Otematata residents will soon be able to listen to more radio stations when a planned new transmitter is installed.
The town receives one radio station - Port FM - picking up the signal from a transmitter and mast at Station Peak, near Kurow, then retransmitting it from a peak on Otematata Station using a converted car stereo radio.
That costs about $70 a month in line charges and electricity, paid for by the Otematata Residents' Association through fundraising.
Already, the association has built a new building and mast on the site.
Now, it is raising about $5000 to buy and install new equipment in the building.
That equipment would transmit Port FM, Classic Hits, National Radio and two other stations to the town, Corey Westhall, the association member overseeing the project, said yesterday.
The association was also investigating increasing the output from the equipment to provide a signal from Kurow to Omarama, not just to Otematata, covering popular summer camping areas around the Waitaki lakes.
He expected electricity costs of running the new equipment would be the same or slightly less.
