The KB0P repeater, 443.500 (+) (100 Hz) is located in the penthouse
of the "C" Shaft building of the Cliff Shaft Mine. The Cliff Shaft Mine was an underground iron
ore mine located in downtown Ishpeming and it operated from 1867 to 1967. Today, the stone and
concrete buildings remain standing and they are prominent historical landmarks in the middle
of town. The "C" Shaft was the newest built structure, which was constructed in the 1950's. This
building towers over the town at 175 feet and my repeater is located at the very top.
This is a photo of me standing next to the repeater.
The 443.500 repeater is a GE Mstr II, UHF repeater, which was built for me by my Duluth, MN friend, Pat (KC0QYC), who engineered
and owns a majority of the LSAC repeater system in Northern Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin. The GE Mstr II supplies 100 Watts to
the local amateur community and offers the only IRLP in Marquette County (we are 1 of only 2 IRLP nodes located in the U.P.).
The IRLP stream is provided from my home, which is located about 6 miles south of the repeater site. The IRLP system consists of
a mini-ITX computer operating Linux, a Motorola Maxtrac UHF transceiver, and a beam mounted in a fixed direction.
On the left, this is the 4-bay antenna that is mounted on the roof of the shaft building, just above the repeater.
The length of the coax from the repeater to the antenna is about 15 feet (not more than 20 feet for certain).
The antenna actually belongs to my friend Brandon (N8PUM), since it still remains when we swapped his Yaesu repeater
out for my GE Mstr II repeater (see the news page). Since the elevation of Ishpeming is only about 1320 feet or so,
and the out lying area is 1400 feet (plus), this repeater only has an effective coverage area of about 10 miles (radius).
Recently (2011), this repeater is becoming a hub to a growing 2-meter link system.
To the left is a picture of Ishpeming, which was taken from the roof of the Shaft during the summer of 2011.
This is looking in the northeast direction. The lake you see in the photo is Lake Bancroft, which is located downtown Ishpeming.
Ishpeming is an old mining town, which got its start in the 1840's, after iron ore was discovered. We are still mining iron ore, today,
which is our number one industry in this area.
As a matter of fact, the shaft building that houses the 443.500 repeater is the remains of a 100 year old underground mine, which closed in 1967. There is a lot of rich mining history in this area of Michigan.
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