Sugarloaf ( mi, Te Heru o Kahukura) is a landmark in the

Port Hills The Port Hills are a range of hills in Canterbury Region, so named because they lie between the city of Christchurch and its port at Lyttelton. They are an eroded remnant of the Lyttelton volcano, which erupted millions of years ago. The hi ...

to the south of the city of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

in New Zealand. The

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

part of the name means the headcomb of Kahukura. The Sugarloaf communications tower is an iconic radio and television transmission mast located on top of the hill.

Geography

The tower is situated at an elevation of 493.78 m on the top of the Port Hills, near Dyers Pass. This area is officially known as Sugarloaf Scenic Reserve. This reserve land occasionally doubles as a sheep farm and includes a car park lookout point for general public use.

Communications tower

In 1962, the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation leased a 4.9ha section of the reserve from the Crown on the summit of Sugarloaf Hill to install and operate a television communications tower and control building. The tower and building were completed in 1965. Television channel CHTV3 started transmitting from the tower at 9:00 AM on 28 August 1965. With a height of 121 m, the lattice steel structured tower is founded on a 5-metre deep concrete pad underlain by

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

volcanic rock. It is situated approximately 50 m behind the main transmission building, which combined with the tower is visible from most parts of

city.

Visual appearance

At a closer glance, the red and white tower includes an array of antennas including parabolic dishes, dipoles and microwave links. The tower has three main service decks for authorised technicians only with access ladders that run vertically along the eastern side. At night the tower is illuminated with three red beacons which span across the mast almost at the bottom and middle with the top light flashing on & off every second or so. On a clear night and viewed from the city you can often see the beacons and some fluorescent lighting coming from a room inside the transmission house.

Transmission house

The tower is located 50 m behind a single storey transmission building which houses multiple transmission gear. The main equipment room is fully air conditioned and known to local technicians as the great transmitter hall. The building is approximately 40 m in width and 20 m in depth. On the roof of this building there are several satellites, small antennae and multiple parabolic dishes for private

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves ...

networks. There are two main shielded cable runs that go between the transmission house and back to the tower. This building has been unmanned for several years.

Site access

The entire transmission site is surrounded by a mesh security fence and a continuous hedge mixed with foliage. Access to the tower is highly restricted to authorised personnel only and climbing the tower is strictly prohibited. Vehicle access to the actual site itself is restricted via a locked gate, however there is a car park lookout point located 200m in front of the tower with panoramic views of Canterbury. Access to this reserve is permitted to the general public until approximately 6:00PM. After this time the gate between Summit Road and Service Lane is locked until the following morning.

Technical aspects

The main antennas transmit TV and VHF FM signals in the 88 MHz to 610 MHz range. The composite total power fed to all of the transmitting antennas is approximately 64 kW while the antenna gain values range from 7.8 to 16.5 dBd. Multiple services operate off the tower including television, radio, emergency response, aviation, cellular and other data signals. The tower covers much of Christchurch and central Canterbury, for example the DVB-T signal reaches as far as

Waipara Waipara is a small town in north Canterbury, New Zealand, on the banks of the Waipara River. Its name translates to "Muddy Water", ''wai'' meaning water and ''para'' meaning mud. It is at the junction of state highways 1 and 7, 60 kilometre ...

in the north, the foothills of the Southern Alps in the west, and the

Rangitata River The Rangitata River is one of the braided rivers that helped form the Canterbury Plains in southern New Zealand. It flows southeast for from the Southern Alps (New Zealand), Southern Alps, entering the Pacific Ocean northeast of Timaru. The riv ...

in the south. However, not all of the central Canterbury region is covered by this tower. The nearby township of

Akaroa Akaroa is a small town on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name. The name Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for "Long Harbour", which would be spelled in standard ...

(and most of the settlements near Akaroa) have limited to non-existent TV reception and variable radio reception. This long-term problem could be solved by the construction of a second tower at least 10 km away from Sugarloaf Mountain, but it is unclear if this option has ever been given technical consideration. Likewise, the Christchurch suburbs of

Redcliffs Redcliffs is an outer coastal suburb of Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. History The area of Redcliffs was first populated by humans about 700 years ago. In the 14th century, large groups of Māori, initially the Waitaha people and th ...

and

Sumner Sumner may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica * Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica Australia * Sumner, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane New Zealand * Sumner, New Zealand, seaside sub ...

have limited coverage from Sugarloaf, with radio (and formerly analogue television) provided through a low-power repeater in the suburb of Southshore.

Transmission frequencies

This table contains television frequencies currently operating at Sugarloaf, and the FM broadcast frequencies are contained in this linked list of stations article: RSM Register of Radio Frequencies
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Former analogue television frequencies

The following frequencies were used until 28 April 2013, when Sugarloaf switched off analogue broadcasts.

Case Studies

An RF emissions report conducted on 9 February 1998 by the National Radiation Laboratory found that maximum exposure levels of 8 μW/cm2 were detected in the car park area, immediately below the Sugar Loaf antenna. This is 4% of the maximum of 200 μW/cm2 specified for public exposure levels in NZS 6609.1:1990. As the distance from the antenna increased, the exposure levels decreased markedly and, in general, were below 2 μW/cm2. The report concluded that the site is operating in accordance with NZS 6609.1:1990.

Gallery

Management

The tower and building are currently owned and maintained by

Kordia Kordia is a New Zealand government-owned company, offering a range of technology services and solutions to businesses. It provides a range of services, including mission-critical connectivity, cloud and cyber security services, as well as manag ...

, previously known as Broadcast Communications Limited (BCL NZ).

References

External links

Sugarloaf Communications Tower as seen in Google Maps

Panorama View from Sugarloaf Scenic Reserve

Christchurch City Council Reserve Information

Port Hills Visitor Information

Digital Switch Over Information for New Zealand

1998 RF Emissions Report for The Sugarloaf Communications Tower
(Adobe PDF Format)
2005 Tower Upgrade Contract
(Adobe PDF Format)
Sugarloaf Scenic Reserve Dog Control Map
(Adobe PDF Format)
Sugarloaf Freeview coverage

Cashmere Spur and Bowenvale Valley Reserves
(Adobe PDF Format) {{DEFAULTSORT:Te Heru o Kahukura Sugarloaf Buildings and structures in Christchurch Mountains of Canterbury, New Zealand