Lancaster Amateur Radio Club, Inc.
W2SO • Serving Western New York & Southern Ontario since 1987
W2SO • Serving Western New York & Southern Ontario since 1987
From five founders in 1987 to one of Western New York's largest amateur radio clubs.
In March 1987, Luke Calianno N2GDU, Dick Haungs* Founder W2UJR, Lou Esposito N2SFZ, Matt Gorski* Founder NS2M and Alvin Petry* Founder KE2AJ founded the Lancaster Amateur Radio Club to serve the eastern suburbs of Buffalo. More than twenty radio amateurs attended the first meeting at the Lancaster School Building on Central Avenue. About a year later, meetings moved to Aurora Street Middle School.
The club sponsored its first hamfest in 1988 at Joseph Manor. As attendance grew, the hamfest moved through the Elks Club, Darien Center Fire Hall, Hearthstone Manor, Leonard VFW Post, Main-Transit Fire Hall and the Ismailia Shriners Center. The first winter hamfest was held in 1998. Today the club hosts annual Batavia and Lancaster hamfests.
The first two-meter repeater was housed at Dick W2UJR's QTH before moving to Pavement Road. The club's first clubhouse was at the Boys and Girls Club on Broadway in Lancaster. In 1994, Lancaster Town Supervisor Lucian Greco allowed the club to use a building at the Lancaster Town Center on Pavement Road, and the club later moved to its current Pavement Road facility.
LARC has long been affiliated with the ARRL and became a Special Service Club in 2002. On August 5, 2001, the club hosted the Western New York ARRL Section Convention. In 2007 it added IRLP, later EchoLink, to its repeater system.
During the winter of 2007–2008, Bob Delamater AA2ZW and Ed Klimaszewski AB2HW led a major clubhouse renovation, with Dennis Paufler N2DJP and Jim Glor N8GXR among those contributing improvements. In 2018, with support from Joe Gearhart WV2NY, Bob Delamater AA2ZW and George Kaczmarek KD2LLM, the radio room was upgraded with three HF rigs, digital capability, separate logging computers and a fully functional ARES station supporting voice, packet and digital communications.