Zendstation Smilde


Zendstation Smilde, also known as the CJ2 Data tower is a tall partially guyed tower in Hoogersmilde, the Netherlands, built in 1959, for directional radio services and TV and FM-transmissions. The structure is similar to the Gerbrandy Tower, and consists of an 80-metre-high reinforced concrete tower and, until a fire accident on July 15, 2011, had a guyed tubular mast mounted on top. When first built, the tower, including the mast, was 270 metres high. The addition of a further section to the mast increased its total height to 303.5 m.
In September 2007 the analog TV - UHF antenna was removed and replaced by a new UHF antenna for DVB-T, reducing the tower's height to 294 m. After rebuilding the collapsed tower in 2012, the new height is 303 metres.

Owner

Originally the mast was built by the state company for Post and Telephony but due to privatisation this has changed. Several masts in The Netherlands, including above mentioned Gerbrandy Tower, have a complex ownership structure:
On 14 August 1968 a US Air Force plane, an F-100 Super Sabre, from the Lakenheath Air Force Base in England was involved in an accident in heavy low clouds where the tip of a wing hit and broke one of the guy-wires of the tower, causing the upper section of the tower to bend. The pilot made an emergency landing at Soesterberg Royal Netherlands Air Force Base with considerable damage to the right wing.

Fire and collapse

On 15 July 2011, the antenna section caught fire and collapsed, leaving only the concrete base standing.
In the above-mentioned report a warning was given that there was an increased risk of accidents in the masts, mainly because of the complex ownership structure and that because of that processes were unclear. An investigation by the Dutch police didn't show any negligence or other factors that could have caused the fire.

Rebuilding the mast

The above fire destroyed the steel mast on top of the concrete tower completely and the top of the concrete tower was damaged. The owner of the steel mast, NOVEC BV, announced that starting in March 2012, the new mast will be placed on top of the concrete tower and that the new mast will be operational in the summer of 2012. The new mast will be a few metres higher than the destroyed one bringing the mast to the same height as before 2006, and will be a steel lattice construction instead of the original tube style. This will prevent the 'chimney effect', and thus safer in case of a fire. On 14 May 2012, at 10:35 the highest point was reached by the builders of VolkerWessels The mast was fully operational again in October 2012.