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The Grey Valley Televiewers Society
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Anthony Farrell: The Grey Valley Televiewers Society was incorporated in 1965 after my Dad, Max Farrell had travelled over from Christchurch in 1964 to test for a TV signal that would be strong enough to amplify and re-broadcast to households within the Grey District. He had been annoyed that government had rolled out TV channels in the four main centres from 1961 but had no plans at that time to expand the service into the regions. He felt that West Coasters were not being fairly treated by government and that may be a private solution should be provided instead.
Prior to this project, Max who was born at Reefton in 1920 had been working as a Telecommunications Technician for the New Zealand Electricity Department, where he had been responsible for the installation and maintenance of radio telephone repeaters for the NZED throughout the South Island during the construction of the National Grid in the late 1950's and the Cook Strait cable in 1965 to supply the North Island with power from the Benmore Dam.
Off his own bat he would drive to Greymouth each weekend in his Mini Minor with a directional antenna mounted on it and using a field strength meter he would travel around potentially suitable areas in the Grey Valley trying to find locations where the TV signal from Christchurch was strong enough that he thought it could be re-translated.
He initially picked a site with a strong enough signal at the old brewery on the road to Coal Creek under Cobden Hill and used that to evaluate the feasibility of the project. At that time the signal from CHTV3 in Christchurch was being transmitted from a site in the city centre.
Max then went back home to Christchurch and in his spare time he designed and fabricated a TV translator from scratch including the folding of the sheet metal chassis through to drilling and cutting holes for components and wiring, constructing all the circuitry and valves and fabricating and painting a suitable cabinet to contain the chassis. When I say part time he would go to work at the NZED during the day and when he was not away working on location up and down the South Island he would go straight to his workshop in the garage after dinner and work through until 2 o'clock in the morning, testing, redesigning and retesting and refabricating until he had a design that he considered was capable of giving the performance and reliability that he knew was necessary. He had multiple versions of the translator before he achieved the desired result. And then he built a backup as well. All this happened over a period of about eight months.
During his trips to Greymouth he was helped by a number of Greymouth residents who kindly offered him accomodation and were later instrumental in forming an official organisation the Grey Valley Televiewers Society Inc to help deal with the NZPO and the various other regulatory agencies that were not very cooperative, and often obstructive with their attempts to prevent the project going ahead. Those I remember were Alf Bannan, who worked for the Power Board; Dave Skelton, who owned a fishing boat, 'Lady Luck'; Ray Croot, who was the Stores Manager at the Railway Workshop; Colin Mackey who was a miner; Joe Pattinson, the funeral director; Doug Heinz who was a very fit high school student and scout leader who did a lot of the heavy back packing up to the eventual translator location on the ridge on Cobden Hill and many other willing workers whose names I can't remember at the moment.
Dad then resigned from his job at the NZED and moved to Greymouth in 1965 to commission and maintain the translator and sell TV sets to support our family. There followed a long and quite interesting period in the four years that followed until the government finally installed their own TV translator on Mt Sewell using microwave technology.
I will further document the story and post here if there is any interest. Here are some of the few pics I have from that time. Here is the translator hut built by Joe Pattinson, supported no doubt by Laurie Anisy and assembled on site. The hut materials, power cables and antenna hardware were paid for by Greymouth Lions fundraising and the raffle of a TV set supplied by Max Farrell.
PIC:
Max Farrell working on the lower translator on Cobden Hill with assistance from Peter Farrell age 8. The lower translator was installed to receive a TV signal from the Cobb translator on the wharf at Hokitika which had become the only location with a strong enough signal when NZBC moved their transmitter from ChCh city centre to Marley Hill transmitter on the Port Hills. The originally selected direct relay from Christchurch via a bounce off a rock face on Mt Alexander was lost and a Plan B was needed. That plan was found when a strong enough signal from Hokitika was identified. The relay from Christchurch to Hokitika to Cobden Hill lower and then to Cobden Hill upper translator went through 4 channel changes before being broadcast up and down the valley. It was the longest successful TV translation relay in the Southern Hemisphere at the time. It wasn't perfect but it worked.Map[1]
Anthony Farrell: The Grey Valley Televiewers Society was incorporated in 1965 after my Dad, Max Farrell had travelled over from Christchurch in 1964 to test for a TV signal that would be strong enough to amplify and re-broadcast to households within the Grey District. He had been annoyed that government had rolled out TV channels in the four main centres from 1961 but had no plans at that time to expand the service into the regions. He felt that West Coasters were not being fairly treated by government and that may be a private solution should be provided instead.
Prior to this project, Max who was born at Reefton in 1920 had been working as a Telecommunications Technician for the New Zealand Electricity Department, where he had been responsible for the installation and maintenance of radio telephone repeaters for the NZED throughout the South Island during the construction of the National Grid in the late 1950's and the Cook Strait cable in 1965 to supply the North Island with power from the Benmore Dam.
Off his own bat he would drive to Greymouth each weekend in his Mini Minor with a directional antenna mounted on it and using a field strength meter he would travel around potentially suitable areas in the Grey Valley trying to find locations where the TV signal from Christchurch was strong enough that he thought it could be re-translated.
He initially picked a site with a strong enough signal at the old brewery on the road to Coal Creek under Cobden Hill and used that to evaluate the feasibility of the project. At that time the signal from CHTV3 in Christchurch was being transmitted from a site in the city centre.
Max then went back home to Christchurch and in his spare time he designed and fabricated a TV translator from scratch including the folding of the sheet metal chassis through to drilling and cutting holes for components and wiring, constructing all the circuitry and valves and fabricating and painting a suitable cabinet to contain the chassis. When I say part time he would go to work at the NZED during the day and when he was not away working on location up and down the South Island he would go straight to his workshop in the garage after dinner and work through until 2 o'clock in the morning, testing, redesigning and retesting and refabricating until he had a design that he considered was capable of giving the performance and reliability that he knew was necessary. He had multiple versions of the translator before he achieved the desired result. And then he built a backup as well. All this happened over a period of about eight months.
During his trips to Greymouth he was helped by a number of Greymouth residents who kindly offered him accomodation and were later instrumental in forming an official organisation the Grey Valley Televiewers Society Inc to help deal with the NZPO and the various other regulatory agencies that were not very cooperative, and often obstructive with their attempts to prevent the project going ahead. Those I remember were Alf Bannan, who worked for the Power Board; Dave Skelton, who owned a fishing boat, 'Lady Luck'; Ray Croot, who was the Stores Manager at the Railway Workshop; Colin Mackey who was a miner; Joe Pattinson, the funeral director; Doug Heinz who was a very fit high school student and scout leader who did a lot of the heavy back packing up to the eventual translator location on the ridge on Cobden Hill and many other willing workers whose names I can't remember at the moment.
Dad then resigned from his job at the NZED and moved to Greymouth in 1965 to commission and maintain the translator and sell TV sets to support our family. There followed a long and quite interesting period in the four years that followed until the government finally installed their own TV translator on Mt Sewell using microwave technology.
I will further document the story and post here if there is any interest. Here are some of the few pics I have from that time. Here is the translator hut built by Joe Pattinson, supported no doubt by Laurie Anisy and assembled on site. The hut materials, power cables and antenna hardware were paid for by Greymouth Lions fundraising and the raffle of a TV set supplied by Max Farrell.
PIC:
Max Farrell working on the lower translator on Cobden Hill with assistance from Peter Farrell age 8. The lower translator was installed to receive a TV signal from the Cobb translator on the wharf at Hokitika which had become the only location with a strong enough signal when NZBC moved their transmitter from ChCh city centre to Marley Hill transmitter on the Port Hills. The originally selected direct relay from Christchurch via a bounce off a rock face on Mt Alexander was lost and a Plan B was needed. That plan was found when a strong enough signal from Hokitika was identified. The relay from Christchurch to Hokitika to Cobden Hill lower and then to Cobden Hill upper translator went through 4 channel changes before being broadcast up and down the valley. It was the longest successful TV translation relay in the Southern Hemisphere at the time. It wasn't perfect but it worked.Map[1]
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CommentsRaewyn McKnight I remember the residents of Arum Road taking turns to change a battery on some TV signal thing probably up where Tasman View is now. It was so we could get TV and the signal was always a bit hairy! I’m sure someone older than me will remember this more clearly, we had to trek across the old Marist Bros farm, I was young and went with my Dad.
Wendy Gilmour Don McFadyen, Max Farrell , remember very well the night they talked about setting the repeater up at Otira , remember how it all started and it due to my Father being secretary for the Miners Union , He had to see a man who had been hurt in the mine and had lived in Christchurch and brought his TV over with him, it couldn't work as no reception, but the seed was sown ,
Bruce Keddie I could be wrong, but I think the repeater was on the Cobden hill up above the old quarry, sort of straight ahead of you as you cross the Cobden bridge.
Leslie McKendry Yes, there was translator on top of the Twelve Apostles.
Power was brought up from the Coal Creek Side, from what had been Stewarts Brewery.
The Translator received a signal from another translator located at Hokitika then re-broadcast to Greymouth, Grey Valley and Runanaga areas.
Darcy Craze and on top of the kelly range at Otira
Owen Winstanley I think there was a repeater on Mt Te Kinga as well. I know that Don Smith TV & Radio shop owner was involved, often climbing up to replace batteries etc. I also believe that lots of people bought their TVs from him, including my parents, because of his good work.
Alan Messenger We all paid a fee towards it. A lot of us refused to pay for a TV and Radio licence at the time because we believed the Govt should have been paying for repeater stations
Laurie Anisy Was a repeater up on Cobden, Joe Pattinson made a prefab shed in his factory and we carried it up the hill piece by piece.Alf Bannan was involved as well as Max Farrell. A good project.
Rick Giles There's a bit written about the Kawerau equivalent and that team have a little spotlight in a museum.
Anyone put pen to paper about the West Coast story of television?
Ray Vincent The translator on Cobden hill was installed by Max Farrell and was no longer required after the Paparoa Govt site came on stream early 70's in time for chch commonwealth games. Max also sold and repaired TV's in Greymouth.
Not sure if he was backed by …See More
Lexie Skelton Max Farrell did many hours of work up cobden hill with very little thanks my father in law also helped him Dave Skelton and he was given a life membership from the committee
Brent Beadle Lexie Skelton max was my uncle.I remember driving up the grey valley with him when I was a kid.He had a blue mini 4 of us in it and the TV that he had to install was strapped to boot door.Always a feed at the peoples house when the job was done.
Lexie Skelton Hi Brent Beadle I do remember his blue mini ,he was a nice guy
Lynn Marley I can remember being at Jackson Bay late 80s. They received signal from Jacobs River however the guy in who ran repeater would turn it off when he went to bed - missed the end of many programs.
James Codyre First TV signal we had in Ngahere was from Wellington WTVI via a series of repeaters in the Nelson and Inangahua regions but after a big repeater was installed on the Kelly Range near Jacksons.We swithed to CHTV3 and there was a small repeater on the hills near Blackball to serve our area.Think we paid a sub to the Grey Valley Telleviewers Society until the big repeater was installed in the present position.
Rick Giles These were voluntary subscriptions? With thanks to those who created the service?
I think the State licencing fee was $15. Wonder how much Grey Valley TS Inc. asked
Miles Reay I remember when I worked at Strongam in 1966-67 some of the miners (particularly Trevor Clouston?) were heavily involved in a scheme. I thought the repeater may have been on the Paparoas?
Cheryl Pinn Miles Reay you mean Trevor Houstan and my father Colin mackey.The repeater was put up the back of Kells hotel as that had the strongest signal.
Lexie Skelton Cheryl your dad lived on brewery hill and provided power for the club to charge there batteries
Bruce Edwards Haast was serviced by 2 translaters on the hills either side of Breccia creek. Powered by a Pelton wheel in the creek. Keith James B. C. N . Z. Set it up. I had the task of servicing these. Plenty of moans when reception was lost which was often.
Bruce Carey I had heard that someone ran a sort of cable TV network to a small number of homes in greymouth
Thomas Peter Mulligan Gordon Brown national bank manager my father and Bill Schroeder were involved
Viv Sheehan As I remember Noel Rosco from Lincoln radio Lincoln took a number of test on Kelly's Range for a signal. Hence he offered to build a tranlater if Otira residence bought their TV from him. We formed a group and set up a wind propelled charger for the battery to keep the translator operating. Greymouth and Blackball found they were getting a signal off the back of our translator so Blackball group helped us when the Kea,s chewed big hungs out of the wind propeller. So a water generator was set up using a generator from an old guards van this was operating until the Broardcasting Corp took over.
Wendy Gilmour Don McFadyen, Max Farrell , remember very well the night they talked about setting the repeater up at Otira , remember how it all started and it due to my Father being secretary for the Miners Union , He had to see a man who had been hurt in the mine and had lived in Christchurch and brought his TV over with him, it couldn't work as no reception, but the seed was sown ,
Bruce Keddie I could be wrong, but I think the repeater was on the Cobden hill up above the old quarry, sort of straight ahead of you as you cross the Cobden bridge.
Leslie McKendry Yes, there was translator on top of the Twelve Apostles.
Power was brought up from the Coal Creek Side, from what had been Stewarts Brewery.
The Translator received a signal from another translator located at Hokitika then re-broadcast to Greymouth, Grey Valley and Runanaga areas.
Darcy Craze and on top of the kelly range at Otira
Owen Winstanley I think there was a repeater on Mt Te Kinga as well. I know that Don Smith TV & Radio shop owner was involved, often climbing up to replace batteries etc. I also believe that lots of people bought their TVs from him, including my parents, because of his good work.
Alan Messenger We all paid a fee towards it. A lot of us refused to pay for a TV and Radio licence at the time because we believed the Govt should have been paying for repeater stations
Laurie Anisy Was a repeater up on Cobden, Joe Pattinson made a prefab shed in his factory and we carried it up the hill piece by piece.Alf Bannan was involved as well as Max Farrell. A good project.
Rick Giles There's a bit written about the Kawerau equivalent and that team have a little spotlight in a museum.
Anyone put pen to paper about the West Coast story of television?
Ray Vincent The translator on Cobden hill was installed by Max Farrell and was no longer required after the Paparoa Govt site came on stream early 70's in time for chch commonwealth games. Max also sold and repaired TV's in Greymouth.
Not sure if he was backed by …See More
Lexie Skelton Max Farrell did many hours of work up cobden hill with very little thanks my father in law also helped him Dave Skelton and he was given a life membership from the committee
Brent Beadle Lexie Skelton max was my uncle.I remember driving up the grey valley with him when I was a kid.He had a blue mini 4 of us in it and the TV that he had to install was strapped to boot door.Always a feed at the peoples house when the job was done.
Lexie Skelton Hi Brent Beadle I do remember his blue mini ,he was a nice guy
Lynn Marley I can remember being at Jackson Bay late 80s. They received signal from Jacobs River however the guy in who ran repeater would turn it off when he went to bed - missed the end of many programs.
James Codyre First TV signal we had in Ngahere was from Wellington WTVI via a series of repeaters in the Nelson and Inangahua regions but after a big repeater was installed on the Kelly Range near Jacksons.We swithed to CHTV3 and there was a small repeater on the hills near Blackball to serve our area.Think we paid a sub to the Grey Valley Telleviewers Society until the big repeater was installed in the present position.
Rick Giles These were voluntary subscriptions? With thanks to those who created the service?
I think the State licencing fee was $15. Wonder how much Grey Valley TS Inc. asked
Miles Reay I remember when I worked at Strongam in 1966-67 some of the miners (particularly Trevor Clouston?) were heavily involved in a scheme. I thought the repeater may have been on the Paparoas?
Cheryl Pinn Miles Reay you mean Trevor Houstan and my father Colin mackey.The repeater was put up the back of Kells hotel as that had the strongest signal.
Lexie Skelton Cheryl your dad lived on brewery hill and provided power for the club to charge there batteries
Bruce Edwards Haast was serviced by 2 translaters on the hills either side of Breccia creek. Powered by a Pelton wheel in the creek. Keith James B. C. N . Z. Set it up. I had the task of servicing these. Plenty of moans when reception was lost which was often.
Bruce Carey I had heard that someone ran a sort of cable TV network to a small number of homes in greymouth
Thomas Peter Mulligan Gordon Brown national bank manager my father and Bill Schroeder were involved
Viv Sheehan As I remember Noel Rosco from Lincoln radio Lincoln took a number of test on Kelly's Range for a signal. Hence he offered to build a tranlater if Otira residence bought their TV from him. We formed a group and set up a wind propelled charger for the battery to keep the translator operating. Greymouth and Blackball found they were getting a signal off the back of our translator so Blackball group helped us when the Kea,s chewed big hungs out of the wind propeller. So a water generator was set up using a generator from an old guards van this was operating until the Broardcasting Corp took over.
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West Coast New Zealand History (24th Apr 2020). The Grey Valley Televiewers Society . In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 19th Apr 2026 17:27, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/27768