- The club began as the Howlin’ Winds Amateur Radio Club in 1951
- Jim Smith, w0mjy and Dennis Warrick, w0dgw have been members since 1973
- The club provides instruction for perspective hams since its beginning with both one on one and formal classes
- The club has run an active VE program since the late 1980s
- The club maintains an active community involvement assisting with severe weather alerting, Simulated Emergency Tests, charity walks, foot and bicycle foot races
- Lake Area Radio Klub has ongoing relationships with the local Salvation Army, Codington County Emergency Management, Hamlin County Emergency Management, and Prairie Lakes Hospital
- Lake Area Radio Klub maintains an active 2-meter repeater on 146.850 MHz with a minus offset (146.25/85)
- The club is very active in ARRL Field Day every year
- The club currently has 46 members
- We strive very hard to be as welcoming as possible.
Joe, N0SD
Although Lake Area Radio Klub (LARK) began in 1951, it was known then as the Howlin’ Winds Amateur Radio Club. Available records do not indicate when the name changed to LARK, but it was before the fall of 1973 when Jim Smith, W0MJY, and I took a class together taught by Bob Hoaas, K0ZBJ (SK). He taught the class in the basement of the house owned by Stan Burgardt, W0IT (SK), located just east St. Ann’s Hospital (now Prairie Lakes Hospital). Of those of us still alive, Jim and I have been members the longest, 52 years since 1974, when all anyone had to do to become a member was attend a club meeting.
LARK’s available minutes dating back to October 25, 1973, when Bob Davis, K0YOV (SK), was secretary. Earlier records apparently were lost, destroyed, or not kept. Meetings were at the Codington-Clark Electric Cooperative. The big project for LARK that next year, in 1974, was to host the South Dakota Ham Picnic, which drew so many participants and thus more registration fees than expected that organizers had to make an impromptu trip on a Sunday to the local ham store for more prizes. Joe Keimig, WB0AMK (SK), was elected club secretary October 30, 1974. The September 25, 1975, meting minutes show that I was appointed secretary-treasurer because Keimig had moved to Fergus Falls, Minn. (The minutes don’t say, but Joe worked for Ottertail Power Company out of Clear Lake and suffered an injury while climbing a pole. The injury left him unable to climb, so the company transferred him to its headquarters in Fergus Falls, which meant LARK had lost a very valuable member.) I have been elected secretary-treasurer continuously since that 1975 appointment.
LARK nearly went dormant for several years, from December 1980 until January 1984, when Jerry Hegg, KZ0E (SK), and I made a concerted effort to revive it. During that January meeting, Hegg suggested the club start a newsletter with me as its editor. Smith said the ham store would pay costs to photocopy and mail the issues to members, providing Burghardt Amateur Center had an advertisement inside. There was no internet or cellular telephone service back then, so the newsletter was the key means of connecting with members. That arrangement continued until the ham store closed in 2009 and newsletter distribution began by sending PDF copies via the internet. The monthly newsletter will mark completion 42 years of continuous publication this month. Early issues were created via a manual typewriter, later via Commodore 64 software, then via a MacIntosh, and currently via a Windows computer. Through the years, LARK hosted two highly successful ARRL Dakota Division conventions, those being in September 1987 and September 1991.
During recent years, LARK’s emphasis has shifted to Field Day, where the club has been quite successful, finishing high in its category among South Dakota and the ARRL Dakota Division entrants. Although Joe Mayfield, N0SD, has stressed safety for many years, LARK expended considerable money towards that goal during 2024 and 2025 by buying lighter and more efficient beam antennas and devices to get those antennas into the sky. The equipment moves towers from being horizontal to vertical and then raises the towers/antennas. Another key project has involved emergency preparedness, specifically setting up crossband repeaters, having officials turn off local repeaters, and then 911 dispatchers toning out volunteer fire and medical responders via LARK’s portable equipment during the test exercises.
LARK observed its 50th year of affiliation with the ARRL during a special dinner gathering November 3, 2001, at Sunnyside Inn. Before it closed and was later demolished, the popular restaurant/bar was located on the south side of Lake Kampeska, just east of Sandy Shore Recreation Area. ARRL Dakota Division Director Jay Bellows, K0JB, of St. Paul, Minn., presented a certificate denoting the milestone. The certificate was displayed during the November 29, 2001, club meeting, according to the meeting minutes. David Schaefer, Codington County Emergency Management director at the time who later took the same job in Hamlin County became KD0LJG, said the certificate would be hung near the ham equipment at the center. I don’t know where the certificate went from there. It could still be on the wall. I just spoke with David, who said he is unaware of the certificate’s location. We both agreed that Andrew’s secretary may know.
Denny, W0DGW