Repeater Report 2011

Annual Repeater Report  2010-2011

The major change this year was the completion of the new linking system to the Hina Hina Hill site enabling us to close down the Emerson Street site and cancel the respective licences.

Cape Wanbrow, Channel MM 66 has needed no maintenance this year. When possible, we are continuing to run tests on the site to confirm it is not being interfered with by other services – so far nothing conclusive has been found.

Hautai Hill, Channel MM 62 had several weather related power failures but in all occasions, service continued uninterrupted on the back-up battery supply. The landlord is extending his farm sheds over our buried cable so work has been undertaken to mark the cable route and allow the landlord to do his foundation work.  At some time, we will need to excavate the lower half of the cable and re-route it much deeper as the farmer cannot cultivate the paddock it crosses as the existing cable is too shallow. The repeater has required no work during the year.

Hina Hina Hill, Channel MM 64.  This site had a power failure that required a visit. It was found our power supply had disappeared and we were sharing a power supply and battery with DOC. The DOC power supply had failed and the battery had also failed. We believe it was our battery.  A new battery and power supply were installed and the two systems separated. A re-furbished set of radios were subsequently installed with the new linking system. The aerials all tested fine.

Tests have been approved and will be carried out shortly to see if the Emerson Street site can be used to enhance coverage into the city beaches and Kaka Point area, known coverage shadow areas at present.

Generally, the system continues to provide excellent service to our target areas, and to many areas beyond our targets with continued good response to our weather information services.

All equipment is in good condition and working well but it must be recognised that with the exception of the Cape Wanbrow installation, most of our aerials, aerial infrastructure and repeaters radios are now fully or near fully depreciated and over 10 years old. There is no immediate need to replace any equipment and we hold adequate spare transceivers, but within 5 years, we will have to budget for some replacements.

Martin Balch

Repeater Trustee

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Date:                        Thursday 15^th September 2011

Place:                      Otago Yacht Club, Magnet St, Dunedin

Time:                       1930 hours

Business:                 The normal business of an AGM will be conducted, including Receiving Reports; Election of Committee, Honorary Solicitor and Financial Reviewer; Subscriptions; and Notified and Non-notified Business.   Any notified business must be in the hands of the Secretary not later than 31^st August 2011.

Speaker:                  At the conclusion of the meeting, John Armstrong will give an illustrated talk on his and Robyn’s experiences with their yacht, the Shag, sailing to and visiting Dusky Sound.  This will be followed by a light supper.  

Ian Milne

Secretary

Ph 03 488 4205

ian.milne@clear.net.nz

Notes:

The annual Chairman’s Report, Repeater Trustee’s Report and Financial Report will be available at the meeting and will be posted on the association’s blogsite: http://otagomaritimevhfassn.blogspot.com .

Subscriptions were raised to $38 (Recreational) and $58 (Commercial) last year.  Six years’ membership for five years’ subs are therefore $190 and $290 respectively. The committee is recommending that they stay the same this year.  Hence renewal notices are enclosed with this notice as appropriate. 

Chairman's Report 2011

Chairman’s Report 2011

Following our usual practice the Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer and Repeater trustee were elected by the committee at the first committee meeting. They are: Mike Harkness (Chairman), Ian Milne (Secretary), John Armstrong (Treasurer) and Martin Balch (Repeater trustee). Other members of the committee are: Brian Chalmers, Ron Johnston, Vern Hall, Ate Heineman, John McLellan, Les McBean, Keith Simon and Terry Thomas (Vice Chairman). An external reviewer was to be appointed.

This year marked a turning point, Hina Hina Hill was fully commisioned and apart from a problem with the power supply, which Martin refers to in his report, it has been functioning well. Overall our system, which serves a challenging part of the coastline with equally challenging weather, provides an excellent sertvice although coverage in the Tow rock and Nuggets areas is patchy. The committee is aware of these problems and is considering options, one of which may be to site a repeater at our old site in  Emerson Street. The power cable to Hautai Hill has been located and was partially uncovered by Terry and Michael, but it will need to be buried deeper, probably later this year. Development of our blog site is underway and we encourage members to forward material for it. It can be accessed at: otagomaritimevhfassn.blogspot.com.           

Overall, the association and equipment are healthy, but we would still like more members from the Oamaru and South Otago areas and greater involvement in the Association by more members. One place to start would be to post copy, links and/or images on our blogspite or forward them to John at omvhfassn@gmail.com. Martin notes in his report that  eventually we will need to find funds for new equipment, but this should not be for a few more years.

Finally, I would like to thank the committee for their support escpecially Ian for putting our records into a coherent order; our volunteer operators: John McLellan, Kevin Hughes, Heather and Keith Simon, Martin Balch, Ted Gilbert and Martin Finnie, and our members who have provided on-the-water weather reports. Martin Finnie has, on occasions, done the evening weather round-ups from Moeraki. At present Moraki is unmanned because John, due to ill health, has retired to Oamaru. We wish him and Pauline well and will miss his experience and help on the air.

Michael Harkness

AGM Thursday 15 September 2011

The Annual General Meeting will be held at the Otago Yacht Club's clubrooms in Magnetic Street, Dunedin. (Behind the Stadium) commencing 7.30pm.

The meeting will be followed by "Discovering Dusky" presented by John & Robyn Armstrong on their cruise to Dusky Sound.

Greymouth Bar

Click here to see film of fishing boats crossing the Greymouth Bar