Goose River Amateur Radio Club History
History provided by Elroy Lindaas W0KZU:
At this point it is not certain when Amateur “Ham” Radio had its beginning in this area of North Dakota. Some of those who were pioneers in this endeavor were around as I became aware of such an interesting activity. I will name a few that came to mind. Hartwell “Del” Burner, of Mayville, was the depot agent for the Great Northern Railway; as such, he was responsible for the telegraph operation that can still be seen today at the Goose River Heritage Center, Mayville, as can a collection of Ham radios and equipment donated by GRARC organization members. Along the same line, he was a licensed Ham radio operator and as such spent a great deal of time relaying messages on Morse code along so-called trunk lines across the United States. CW Communications, this area’s trunk line, was part of a national organization that handled a great amount of transcontinental traffic.
Some of the others were Art Goss of Hunter, ND, Henry “Hank” Haraldson of Aneta, ND, Hugh Lyon of Sharon, ND, Wesley “Jeff” Jefferson of Hope, ND, Art B. Nelson of Page, ND, and Harry Long of Sharon, ND. Harry Long was experimenting with Spark Gap Communications in the 1910 era. Hank Haraldson of Anita, ND and Wesley Jefferson of Hope, ND.
There was activity prior to WWII, but it was shut down until after the war. There were some operators in Grand Forks and Fargo, along with a scattering of some in the rural communities. As time passed, more people became interested and passed the required technical exams, gaining proficiency in sending and receiving Morse code. Several hams arrived in the area as part of their deployment to the Finley Air Force Radar Station and the Grand Forks Air Force Base. The Grand Forks hams founded the Sioux Amateur Radio Association. Later, hams from Mayville, Portland, and Hatton came together and formed the Goose River Amateur Radio Club around 1980.
A new mode of communication came about using FM Frequency Modulation and this used Repeaters that were installed on top of Grain Elevators that gave them higher elevation. As a result, one can use a hand-held “walky-talky” and talk to someone, perhaps 60 or more miles away. The Goose River Club installed a Repeater at the Mayville Farmers Elevator in 1980, which is still in operation today. The original Coaxial Cable corroded and had to replaced for this Repeater, but also is still in use. The new Coax was donated by Norman Bakken, who also installed the antenna atop the structure. Assisting him was Paul Linell, Finley, ND, an original charter member of the group. The Coax ran from the office basement through several inches of grain dust all the way to the antenna. Devices called Duplexers are installed up inside the head-house near the antenna. The Repeater is an old Motorola Transceiver that was converted by a group of hams – namely, Don “Leon” Carlson, Steve Robilliard, Wallace “Wally” Domier, Elroy Lindaas, Paul Linell and others who were not only technically involved, but were also part of fundraising efforts to cover expenses.
In 1951, a group of hams from Fargo put on the first Hamfest picnic at Mayville Island Park. After the Goose River Club organized, there were annual Mayville Ham picnic events for a number of years. At these gatherings, there would be a lot of selling and trading of equipment, as well as Voluntary testing for new hams and those upgrading their licenses. Mayville Ham picnics, while not held for several years, make a comeback in July, 2025. There have additionally been Ham Radio classes conducted to help those interested. The first classes were taught by Harold Cantrell and later by Elroy Lindaas. Recently the club has had a revival and is offering assistance to anyone interested in becoming a ham radio operator. Over the years, there have been Field Day exercises that are sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL). These take place in June and January, noted as Summer and Winter Field Day. Anyone interested, please talk to a Ham operator for details.
Additional History:
The club had been dormant for several years. In late 2023 Craig Bye KA0EDD had a desire to get the club back active once again and began recruiting possible membership. This culminated with a meeting at Paula’s Cafe in Mayville on March 2, 2024. There were eleven Hams present at that meeting. Officers at that time were Elroy Lindaas W0KZU President, Norman Bakken KC0SD Vice-President, Criag Bye KA0EDD Treasurer, and Chad Harstad W0GZL Secretary. In June Chad requested to no longer be Secretary and David Flitter W0FLT was elected. Since then, meetings have continued on the First Saturday of the month at 9:00 AM at Paula’s or at Elroy’s radio shack/shop. The club has been active with ARRL Field Days, Winter Field Days, and a HamPicnic (HamFest). One of the biggest challenges that faced the newly reactivated club was the condition of the repeater. The old repeater located at the Mayville elevator had been in operation since around 1978. While it did still work, its reliability was in question. New owners of the elevator did not want to allow club members on the top of the elevator to check and or repair the antenna system. Eventually, a new location (Portland Elevator) and newer equipment were secured. Work was completed over the summer of 2025 and the new repeater was put into operation on November 14th. A special thanks for all the work of Norman Bakken KC0SD, Craig Bye KA0EDD, CT Stinar KD0HUZ, and Chris Kleven KF0RUM.