Kahuranaki – home of the 670 repeater site is probably our last Hawkes Bay SOTA summit for this trip as we head back to home on Thursday and back to the realities of life as we know it. We arrived at the summit as the sun was starting to go down and Warren set up at speed to get himself on the air before it got too dark, although it worked in his favor of course as he hit record number of contacts tonight, cutting off contacts at 2130hrs to get us all home and the kids tucked into bed for another night.
Warren set up base for activation at the bottom of the hill looking out towards the coast with Hastings below us and the local repeater and towers in clear view. As the sun went down the lights of Hastings below us started to light up and put on a show for us.
Warren had gained access permission prior to going to the summit tonight and so we were very lucky that most of the gates on the track were already open for us, leaving only two where stock were grazing the hill top slopes to open and close.
Warren managed to work many ZL stations on 7 MHz before switching to 14 MHz where a few VKs and even a G station were worked, although the G station did not manage to copy the signal report given. A quick stint on 146 MHz FM simplex before packing up and we were on our way back down.
Summit Information
ZL1/HB-097 (Kahuranaki)
Summit height – 646 m
Access via 1173 Kahranaki Rd (Kahuranaki station) Follow the tracks past the first house, then to the right of the second house. When the track splits into two parallel tracks take the left one, then follow the track up the hill remembering always to leave gates how you found them.
Nominal time to summit – 15 minute drive.
Summit marker – Trig Station.
Land access permission – Check with farmer in first or second house at 1173 Kahuranaki Road.
