Rangitoto ZL1/WK-039

A long weekend, seemed like the perfect opportunity to get out and about and try and chase that elusive goal Warren had for getting his first 100 SOTA activator points before the end of 2016.  One of Warren’s work contacts manages this site and was able to give us access to this site. It paired nicely with our plan to activate another nearby summit (Ranganui). Unfortunately the views were limited from the summit, but there were some excellent vantage points from the track up to the summit (photos at the bottom of the blog, taken on the drive down).   The summit is a drive to, which was an advantage, and for anyone who wishes to visit the site, you will be required to gain access from the landowner.

From the top we struggled to make the 4 contacts due to an extremely high noise floor on HF. One contact on 7 MHz with Wynne ZL2ATH and one contact on 14 MHz with VK2GKA. After over an hour of calling Warren enlisted John ZL1PO’s help to gain some VHF simplex contacts. We managed to qualify for the summit activator points…. but only just. Thanks John, we really appreciated you being on hand to get Warren over the line!

Time was pressing as we wanted to reach Ranginui before the VK/ZL<>EU QSO S2S party commenced, and so rather than continuing to try and get more contacts under his belt, Warren called it a day for this summit. We stopped a few times as we drove down and took advantage of the views and snapped a few photos for the blog.  Views out to other Summits  – Mt Kakepuku and Mt Pirongia, and Mt Te Aroha were all on display with clear views, though dark clouds loomed over head at times and a few spits were felt.

 

 

Details

Summit – ZL1/WK-039 Rangitoto (7375 repeater lives here).

Height –873 mASL

Access –From SH3 south of Otorohanga turn into Otewa Road. Follow this road to Waimahora Road then off the end of this road head up past the sheep yards and to the summit. 4wd Access.

Nominal time to summit – 1 hour from Otorohanga apx.

Mobile and internet coverage from the summit – Telecom only – limited.

Summit Marker – Radio masts (not the trig).

Land Access Permission – Required. Although the summit is on public land the track to the summit crosses private land and permission must be sought.