Wetzstein Summit and Former Radar Station

The soldiers of the National People's Army (NVA) of the GDR registered on the whetstone every flight movement up to 150 kilometers into the Federal Republic. The radar station on the highest mountain in eastern Thuringia (792 meters) was part of the air surveillance system of the Warsaw Pact military alliance.

On 4 November 1983, a company of the air forces / air defense of the NVA took over the new station.

Except for the guardhouse, all facilities were underground. Up to 25 soldiers served the technology in one shift. The entire area was secured with high voltage of 20,000 volts. Remains of the radar station can still be seen today, for example large garage doors, power distribution boxes and ventilation pipes.

The Bundeswehr took over after the reunification of the radar station. It was dissolved on March 22, 1991. Today, the site is still used by an amateur radio club.

The Wetzstein rises at the transition of the Franconian Forest to the Thuringian Slate Mountains in the Nature Park Thuringian Slate Mountains / Upper Saale near the border to the Frankenwald Nature Park in the southwest. Its summit is 3.3 km south of the core city of Lehesten. The Lehesten districts Brennersgrün and Röttersdorf are southeast and northeast of it. On the southern flank of the mountain runs the historic Grenzweg Rennsteig. It is located near Brennersgrün in the Thuringian district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt. On it stands the lookout tower Altvaterturm.

The whetstone is a mountain of the northern slope of the Franconian Forest and the highest in eastern Thuringia. It is located near Brennersgrün in the Thuringian district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt.

The Wetzstein rises at the transition of the Franconian Forest to the Thuringian Slate Mountains in the Nature Park Thuringian Slate Mountains / Upper Saale near the border to the Frankenwald Nature Park in the southwest.

On the southern flank of the mountain runs the historic Grenzweg Rennsteig.