On September 28, 1969, an article appeared in the Sunday photo magazine of the Buffalo Courier-Express newspaper.  The article focused on the then-new concept of ham radio repeaters and BARRA’s role in the Buffalo area in developing repeaters and their use in emergency communications.
 

For nearly thirty years BARRA maintained a remote repeater site atop a mountain in the town of Cherry Creek, NY.  This repeater was powered from natural sources, namely solar power and wind power, at a time (1970s) when such power sources were uncommon.  The repeater on 147.00 MHz covered most of Western New York state and into Western Pennsylvania and well into Southern Ontario and enjoyed many users from those areas.  The repeater site was abandoned in the mid 1990s when the maintenance of the remote site became burdensome to the BARRA members as well as the general deterioration of the structures on the site due to the extreme weather conditions experienced there.

Long time member and BARRA founder Gil Boelke, W2EUP, stands atop the wind generator tower at the site in this mid 1970s shot. Another view of Gil and the wind generator.
The first repeater shack at Cherry Creek. Another view of the wind generator tower.

 

Christmas/Holiday Party 2000



Here are some shots from our holiday 2000 gathering, which turned out to be the last one attended by Gil, W2EUP.  Many thanks to Ben Bass, N2YDM, for grabbing these pix.

Gil, W2EUP, and Rich, KG2OR, enjoy a chat. Peter, K2RSK, (right) brought a slide show of past BARRA public service activities and audio recordings of QSOs with “voices from the past.”
Kevin Lienert (with “blindfold” assist from Dad KG2DE) draws a name for the door prizes from the bowl held by Ed, W2EAS. Gil, W2EUP, and Leigh, KV2VS, exchange greetings.


 

Fran, K2GUG, and Kevin, N2IE


The holiday party was also a time for two old friends to drop by:

Fran Stengel, K2GUG
Dr. Ron Chmiel, WB2VFE

Buffalo Amateur Radio Repeater Association, Inc.
Post Office Box 507
North Tonawanda, NY 14120-0507