Abseil Access came to much loved Wellington music station Radio Active’s rescue this week, when they installed a new antenna on Tinakori Hill. The old antenna was past its used by date and Radio Active director Ross Steele expects the combination of a new antenna and a new transmitter will greatly increase the cult station’s broadcasting range.

Last year Radio Active ran a crowd funding scheme and instead of donating money Abseil Access said they would donate their services to install a new antenna.

In a world first in conjunction with Trustpower, ReGenerate, Southern QA and Corrosion Control Engineers we have installed the world’s first ICCP (impressed current cathodic protection) in a fresh water hydro pipe at the Cobb hydro station near Takaka. In the test section MMO (mixed metal oxide) titanium anode rods run the length of the pipe and a carefully controlled current is passed through the water reversing the corrosion on the pipes internal surface. It is all very, very technical. The effectiveness is being monitored closely with reference ports, corrosion coupons and vibration windows. We’ll have a better idea of the effectiveness of the anti corrosion work later in the year. Meanwhile the Abseil Access Penstock team were able to record some good times while installing the ICCP (see 2019 calendar, June)

Three Sisters may sound like the gentle name of a location, but they provided some of the most  challenging drilling conditions in our company’s history,  which were only overcome with patience, perseverance and the team’s dogged attitude –  with the client (NZTA) happy to have the works completed successfully.

The team showed their dedication and ingenuity, battling late-winter conditions next to the Kapiti Coast on a night shift, with only a 6hr working window per shift.

The site (situated directly above SH1) although small in appearance, had numerous obstacles to overcome. The rock was a hard and unweathered Greywacke, situated on a shear-zone. Each bore had to be re-worked with the tools (DTH Hammer drill rig) until the hole was stable and clean enough to allow a CCTV survey down the length of the hole, confirming the driller’s logs and depth of the anchor to be installed.

All of the anchors tested surpassed the indicated design load of 220kN, and each anchor employed a perpendicular mortar bearing pad to spread the load and to ensure a nice snug finish on the Geobrugg G65/3 Rockfall mesh.