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The view from Roy’s Peak looking towards Lake Hāwea – radio coverage is line-of-sight and the intruding range prevents it reaching three-quarters of the lake.
People who venture on to Lake Hāwea and surrounding land are rendered vulnerable in emergencies by a lack of VHF radio coverage for three-quarters of the lake.
A fundraising campaign looks to be coming up $15,000 short of the $75,000 target for the installation of a repeater station on private land to provide coherent VHF coverage in time for the coming summer season
Given the gravitational pull the area has long exerted on southerners, organisers hope the project will draw assistance from South Islanders outside their immediate areas.
In light of the “massive increase’’ in both commercial and recreational use, the not-for-profit Upper Clutha Radio Telephone Users Association had made better VHF coverage a priority, chair Ian Brown said.
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A helicopter service reaches the Mt Roy radio communications unit – and could also service a repeater station that would provide VHF coverage missing for three-quarters of Lake Hāwea.
The association is a charitable trust operating radio services from Mt Roy.
From there it can provide Lake Wānaka 90% coverage but Lake Hāwea only 25%, – from the Hāwea township to about Timaru Creek.
“There’s no cellphone coverage up there either,’’ Brown said
“We can’t even get to the boat ramp at Hāwea Camp.’’
The south side, along the road to Makarora was a dead area, as was the Hunter Valley side, and there was no reception further up the Hunter River, he said.
The enhanced system would effectively tie together coverage for both lakes.
The existing communication problems had implications beyond the needs of individual emergencies.
Should a major earthquake or storm strike, the area would be totally reliant on the Mt Roy facilities as the only means of basin-wide communications. And if the mountain base was itself damaged, there were contingencies to fly repeaters in to get it operational again.
The association was able to contribute $10,000 from its own reserves to the Hāwea repeater project and had approached community funders and organisations.
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