Mt Climie Repeater site from February 2025




ZL2VH: Upper Hutt Branch 63 NZART

Project 5 – Mt Climie UHF PRS Repeater

The club has approved a new initiative to install a UHF PRS repeater at Mt Climie, which will be developed as a community-owned and community-operated asset for the benefit of all users.

Support the Project

A dedicated fundraising website has now been launched: 🌐 https://prs4climie.nz/

Latest Project Updates

15 August 2026
The fundraiser held at the Cossie Club in Upper Hutt was a great success, raising more than $1,000 for the project. Thank you to all those who supported the event and contributed to this fantastic result.
27 July 2026
The duplexers have arrived and are currently being tested to confirm that tuning has not been affected during shipping to New Zealand. The next step is to have the interconnecting cables measured and manufactured.
2 July 2026
Community donations have almost reached the $5,000 milestone. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far.
1 July 2026
An ICOM FR-4000 UHF Repeater has been supplied and successfully tested for suitability. Subject to continued fundraising, favourable weather conditions, and antenna procurement, the repeater could be ready for installation later this year.

About Project 5

This initiative is known as Project 5, named after the intended repeater channel:

Channel 5
Input: 476.5250 MHz
Output: 477.2750 MHz

The club will provide:
Repeater site at Mt Climie
Repeater licence (application only)
Mains power/battery backup power
Ongoing maintenance and operational support
Equipment and Installation

To deliver a reliable, long-term service for the community, the project will utilise new equipment throughout, including:
ICOM FR-4000 Repeater, 5/15 W UHF (450–480 MHz)
Duplexer: DPRE8-6UH-0.75
Feedline: Andrew LDF4-50A Heliax
Antenna: ZCG Scalar B44 Single dipole

This will be a completely new installation using new components, rather than refurbished or second-hand equipment. The objective is to provide a high-quality, reliable repeater system with a long operational life.

Make a Donation

If you would like to support Project 5 and help make this community repeater a reality, please visit: 🌐 https://prs4climie.nz/

Your support will help deliver an important communications asset for the wider PRS community.

ZL2VH is the call-sign for Upper Hutt Branch 63 NZART. We are the Upper Hutt Amateur Radio Club. We're involved in a wide range of activities associated with amateur radio, from basic radio operation and volunteer activities to radio theory, use of new digital communications methods and experimentation.

QST63 the club's newsletter is now back as a monthly release, on the first day of the named month e.g. November 2024 was released on 1 November 2024, etc. QST63 is sent to members on the first of the month, with the web site having the newsletter available for download from the 10th of the month.

The D-Star Newsletter is published when information to share is available and as such has a less frequent release date.

Repeaters

  • Mt Climie D-Star rack - from the top, 860 repeater and 5425 repeater The three D-Star repeaters, '5425', '860' and '1292' have all been upgraded to the latest versions of the ICOM D-Star models - ID-RP2010V, ID-RP4010V and ID-RP1200VD. Both '5425' and '860' repeaters were upgraded in October/November 2024. '1292' was upgraded in May 2026. We wish to thank RWB Communications (ICOM agents in New Zealand) for their support of these upgrades.
  • South and North huts at Mt Climie Branch 63 owns, operates and maintains a large number of repeaters, which are situated on Mt Climie Track in Upper Hutt, New Zealand.
  • North hut with 730 dipole stack The 730 repeater, which carries IRLP Node #6713, offers excellent FM voice coverage across much of the lower North Island and upper South Island.

    If you're new to IRLP, you can find the user guide here.

    Status page for the 6713 Node is here.

    For a list of the other nodes in New Zealand look here.

    The repeater is actively used by operators in Blenheim, Nelson, Masterton, and Taranaki, making it a popular link for regional communication.

Beacons

Branch 63 operates a 3 cm (10368.275 MHz) band propagation beacon at Climie for the benefit of the wider New Zealand radio amateur community. We've recently added a 10 m (28.229 MHz) band beacon, currently transmitting from our club rooms in Upper Hutt.

3 cm (10368.275 MHz) band propagation beacon has been returned to service and is working well as of 6 April 2026.

SDR Receiver

Branch 63 operates a KiwiSDR Receiver at Climie for the benefit of the wider New Zealand radio amateur community.

The link below will take you to the SDR http://123.255.47.67:8073

KiwiSDR - ZL2VH Upper Hutt, New Zealand. Grid Square: RE78NU.
Antenna: End fed long wire - 860 m ASL
Location (lat, lon) (-41.150409, 175.143457)


Come along to a meeting

We meet at 7:30 pm, most Fridays throughout the year in our club rooms at the Upper Hutt Council Depot just off Park Street, near the Recycling Centre and Maidstone Park. Upper Hutt Railway Station is a five to ten minute walk away. Use this map if you want further direction.

We welcome all visitors of all ages and abilities who are interested in any aspect of amateur radio—no matter whether you are a shortwave listener, interested in obtaining your amateur radio licence, wanting to get into digital radio or even learning Morse Code. Even if you are just curious about what amateur radio is, you will be warmly welcomed.

Due to the Council installing controlled gate access to the yard please contact the President, Secretary or Repeater Trustees (via telephone) from the Contacts page for entry on a Friday night.

Events