Government Radio Network on Overland Track

[Son of a Beach]

From an Examiner newspaper article:

The plans are in to expand a radio network to streamline communication between emergency services at a popular multi-day walking track.

A development application is before the Meander Valley Council seeking permission to install essential emergency communication infrastructure on four walking track huts within Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.

The antenna installation on each hut rooftop will connect to the Tasmanian Government Radio Network (TasGRN).

The proposed development is located at Pelion Huts (Ranger Hut), Kia Ora Hut, Windy Ridge Rangers and Pine Valley Hut.

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Antennas will be up to 1.9 metres high (I assume this means from the mount-point on the roof). Total height will be up to 4m high (I assume this means from the ground).

[bumpingbill]

Here's the full DA: https://www.meander.tas.gov.au/assets/d ... 4.0027.pdf

[Mechanic-AL]

This is the incremental creep that Tastrax has spoken of.
It's just a small bit of infrastructure. It wont hurt................until it all does.
Can't we just leave things the way they are ?

[headwerkn]

Can't we just leave things the way they are ?

Because the old radio network is an ailing mess/POS and has long been in need of upgrading.

And because, let's be totally honest, putting a different antenna on top of a hut in areas where we already have huts (with antennas on the roof), platforms, paths, toilets, helipads and all the human impact that those things entail is, at worst, very minor.

If this was a plan to plonk a whole heap of repeater stations on/adjacent summits that currently have no infrastructure, then yeah - a terrible idea. Equally, if this was a plan to provide radio- or sat-linked cellular coverage around the huts - which I believe is what freaked people out initially when they first heard about all this without actually reading about it first - then yeah, stupid.

But we're talking about a basic upgrade to necessary infrastructure that rangers and other EMS staff use to keep people safe. It's not really contentious.

[matagi]

This is the incremental creep that Tastrax has spoken of.
It's just a small bit of infrastructure. It wont hurt................until it all does.
Can't we just leave things the way they are ?

It is part of the emergency services network and allows multiple agencies to communicate with each other in an emergency.

The existing network is a mess and should have been upgraded several years ago.

[Mechanic-AL]

If it really is such a pos and needs replacing then fair enough I guess.
It just seems that every bit of infrastructure that has seen its used by date has to be replaced by something twice as big to cater for essentially the same number of walkers. The additional 'improvements' added in the last 5 years would probably exceed what has been built/replaced in the last 20.

[north-north-west]

Essential emergency communications infrastructure, added to already existing buildings. This one is justifiable. It's sad that these days that's a rare thing to say about construction in our NPs and the TWWHA.

[tastrax]

I would be more worried about the power requirements. I have heard rumours about some of the mountain repeaters requiring very serious amounts of solar panels, batteries, diesel generators and fuel stores.

[matagi]

I would be more worried about the power requirements. I have heard rumours about some of the mountain repeaters requiring very serious amounts of solar panels, batteries, diesel generators and fuel stores.

Nope, the system is quite power efficient and it doesn't use repeaters in the traditional sense.

[eggs]

Yes - these will be minor localised repeaters - not like major radio installations on a couple of mountain tops that cover large areas.

[tastrax]

..... not like major radio installations on a couple of mountain tops that cover large areas.

So are there any of these in the new system in areas like the southwest of Tasmania where large distances need to be covered? Will they be on existing impacted mountain tops or new sites?

[matagi]

..... not like major radio installations on a couple of mountain tops that cover large areas.

So are there any of these in the new system in areas like the southwest of Tasmania where large distances need to be covered? Will they be on existing impacted mountain tops or new sites?

No, the southwest will still have limited coverage.

[eggs]

From a SW point of view, the 2 existing mountain sites which are to be upgraded are Mt Wedge and KW1.

[tastrax]

So is there an expectation that Mount Wedge and King William 1 will be getting the same amount of infrastructure as Blue Hills?

https://www.tasgrn.tas.gov.au/blog6.html

[eggs]

I do not know the design, but the antennas will be much smaller as they already have the height. No trees to get over the top of.
They already have helipads, as the sites are helicopter access only.

It should be a replacement of what is there in a similar style.
This is an idea of what is already there:

Mt Wedge

Mt King William 1

[tastrax]

I just noted the 24kW solar array at Blue Hill - those other sites would be lucky to have 4-5kW total and no generators/fuel (that I am aware of)

So no upgrade to Elliot Range?

[north-north-west]

Blimey! When did they put in that absolute monstrosity of a helipad on KWI?

[eggs]

I presume it will have a larger load and could have a generator with Solar panels.
The Helipad is a normal size - stitching photos together can distort the view.
This is another view from my first trip onto the KW range in 2020.

King William 1

And this is what that infrastructure looks like from Milligans.

King William 1 from Milligans

I doubt anything is happening at Elliot Range

[bumpingbill]

It all seems reasonable to me.

I’d love a long read on this network though if any media is reading! Get deep into the detail of the whole thing. How does it work? How do different services share encryption keys? Where are the blackholes? What’s improved? Etc.

[eggs]

They have a web page
https://www.tasgrn.tas.gov.au/

[north-north-west]

eggs:

The helipad on KWI used to be a section of ground roughly levelled with rock; the new one would have been built on top. Probably broke every OHS rule in the book, but that replacement must have been brand spanking new when you saw it.

[tastrax]

I doubt anything is happening at Elliot Range

That was always useful on the Franklin and between the deep SW (Davey area) and Strahan. Hopefully that still gets coverage and is not thrown in the 'too hard basket'

[Warin]

The motorola network has been used in NSW for some time. Found to be;
expensive
expensive to 'upgrade' (read 'up date to fix a problem')
full of black spots ...

There are open source radios that do the same job for a lot less money meaning you can get more base stations. What is needed is portable base stations to cover an area while an emergency is dealt with.

[Nuts]

Air to ground may be the issue? But what about using the satellite network?