Australia’s Highest DSTAR Repeater is now operational

439.300MHz -5MHz VK4RBM B

The Blue Mountain repeater site is without any doubt Central
Queensland’s best amateur radio repeater location. Surrounded by
thick tropical rainforest slopes and standing at 1040m, this truly is
a remarkable site.

Having such a picturesque, high elevation site does not come without other
challenges, the main one being access. The answer
is the help of a Jet Ranger helicopter and some superb piloting skills.

Once the weather cleared, we jumped into the chopper and cruised up to
the site. As we approached the site, the tower could be seen poking out above
the thick rainforest. The landing site is a small rocky area with

a tiny patch of grass. As we started to land, the view disappeared and we were
surrounded by trees, then we touched down, unloaded the gear, and the
chopper departed.

We had a short time on site to install the new DSTAR,
APRS, 3G modem and solar regulator. The work was completed in
record time, and the chopper came and picked us up before the clouds
rolled back in.