Wellington VHF Group, Inc: Online.

The Belmont tower was re-erected by the contractors, United Group Ltd, on Tuesday 10 June. As can be seen in the photographs it once again stands resplendent. From an initial inspection the contractor's work looks well done.

The large sections were flown in by helicopter. This came as a surprise, but the short flight time form the United Group yard to the tower site meant the main sections could be pre-assembled and flown in more economically than slowly trucking the sections up the torturous access tracks or assembling the sections on site.

The light rust that was at the support-leg concrete interface has been removed. The concrete was chipped away to approximately 25mm depth, the rust grit-blasted away, and the clean steel electro-spray galvanised. The whole area was then sealed forming the fillets that can be seen in the photograph. This areas was then coated with a two-pot epoxy sealer.

The remaining work is now up to the Wellington VHF Group. The ATV and 70cm antennas will be lifted back into position using a gin-pole. The National System linking antennas need to be moved from the temporary shed pole back to the tower. The 6m long 9875 National System local coverage antenna will be refurbished then reinstalled on the top of the tower. Finally all the feeders need to be re-routed and reconnected. These activities will have to be worked in around the changeable winter weather and track access conditions.