This web site covers just a few of my hobbies in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. My hobbies include HAM radio, electronics, four-wheeling, photography, and the history of the area. I have managed to incorporate them all in this site.
My friends and I have taken it upon ourselves, to improve HAM radio communications in the southwestern Colorado region. This area is very mountainous and presents us with unique communication problems, not to mention accessibility problems.
While installing HAM radio communications equipment on mountain peaks, known as repeaters, I travel through many areas of historical interest, and beauty. We try to improve communication and preserve the history of the area. Imagine hiking trails that the pioneers made a hundred years ago, or seeing the ghost towns, where they used to live and work. Imagine standing on top of a mountain and being able to see for hundreds of miles.
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My friends and I have built two mountain top ham radio repeaters, to help with communications in the Silverton, Colorado area. These repeaters allow HAMs to communicate with others in distant valleys, canyons, and towns of the area.
The first repeater works on a frequency of 147.270 mhz and is located on Hazelton Mountain to the east of Silverton. It is located at an altitude of approximately 11,000 feet above sea level. It is powered by 110 volts of power.
The second repeater operates at 147.375mhz and has an access tone of 156.7hz. This repeater is located on Kendall Peak Mountain, at an altitude of 13,080 feet above sea level. It is 4,000 feet above Silverton, Colorado. This repeater is solar powered. The solar panels provide the electricity to charge the six gel batteries, which power this radio site. All of the equipment used had to be hand carried up to the site in backpacks. These two ham radio repeaters also provide emergency communication and backup telephone communications for the area.
The Kendall site covers a great deal of the wilderness hiking area in southwestern
Colorado. . The Kendall system's coverage area is from Grand Junction (northern Colorado),
Telluride,Ouray,
Durango,
and southeast of Silverton, and
Farmington, New Mexico.
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Southwestern Colorado has a rich history. From the late 1700's to the present time, people have chosen to live and work in this area. During the silver and gold haydays, this area was littered with small towns, mining camps and mines. Now most of these are just a memory. I have pictures of buildings that no longer exist that I will post.
The largest and most popular ghost town is Animas Forks. Animas Forks is 12 miles north of Silverton, Colorado on County Road 110. Every year the heavy winter snowfalls take their toll on the old buildings. Highly visible is the foundation of the stamp mill on the edge of the town. Animas Forks once boasted of a population of 400 people.
Search BarnesandNoble.com for Colorado Ghost Towns
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| Larry Miller - - KB5ITT ( kb5itt@arrl.net ) |
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