Mountain radios for Ohakune

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 279, 21 March 1989, Page 3

Mountain radios for Ohakune

The Taupo Mountain Radio Service has come to Ohakune. The purpose of the service is to enable groups in mountain areas to talk daily with a base station in Taupo or Ohakune, using a lightweight radio-tele-phone set. Groups such as school parties, mountain clubs, trampers, deerstalkers and youth groups are among those that the service is designed for. The area of operations extends over the central North Island and

the most important use for the radios would be in an emergency and for obtaining up-to-date weather forecasts. Also, messages concerning trips are passed during daily schedules. The radios are Codan 8332s, which run on eight penlight batteries. Under normal conditions the sets should operate for two weeks on one battery set allowing for 15 minutes receiving and three minutes sending daily. The sets are about the size and weight of a pound of butter and, together with the

aerial, take up very little room in a pack. A local committee has been formed to run the Ohakune base station which is situated at Graeme Brebner's residence. The committee hopes to have three sets available for hire in the near future. The sets will have a South Island capability, which Mr Brebner says is good news for locals who plan to head south. Money to pay for the first set has come from local organisations and

the committee hopes to get further funding for the extra two sets. The base station has been established by the Taupo service at no cost to the Ohakune Committee. Mr Brebner said the radios should prove popular with groups using the Kaimanawa Ranges, Tongariro National Park and the Whanganui River Park. For more information on the service, readers can contact Graeme Brebner, 58613, Noel Shepherd, 58616, or Richard Milne, 58692.