The Strašnice Transmitter – “The reliable wavelength of 415 metres”

The Strašnice radio transmitter was put into operation in 1925. It was equipped with two wooden poles with a height of 40 metres and a 60-metre long antenna between them. During the Prague Uprising in 1945, it broadcasted with a frequency of 722 kHz, i.e. 415.5 metres. The broadcasting made it possible for the Bartoš headquarters and the Czech National Council to command the rebel army in the capital. Therefore, it was vital for the whole city to maintain the transmitter in operation. The signal of the transmitter could be heard throughout Bohemia, and the call for help on 5 May at 12:33 meant a signal for the uprising in other parts of Czechoslovakia that had not yet been liberated. On 5 May, around 1 p.m., the employees of the transmitter managed to disarm the German guard. Then they called the Czech police officers from the 69th and 70th police districts to guard the building. The transmitter was used to transmit modulation from the main building of the Radio in Vinohradská Street. On 6 May, the German Air Force managed to hit the main building of the Radio and put its studios out of operation. The technicians operating the transmitter brought a microphone and created an improvised studio directly in its operating buildings, and after an hour and a half from the last report from Vinohrady, they managed to recover the rebel broadcasting. Meanwhile, the technicians from the main building were trying to bring the reserve studio in the building of the Hussite Church in Vinohrady into operation, and the studio took over the broadcasting at 4:35 p.m. on 7 May. The Germans also tried to silence the rebel broadcasting, and dozens of Czech citizens fell victim to their raids, both around the building at Vinohrady and around the Třebešín transmitter. The transmitter was dismantled after 1948, and most of its operational buildings were removed after 2000. Only the bomb shelter was preserved. A plaque commemorating the rebel broadcasting is placed in Na Třebešíně Street, opposite house No. 6.