Telefunken at Sayville

 
 Image 1
 

 Image 2

 Image 3

 Image 4

 Image 5

 Image 6

 Image 7

 
Image 8

Image 9
 

Image 10

Image 11

Image 12

 Image 13

Image 14

Image 15

Ludwig Battermann

Submitted by George Flanagan, W2KRM
                                  

In 1911, on a 102-acre site in Sayville, New York, the Atlantic Communication Company, an American subsidiary of the German firm Telefunken, began constructing the most powerful and technologically advanced commercial radio station in America.  Completed in 1912, the “Great Sayville Station,” as it became known, was the first able to consistently span the Atlantic, exchanging traffic daily with its sister station in Nauen Germany.   

"Telefunken High Power Radio Station, Sayville, N.Y." proclaims the sign in this north view of the station.  Its landmark 500-foot main tower, visible for miles out to sea, was the tallest structure on Long Island.

Inner tower anchorage.  .  Tower guys were secured to six massive concrete anchorages, three inner and three outer.  The inner, measured 10’ W by 12’ D by 30’ H and extended 10’ or more into the ground; the outer, 7’ W by 10’ D by 15’ H, extended 8’ into the ground.   (Image 3)

Constructing the tower anchorages.  Workmen mix and pour concrete by hand into wooden forms for inner anchorages in late summer of 1911.  Horses used to hoist buckets of concrete by means of a pulley arrangement.   (Image 4)

Tower base and station building.  The 40’ x 80’ station building contained all apparatus for sending and receiving.  Station superintendent Ludwig Battermann’s 1906 Pope-Toledo auto is occupied by station operator Fred Stoye and family. (Image 5)

Tower base close-up. The main tower rested on a ball & socket joint at its base, which was supported and insulated from ground on three glass insulators. Three concrete piers, approximately six feet high, were provided for lifting and supporting the tower on jacks to facilitate replacement or repair of the joint or insulators.  (Image 6)

Battery room.  .  Originally, all station apparatus operated from a 220 volt, 600 ampere-hour, 120 cell storage battery that filled an entire 22’ by 37’ room.  Battery was kept charged by a motor-generator operating from station 440 volt primary power (Image 7)

Transmitter room.  .  If the rope barrier continued to the back wall instead of turning to the right, the 35-kW output quenched gap spark transmitter would be fully to its left, the 5-kW "small set" used for marine communications to its right.  Note the banks of Leyden jar condensers along wall at left.  (Image 9)

Sending / receiving positions.  Located in soundproof room, enabling the feeble transatlantic signals to be heard on period receivers using crystal detectors. In late 1914, reception improved dramatically with use of regenerative receivers, Atlantic Communication Co. becoming the first licensee of Armstrong’s newly patented receiving circuit.   (Image 10)
 

Ship-to-shore operating position.  Operator at 1.5-kW set, which replaced the 5-kW as the “small set” used for ship-to-shore communications with vessels of the Hamburg-American and North German Lloyd lines. (Image 11)
 

100 kW Joly-Arco high frequency alternator.  In early 1915, addressing the need for improved wartime communications reliability, a new wing was added to the station building and a 100 kW Joly-Arco high frequency alternator transmitter installed to replace the 35-kW spark transmitter. (Image 12)

Erection of 500-foot Rendahl tower.  As part of the HF alternator upgrade, 500-foot towers to the east and west of the main tower were added. Named after their inventor, the towers were assembled on the ground from hundreds of short pieces of steel tubing.  Each full-length tower was then rotated into its upright position utilizing a 200-foot long structure functioning as a gin-pole.  Later, six additional towers were erected: five guyed 220-footers and one self-standing 200-footer. (Image 13)

Marine encampment.  At the outbreak of WWI, the Sayville station became a vital link with Germany.  To preserve U.S neutrality, navy censors were sent to the station to assure that no “unneutral” messages were exchanged.  On April 20, 1916, a threatened break in diplomatic relations with Germany resulted in detachment of 21 fully equipped marines to the station.  TheU.S. finally commandeered the Sayville station, expelling all Germans, shortly before its April 6, 1917 declaration of war on Germany (Image 14)

Aerial view of station site looking north.  Although this 1930 painting includes some buildings not existent when site occupied by Telefunken, it provides an excellent idea of site layout.  Bounded on the south by the LIRR, entrance to the site was made at the southeast corner.  (Image 15)

Ludwig A. Battermann (1885-1975).  Shown here atop the 200-foot south tower during construction in April of 1916, Battermann arrived from Germany on March 20, 1912 to assist in setting up the Sayville station.  He remained as superintendent until the station was taken over by the government upon our entry into WWI. After the war, he went on to distinguish himself at RCA Laboratories at Rocky Point, where he became Supervisor of the Experimental Department, Building 10.  The inventive Battermann received seven patents. 

A small album of snapshots he had taken plus others of theSayville station were left to his son, Norbert, through whose generosity we have our first glimpse of the station’s earliest days.

For the next chapter of the Sayville station story, go to

“US Naval Radio Station – Sayville, NY.”