internet kaspersky security: Wigram Update

Wigram Update
Quick Wigram update. Denis is working with a tenant of the airfield (don't want to name names incase it makes life even more tortuous for them) to raise issues through official channels regarding problems which run to the core of the very process by which the plan change was recommended.

Namely three points:

a) The commissioner appointed to prepare a report on the plan change (and thus the utility of Wigram) did not consult with relevant people, both because they were not specifically tasked as such - they were tasked to receive submissions drawn as a result of the public notice in the paper (the applicability of public notices in the paper in this modern age is another story, probably written by Douglas Adams), not seek them out - and because the people most affected were forbidden contractually from commenting. There were NO aviation submissions to the proposed change.

b) The statement which was presented in the report regarding the present usage of Wigram as being "aviation related businesses and activities have ceased, over time, to operate from and use this part of the Wigram airfield and associated facilities" is factually incorrect, indeed records show the NZ Flying School alone operates 13 aircraft and brings in something like $10 million dollars a year to the Christchurch economy. ( It is worth noting that this statement also appeared basically word for word in the initial notification of the proposed plan change, long before the submissions were receieved let alone the commissioners report written, you can draw your own conclusions from that. )

c) The Council was apparently advised that they had "no option" but to approve the plan change, which was approved "pursuant to clause 17(2) of the [Resource Management Act]". This advise received by Council, was factually incorrect, the relevant clause of the RMA indicate that the council has the option to approve, but does not require such action, allowing the Council to defer the action. ( Note, it is unclear due to public excluded proceedings regarding this matter in the last year as to whether there are other reasons for which the Council may have had "no option", again, you can draw your own conclusions. )

It's also worth having a quick squizz at the Flying School's charter ( http://www.nzflyingschool.com/ ) paying particular note to the pains at which the Flying School has gone to acknowledge and respect the Tangata Whenua, and the Treaty. It is a great shame that Ngai Tahu Property Group Limited do not see fit to return the respect and support afforded by these businesses to the people that Ngai Tahu Property Group Limited apparently respresent.

James' Amateur City Planner Half Hour
So, as you will no doubt be aware from my previous rants on the subject. Wigram is getting planned out of existance so the land can be turned into housing. According to the developers, and the council, there is and never has been a future for aviation at Wigram. I take issue with that particular notion.

A relatively recent development idea has taken hold around the world, that of the "Residential Air Park", little old back water New Zeal'd isn't left out of the loop on this either, Air Parks are springing up all over up north, down here in the south a residential aviation development at Pukaki sold out like hot cakes.

Don't just take my word for it, here's an article from the NZ Herald or how about a search on trademe, or Google the 103,000 results

Accordingly, here is my attempt at righting the wrongs of the Christchurch City Council planning department with regard to Wigram, the red bit is what the Council wants to be residential immediately, including all the hangars and control tower and most of the taxiway, I propose this is recinded and instead propose the other areas in my freehand not to scale planning.

Proposed Plan for Wigram Air Park

Some items to note here...

First is the untimely demise of the grass runway, in order to maximise the compromise between airfield and property development, it is an unfortunate but necessary cut, however, the sealed runway (which is pretty much physically indestructable!) remains.

Note the extremely large amount of space available for residential developements, it doesn't look much because the roads I've freehanded in are not in anyway to scale, but if you measure it out you will see the very (VERY) large amoutn of land allocated to housing.

The residential areas closest to the runway are for residential aviation, these would be larger sections on which a house and hangar can be constructed, each one accessible to a taxiway. This is the fashion in most airparks.

The taxi ways where possible make use of existing taxi ways.

The yellowish areas are for business and hangars. The smaller area inside the red area is the existing hangars and control tower facility, the usage for these could remain as is, or be progressively moved to perhaps engineering facilities, with the control tower forming offices for airfield operations and perhaps a tenants social club.

While the large areas along Hayton road could service both general business interests (particularly where fronting & wigram hayton roads) or for general aviation hangarage.

Note that the runway is no more obstructed than it is now, and that there is ample set back, with residential areas set further back than the business areas.

The area between Wigram Road and the runway (ie lower right) would be "stage 1", providing for the developers to both get thier hands in early with regard developing residential sections, and also would allow the remainder of the airfield to be undisturbed for several more years (one would expect). There is already a residential subdivision on the other side of Wigram road (the J shaped road, bottom right) so developing this side of the airfield first seems a natural progression.

Such a development would be a very desirable place for aviatiors to live, aviators who tend to have money to spend on such things. A place to retire to with your plane, right in the city and close to all the services you need.

Some more reading:
http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/080205/24309.html?.v=1
http://www.spotlightnews.net/news/story.php?story_id=120113562246064700
http://livingwithyourplane.com/
http://www.barnstormers.com/Airport+Property,%20Airpark%20Classifieds.htm

Sunny weather + camera = new cellsite pics
A few photos taken today of new NZ Comms + Telecom sites in the Hutt Valley.

Upgraded Telecom Lower Hutt site in the foreground and Woosh + NZ Comms gear on the back building. This Telecom site was one of the first in Wellington to be upgraded for GSM 850 + UMTS 2100. The Woosh site has been in existance for several years now but the panels for NZ Comms have been in place for a couple of months now but are not live.

GSM is still live today on Telecom's site even though the GSM network has now been canned, obviously those sites that did have GSM gear fitted will still be live until it's removed and replaced with the UMTS 850 cards. I guess we'll be seeing some cheap 850MHz GSM equipment on Trademe soon! :-)

Main Vodafone site in Lower Hutt. 900 GSM + 2100 UMTS + 1800 GSM panels.

This site = M3gA Fa1L and should be used as a textbook example of how not to deploy a cellsite.

When the 2100 gear was added the sectorisation of this site was changed and neither of the 3 sectors now face the Westfield Queensgate mall right opposite. As a result inbuilding coverage in the mall is absolutely terrible with no coverage in large parts of the mall. Microwave links exist to several other sites including Petone, Ava and Mt Fitzherbert.

Waterloo Railway Stn site with both Telecom and Vodafone sites. Telecom panels are in the front left with the grey one on the left being a trial CDMA panel installed on several sites (Waterloo, Hutt CBD and Hutt VIC Corner) several years ago that can automatically pan & tilt to optimise the network depending on traffic load. Vodafone 900 & 2100 panels are in within the cream cylinderical enclosures at the other end.

This particular site has featured in the Hutt News this week as NZ Comms have applied for council permission to mount their gear there and some of the anti-cellsite people have jumped onto the bandwagon. Some of these anti-cellsite campaigners really should do their homework before they make idiots of themselves talking to the media when equipment for both Vodafone & Telecom as well as numerous council links for the smartlinx3 network already operate.

From the Hutt News 2/9/08
Some residents in the Knights Road area are concerned that they haven't been consulted over a proposal to erect a telecommunications microwave tower and related equipment on top of the Waterloo Interchange building.
One resident believes the Hutt City Council has only sent information to a select few properties right opposite, including Omega Wigs at 214 Knights Road, Take Five and the dairy adjacent.
"This seems totally wrong and several homeowners/residents in the area who have learned of the application are concerned at the implications for them, their families and their property values if that application is approved and the towers and other equipment pods proceed."
Another concern is for the many pregnant women and children who regularly use the railway/bus station. They want to be assured this equipment is safe.

New NZ Comms site at Avalon

A closeup of the panels. NZ Comms don't appear to be painting any of their panels (special paint has to be used so it doesn't affect the RF properties) so this site stands out like a sore thumb. The mast has been painted green to fit in with the surroundings. Looking at the cables still coiled up below I'm guessing a microwave horn is still to be fitted for backhaul.

Vodafone site right next to the NZ Comms one. Bit hard to see detail due to the sun but it has 2100 UMTS panels on top and 900 GSM panels in the middle. Site and panels are all green but the microwave horn is still white (links to Avalon studios site).

Closeup of existing Vodafone 2100 UTMS panel (left) and new NZ Comms 900 GSM panel on the top of the Avalon TV studios tower block.

Upgraded Wingate Telecom site. One of only a handful of sites around Wellington still using omni aerials. This site was one of the last in the Hutt Valley to be upgraded before the Telecom rollout seems to have been temporarily halted. Also one of the only upgraded sites that never had a live 850 GSM signal - maybe this was only going to be a 2100Mhz site.

Closeup of the panels - this site is one of the original Telecom Mobile designs and dates back to ~1990. Note the south facing UMTS panel is a lot smaller since it's facing directly into a hillside that you can see in the picture above.

New Telecom CDMA + GSM 850 + UMTS 2100 site at Naenae. This site replaces the one below that used to be in Naenae Primary School.

WRC Repco NZ Rally
Well, back safely - what a drive! Over 7 hours each way with no one to share the load.

On European motorways that would be fine (just tedious!) - set the cruise control at 100 miles an hour and listen to CD's as you waft along a 6 lane glass-smooth motorway obligingly built with regular rest areas featuring quality food and fuel right along side. I used to do this annually on a boys weekend trip (well - it was a week actually!) down to Le Mans for the 24 Hr in June.

In Godzone? Ha - I wish! "State Highway" should be re-phrased "Back Road"! I felt every single mile and was wrung out by the time I arrived. Then found that most of Waikato's roads featured something new to me - a "washout"! One of them had apparently only been upgraded from an unsurfaced track to a proper road with tarmac a mere 6 months previously - now a big section is just AWOL somewhere down a hill!

Still, it was worth the endurance test. The Rally was great fun to watch - shame that we have to wait until 2010 for the next one (it now alternates with Oz, so they get it in 09).

Pictures can be seen at http://tlphoto.co.nz/WRC 2008 NZ Rally/

Going Zero G - and please update your Geekzone profile
Later this week I am off to Las Vegas to participate in a Zero G flight.

I will have some videos and photos from the flight - but in the meantime I recommend people update their Geekzone profile...

Chrome roundup
Chrome

I was going to post a few links about Googles new browser 'Chrome' in my weekly Linkification post - but as theres such a flood of information and articles this week I've decided to move them into their own blog post. So here it is:

Google Chrome, Google’s Browser Project - a great article which includes the original announcement and the 38 page comic that Google put together as a product overview.

Google Chrome screenshots - for those who haven't taken the plunge yet.

Download Google Chrome beta (for windows)

Google Chrome, Chromium, and V8 launch today - the official word from Google.

Google Chrome press event: the video

Browsing with Google Chrome

Google Chrome's about: Pages

Google Chrome Features that we miss in other Web Browsers

Google Co-Founder Expects Chrome-Like Browser For Android

Google's Brin says Chrome headed to Android, probably

Portable Chrome Puts Chrome on Your Thumb Drive

Run Google Chrome in Ubuntu with WINE

Google Chrome Tips and Pointers