Pakaru Pakaru, Maoris on CB

Tu Tangata, Issue 9, 1 December 1982, Page 39

Pakaru Pakaru, Maoris on CB

TE IWI/People

Quadpower Poneke 5033 isn’t the name of a musical band it’s the waveband for a ‘Maori on CB’.

For Haimona Winterburn, it’s more than just a contact on citizen band radio, it’s a life-line. For Haimona has been confined to a wheelchair ever since a diving accident some years ago.

He says there are quite a few Maori language enthusiasts on CB, typified by such treats on the airwaves as ‘‘pakaru pakaru” for ‘‘breaker breaker” when calling up in an emergency. Then there is ‘‘tekau ma wha” for ‘‘ten four”, meaning ‘‘l receive you”.

Introduced to CB whilst in the Auckland spinal unit, Haimona quickly found a way to get around the country without leaving his bed. He soon found that channel 3 in Auckland was the one for Maori conversation, and through this built up his contacts in other parts of New Zealand.

Haimona now lives in Porirua, and with his brother, Terama (Da Meathead-Wn 5034) keeps up a steady stream with people up and down the country. By the way Terama’s CB nickname is just one example of the CB calling. Cards are printed and designed by CBers and are swapped throughout New Zealand and around the world through CB clubs.

Many of the cards are elaborate affairs with a lot of the Maori CBers incorporating Maori motifs, for example Monte Kingi NZ 2282 in Napier and his family.

‘‘On a day with low cloud,” says Haimona, ‘‘you can get a good reception or ‘skip’, and this can double or triple the reception distance. It was a day like this that I got through to this Maori guy on his boat in the Bay of Islands. We had a good talk because I don’t think he was catching anything else.

For Haimona’s mother Olga, CB contact has also meant meeting new friends. She talks regularly to a kuia who hails from Waioweka in the Bay of Plenty.

Haimona still keeps the airwaves active between WN 5033 and his friends in the spinal unit in Auckland, like Adrian Watling AK 34.

One friend who is almost totally paralysed uses an inflatable device operated by his head on the pillow to transmit, and changes channels by pushing the buttons with an object held in his teeth.

Proudly independant, Haimona recently attended a six week Maori language course at the Wellington Polytechnic to brush up on the basics. So if you hear “Pakaru pakaru, Quadpower Poneke 5033” you’ll know to reply, ‘‘Tekau ma wha e Haimona”.