725 Repeater

TARAPONUI ‘ 405 AERIAL REPLACEMENT

Laurie ZL2TC changing the clamp on one of the '725 antennas at Taraponui. The picture was taken from the ground and zoomed up, hence the white conditions as the cloud swirled around.
Warren ZL2AJ and Laurie ZL2TC considering their next move re the 2m/70cm arials at Taraponui (Both soon after added many more clothes due to the temperature being 8C with a southerly and mist and drizzle

On 6th February, 2012, Laurie ZL2TC, Warren ZL2AJ and David ZL2DW travelled to Taraponui HB (4300 ft asl) to replace a previously discovered faulty ‘405 repeater aerial. The job went well but the weather could have been kinder to us. We started the day off in rain/drizzle but had cause to be optimistic as there were patches of “no rain”.

 

Laurie ZL2TC changing the clamp on one of the '725 aerial at Taraponui (the picture was taken from the ground and zoomed up, hence the "white" conditions as cloud swirled around)
Laurie ZL2TC changing the clamp on one of the ‘725 aerial at Taraponui (the picture was taken from the ground and zoomed up, hence the “white” conditions as cloud swirled around)

 

 

 

 

 

The almost finished arrangement at Taraponui. Top aerial is a UHF collinear (for ‘405) fed with LDF 550 coax. cable. The two phased dipoles are for the ‘725 repeater transmitter, again fed with LDF 550 coax. cable. (The UHF corner reflector aerial is for commercial use).

However on site we worked mostly in cloud and drizzle and a light southerly, the temperature was 8 deg’s brrrrrr. We also took the opportunity to replace a rusty clamp on one of the dipoles used for ‘ 725 repeater. We had a fortunate work place, being a large platform and hand rails on the top of the 12m microwave tower. The job went well and the results very satisfying.

Dave Walker ZL2DW

 

Tara3

“725” REPEATER  147.725 Mhz

Based on a Waikato VHF Group repeater and modified by ZL2TIS (now ZL2TC), (duplexer constructed by ZL2IK), this repeater was installed at Taraponui (4300ft ASL) in December 1982 by ZL2TIS and ZL2TSX (later ZL3DK and now ZL2DW). Originally working on a phased pair of dipoles and later a four dipole array, these gave way to a much heavier phased dipole pair which has been able to survive the ice and snow that settles on the site during winter. The repeater now has a commercial duplexer in service.

In 1993 the original equipment was replaced with Tait T300 series equipment that had been in service for ‘670 repeater previously. This T300 repeater was replaced with Tait T835 Receiver and T836 Transmitter units in late 1997.

Technical Details.
The repeater receiver gates at-115dbm (0.4 microvolts) and the Transmitter has 12 watts output into the duplexer. The antenna port on the duplexer is fed with heliax cable from the dipole pair.

Other Local VHF/UHF Repeaters

TX Freq           RX Freq         TX Tone      Site                Note                     Link

146.700           146.100                                Kahuranaki

146.900           146.300                                Whakapunake

147.250           147.850                                Taraponui      IRLP Node 6793   146.750 Taupo

434.850           439.850                                Mt Erin          National System

434.050           439.050                               Taraponui

439.2375         434.2375                             Mt Threave    DMR

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