 87, pp. ne Flotilla (unregistered, deposited in the 1829-1837, (1999). Military Archives of Sweden, ref. FHT), 2) R. Rendahl. ”Årsberättelse i radiotelegrafi” (2003). 14) (in Swedish), Tidskrift i Sjöväsendet, vol. 84, R. Klintebo (editor). ”Det svenska ubåts- pp. 195-234, (1921). vapnet 1904-2004” (in Swedish), Liberatim, 3) E. Anderberg. ”Årsberättelse i radiotele- (2004); (ISBN 91-973075-3-X). 15) grafi” (in Swedish), Tidskrift i Sjöväsendet, C.-H. Walde. ”Ubåtssamband och dess bak- vol. 91, pp. 173-195, (1928). grund” (in Swedish), Audionen (Gothen- 4) G. Brigge. ”Årsberättelse i förbindelsevä- burg radio museum, editor Krister Ljung- sen 1952” (in Swedish), Tidskrift i Sjöväsen- qvist), issue 3 (2005), (offprint 2005 and det, vol. 116, pp. 379-420, (1953). 2006). 16) 5) R. Lindqvist, G. Svennérus. FOA3 rapport A. Ahlström. ”Svenska marina kustradio- AH 3765-61 (in Swedish, classified), (1969). stationer (in Swedish), Försvarets Historis- 6) R. Lindqvist. ”Some results in connection ka Telesamlingar (Columna Förlags AB), with a search for maximum underwater LF/ (2006, second printing 2006); (ISBN 91- VLF coverage”, AGARD Conference Pro- 7942-081-8). 17) ceedings 77 on Electromagnetics of the Sea, C.-H. Walde. ” SAQ in Grimeton, the only AGARD-CP-77-70, chapter 10, (1970) remaining pre-electronic transmitter for 7) B. V. Nilsson. ”Ernst Fredrik Werner Alex- transatlantic work, now on the Unesco anderson” (in Swedish), Teleböckerna, Tele- World Heritage List”, IET Conference museum and Telia AB, (1987, second prin- Ionospheric Radio Systems & Techniques ting 2002); (ISBN 91-972360-6-3); English (IRST), pp. 331-335, (2006); (ISBN 0-86341- edition, Grimeton World Heritage Founda- 659-4 & 978-0-86341-659-0). 18) tion, (2006); (ISBN 91-766294-0-5). H. Nilsson. ”Kommunikation under vattnet 8) J. E. Brittain. ”Alexanderson: Pioneer in – lyx eller nödvändighet” (in Swedish), Tid- American ”, Johns skrift i Sjöväsendet, (vol. 169), pp. 239-249, Hopkins Univ. Press, (1992); (ISBN 0-8018- (2006); (ISSN 0040-6945). 19) 4228-X). A. Järn. ”Going west – a submarine service 9) K. Weedon. ”The Alexanderson Alternator, with global reach”, ibid., pp. 285-293. a ’Near Perfect’ System of W/T Transmis- sion” (slide show of 1982), IEE Conference Websites 100 Years of Radio, pp. 69-70, (1995); (ISBN whc..org 0-85296-649-0, ISSN 0537-9989). (Unesco World Heritage Centre) 10) G. Brodin. ”Ernst Fredrik Werner Alexan- derson”, Royal Swedish Academy of Sci- www.raa.se ences (IVA), (1998); (ISBN 91-7082-633-1, (Swedish National Heritage Board) ISSN 1102-8254). www.lst.n.se 11) J. E. Brittain. ”Introduction to Trans-Ocea- (County Administrative Board of Halland) nic Radio Communication”, Proc. IEEE, www.grimetonradio.se (SAQ) vol. 87, pp. 1825-1828, (1999). www.alexander.n.se (Alexander Society) 12) H. Bergfast. K.-G. Strid (editors). ”Applica- tion for Inclusion on the World Heritage www.fht.nu List”, The County Administrative Board of (Försvarets Historiska Telesamlingar) Halland, (2001); (ISSN 1101-1084, ISRN www.radiomuseet.se LSTY-N-M-01/24-SE). (Gothenburg radio museum)

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