Hukaroa is a summit just South of Raetahi. I have been scoping it out to site radio equipment for work and to also get to try SOTA out. On Sunday we got the land owners permission and drove up to get a feel for the site to help me build a business case for work, and naturally to get a little bit of SOTA in.
We were spoilt with the weather as it was mostly calm and sunny. RF weather was more of a challenge but I did manage 4 summit to summit contacts – 2 with John ZL1BYZ who was also activating a virgin summit near Auckland. Even with the other radio gear on site the RF noisefloor was pretty good. There is a paging transmitter on site though so VHF would be trickier.
Details
Summit – Hukaroa ZL1/MW-097
Height – 792 mASL
Access – Off Mangaeturoa Road
Coverage – Excellent cell coverage on Spark. 7125 Repeater.
Summit Marker – Trig / Radio masts.
Land Access Permission – Private Land – Required.
NB: Photos are not for use elsewhere, without prior approval.