New Zealand Masts and Towers range in size from short flagpoles to high radio transmitter antenna structures. The highest mast is in Titahi Bay, being the highest structure in the Southern Hemisphere at time of construction. Later it became the highest in New Zealand and then later second to the Sky Tower in Auckland.

Height

* Skytower is tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast, making it the tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere. *The radio mast of the

Titahi Bay Transmitter The Titahi Bay Transmitter, which until 16 February 2016 was New Zealand's second tallest structure, transmitted AM radio signals from a 220 metres tall radio mast insulated against ground at Titahi Bay in New Zealand. The station which previou ...

was New Zealand's second tallest structure. The tower was tall, and owned by

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classi ...

. The antenna was a 'guyed support' type, broadcasting at the low end of the medium wave AM radio broadcast band, 567 kHz, with 50 kilowatts of power. The AM radio transmitting antenna was a high structure, due to the height being a function of wavelength (station frequency). This tower was demolished in early 2016, due to rising maintenance costs, and AM services were transferred to neighbouring towers in Titahi Bay.https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/76930461/titahi-bay-radio-new-zealand-transmission-mast-demolished * television masts were built in many strategic locations (such as

Waiatarua Waiatarua is a small settlement near the top of the Waitākere Ranges in West Auckland, close to the junction of Scenic Drive, West Coast Road and Piha Road to Piha and runs east until the junction of Scenic Drive and Mountain Road. Surroun ...

and

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

) in the late 1950s / early 1960s. They were self-supporting steel structures, staffed with then NZBC

New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation The New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) was a publicly owned company of the New Zealand Government founded in 1962. The Broadcasting Act 1976 then reformed NZBC as the Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand (BCNZ). The corporation was ...

personnel, and occasionally carrying NZPO

New Zealand Post Office The New Zealand Post Office (NZPO) was a government department of New Zealand until 1987. It was previously (from 1881 to 1959) named the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Department (NZ P&T). As a government department, the New Zealand Post Office ...

VHF and marine radio services. The primary purpose was 100 kW (ERP) VHF television. *Varying height, , a backbone of microwave steel self-supporting structures for microwave links were also built by the

(now owned by

Telecom New Zealand Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications and digital services company providing fixed-line telephone services, mobile phone services, broadband, and digital technology services (including cloud, security, digital transfor ...

) from the mid-1950s on. A network of 4 GHz STC vacuum tube based stations were built between

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

at the northern end and

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; , colloquially known as Palmerston or Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatū Plains, the city is near the north bank of the Manaw ...

at the southern end. The path was via

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

. Several networks of 6 GHz Lenkurt solid state based stations were built between

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the largest settlement of the Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, created in 1989 from the former Whangarei City, Whangarei County and Hikurangi Town councils to admi ...

and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

via

br>
and later a spur to Warkworth, New Zealand, Warkworth satellite station. Hamilton to

via

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...

Taupō Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town located in the central North Island of New Zealand. It is situated on the edge of Lake Taupō, which is the largest freshwater lake in New Zealand. Taupō was constituted as a borough in 1953. It h ...

, Napier, with a spur to

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

from Kaimai station. A southern network of

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

via

Cook Strait Cook Strait () is a strait that separates the North Island, North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, ...

was also built. * free standing wooden or steel masts are used for the other VHF and UHF commercial and infrastructure radio services.

Locations

Mount Cargill Mount Cargill, known in Māori as ,Place names'' on Kāti Huirapa Runaka ki Puketeraki website, viewed 4 January 2012 is a volcanic outcrop which dominates the skyline of northern Dunedin, New Zealand. The peak is named for Captain Willia ...

Mount Kaukau Mount Kaukau () is a large hill in the northern suburbs of Wellington, New Zealand near Johnsonville, Khandallah and Ngaio. The summit is above sea level and is the most visible high point in the Wellington landscape further accentuated by ...

* Titahi Bay

History

One of the antenna masts at Titahi Bay currently carries the

Radio New Zealand National RNZ National (), formerly Radio New Zealand National, and known until 2007 as the National Programme or National Radio, is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand English-language radio network operated by Radio New Zealand. It specialises ...

programme, previously having a call-sign of 2YA.

Gallery

File:AucklandCity800.jpg, Sky Tower File:NZmast1.JPG, Titahi Bay Antenna Mast File:NZmast2.JPG, Titahi Bay Antenna Mast File:SkyTowerWithSatelliteDishes.jpg, Sky Tower File:CometNeat.jpg, Microwave Tower Wellington

References

{{Reflist

External links