Gerbrandy Tower
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The Gerbrandy Tower' (Dutch: Gerbrandytoren) is a tower which was built in 1961 in the Netherlands. It is situated between Lopik and IJsselstein. The Gerbrandy Tower is used for directional radio services and for FM- and TV-broadcasting. It is not used as aerial for the mediumwave transmitter Lopik. This transmitter uses a guyed radio mast with a height of 196 metres and is situated a few kilometers away from the Gerbrandy Tower. The Gerbrandy Tower consists of a concrete tower with a height of 100 metres on which a guyed aerial mast is mounted. The total height of Gerbrandy Tower was originally 382.5 metres. It was reduced in 1987 to 375 metres. Towers of the type of Gerbrandy tower don't fit well in existing classification hierarchies of free standing tower antennas or guyed masts since it incorporates elements from both. If the structure is counted as a tower, it is the tallest tower in Western Europe. The Gerbrandy Tower is not the only tower which consists of a concrete tower on which a guyed mast is set. There are at least two similar, but smaller towers of the same pattern. One is the radio tower of Smilde (Netherlands), which consists of a 80 metre high concrete tower, on which a 223.5 metre high guyed mast is mounted. The other is the TV Tower Waldenburg (Germany), with a total height of 145 metres.
During Christmas time lamps are put on the guys and make the tower the biggest Christmas tree in the world. There were plans to limit these decorations to once every 5 years, but sponsoring has allowed the seasonal lighting to be put up every year so far.
The tower is named after Pieter Gerbrandy, prime minister of the Netherlands during World War Two.
See also: List of towers, list of masts