Tapuae

While in Palmerston North teaching I figured I would take the opportunity to catch a summit. Tapuae looked get able from roadside. Once onsite I could confirm that the peak of the road is in the activation zone. However as I got there time had slipped away and I didn’t leave myself much time to make contacts before having to get away.

After a quick antenna repair (I really must fix the coax properly) I made contact with a few hams from VK and ZL. Conditions weren’t brilliant but we made enough to claim the 2 points. For anyone near Palmerston North this is a real easy one to put on the list. Before I left I managed to work Dennis ZL2TDA on VHF simplex which was a nice addition to the log.

 

Some of the photos I took in a hurry, others Emma has found from the internet. The time pressure didn’t allow me to get the required quality of photos, which goes to show why Emma is the photographer and not me!  (cover photo and very last photo are not from Warren, used from google images and re-edited color wise to match as best to show the area around the Summit.

Just 6 contacts from this summit and I was 10 minutes late for my meeting in Levin. Must plan more SOTA time in future 🙂  (and better manage my time to get to where im going on time – hehe)

 

 

 

 

Details

Summit ZL1/MW-137 Tapuae

Height 592 mASL

Access – Head north from Fielding on highway 54. Turn right into Waituna Tapuae road then left to stay on Waituna Tapuae Road. Find the highest point on the road near the microwave tower.

Nominal time to summit – 30 minutes from Palmerston North

Mobile and internet coverage from the summit

Summit Marker – Trig Station. (however summit of road is in the activation zone)

Land Access Permission – Trig is on private land and permission is required to access. Roadside is within activation zone however so permission not required to activate roadside..