Little River ATV Repeater
"The Trig"
The Little River ATV Repeater is a small repeater sited on Te Oka, 685m asl, south of Little River. The repeater has been set up for 2 reasons. First as an experimental link to Oamaru. There are a few amateurs and a repeater in Oamaru and this link should help them get into the Christchurch ATV repeater ZL3AC. At present we are receiving weak colour pictures when conditions are right. As the link is approximately 160km weak signals are expected but with more work better pictures should be possible. The second purpose of the repeater is to broadcast the Little River Music Festival.
The repeater takes a 1.2GHz signal in and rebroadcasts it on 2.4GHz. There is a small micro that controls it's operation. Power is provided be a 12V battery with is charged be a wind generator. Below is a picture of the repeaters electronics.
The board at the bottom is the 1.2GHz RX, above it in the middle is the 2.4GHz TX and in the top left is the micro controller board. The transmitter and reciever are supplied by Acres Electronics
The wind generator uses 2 motors from washing machines. They are coupled to 3 blades that were purchased from the US. With a strong breeze the generator will provide about 6 Amps to the battery. In tests the peak current from the generator has been around 15A to 20A
Last updated: 5/06/05