Thread: End of an era

just read the mountian radio service will be gone within 2 months after all these years of faithful service........ a sad day but enivitable as its become just about redundant
my thanks go out to all who have provided this service over the years,you have done a great job and you can take a well deserved rest.

Shit I must be getting old, I remember at high school I could go anywhere in the Ruahines and Kawekas/Kaimanawas but the olds insisted I always had the mountain radio, setting up those bloody aerials for a 7 o'clock I'm ok.

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"IB Base IB Base - this is IBXX " - Man that was a comforting call when something had gone wrong . . . Nigel Duckworth was my favorite Base operator!

Yep, they were a god send during the 70's -90's. Especially for those 10-14 day trips where resupplys, or mates joining you part way through the expedition needed co ordinating...

as a slightly younger fella I used to spend quite a lot of time hunting alone on mt somers.... it had radio in the pinnacles hut,origonally it was linked/answered by Mr Yates down bottom of hill in Stavely but in later years it was a mountain radio service one.....not sure what will happen now,there is cell phone coverage so I guess that makes radio dead in water.

Its a shame/privilege that my son was part of the last generation to experience the service. But I guess thats also something he
can talk about just like many of us have talked about our fathers/grandfathers/great grandfathers ways.

Back in the day we had similar welfare calls via radio from the back country out to the front on Bluff / Muzzle stations. Later in life as a linesman I even went on a tuning trip to Molesworth where we lowered the aerials at each hut and added new chokes or traps I think they were called.

Thats a shame, It is still a useful service, unless you have a satellite phone, whats the alternative?

most places in front country,a normal garden variety cell phone has some use....the PLB/EPIRB has taken care of the shit hits the fan bit....garmin inreach etc have covered the rest....

Still a useful service for sure - also nice listening in to what others in the same patch were up to/doing at the same time you were listening in. Time marches on.
I can remember doing a trip around Stewart Island and being able to talk to the operator out of Tikokino (Hawkes Bay) for a weather update and a relay for anything that was happening at home.

Originally Posted by Nickoli

Still a useful service for sure - also nice listening in to what others in the same patch were up to/doing at the same time you were listening in. Time marches on.
I can remember doing a trip around Stewart Island and being able to talk to the operator out of Tikokino (Hawkes Bay) for a weather update and a relay for anything that was happening at home.

Lyal Wallace nicer guy you couldn't want on the end of the radio.

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Originally Posted by BRADS

Lyal Wallace nicer guy you couldn't want on the end of the radio.

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Cheers Brad's - I was struggling to recall the name.

I guess that SpaceX phones will be a reality very soon too with the One/vodafone deal.
But I take a little baofeng UHF radio up with me in the kaimais and I can hit home from a surprisingly good number of spots up there.

When in my teens, and developing an interest in things electronic, I remember building small "homebrew" radios just for reception of the service to take into the bush, for the weather forecasts and listening in to other parties making their evening reports. 3.345MHz was the frequency IIRC, shared as it was across a number regions who each took turns using it at different timeslots and with the local volunteer operator for each. You could hear from folk all over the country calling in from distant mountain locations. We weren't as intrepid as we thought –tucked up nice and warm in a Tararua hut – when folk were reporting in from their snow caves at 2500m. For the radio hams on here I remember Rakon ground me some crystals just for the project.

It's funny how so many things we have experienced in the past are disappearing and most of them involve personal contact and interaction with a real person.