Here is your SARA weekly update!
Annual Membership dues reminder for 2026
SARA memberships run on a calendar year basis, from Jan 1-Dec 31. Annual dues for membership received after January 1 will not extend membership beyond December 31, so nothing is gained by late payment. Per person dues for regular membership is $20/yr, and associate/family membership is $10/yr.
Membership renewals can be made online through the radioham.org website, by snail mail by printing the application form and including your check, or in person at the monthly SARA meeting. When using the online option, upon completing the application, you can then pay online with a credit card where you will incur a small convenience fee (currently $1.25), or to avoid that fee just send the form electronically and snail mail to me the proper dues amount in US dollars by check made out to SARA. Membership updates are made only when funds are received to match the application. Considering current postage and questionable reliability of our current postal service, the postal option would be the least favorable option.
Eyeball QSO Party
The Eyeball QSO Party returns to the Stillwater Public Library Conference Room starting November 13 through at least the end of January 2026 (90 days is as far as we can schedule with the library.)
November 20 Stillwater Public Library Conference Room
November 27 Thanksgiving – NO Eyeball QSO Party
December 4 1st Thursday Technical Topic Night at Baytown Town Hall
December 11 Stillwater Public Library Conference Room
December 18 Stillwater Public Library Conference Room
December 25 Christmas Day – NO Eyeball QSO Party
January 1 2026 New Year’s Day – NO Eyeball QSO Party
1st Thursday Technical Topic Nights “Let’s Talk About…”
1st Thursday Technical Topic Night features a technical presentation and discussion based upon the level of interest in the club and the willingness of someone to prepare and lead the session. The sessions are livestreamed via Zoom for those who choose to join the session virtually and are recorded and posted to the SARA YouTube channel for future viewing and reference. You can find all the 1st Thursday Topics in the 1st Thursdays Technical Topics playlist.
We are always looking for topic ideas and discussion leaders for future 1TTT nights. If you have a suggestions or you are willing to lead a discussion, please let drop me an email at kc0oio2002@gmail.com.
The 1st Thursday Technical Topic Nights are held at the Baytown Township Hall, 4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater, MN 55082, beginning at 6:00 PM Central (00:00 UTC). The following schedule is subject to change. The topics for December and February have flip-flopped as noted below:
- Dec 4 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Meshtastic” led by Collin KEØIYN - NO January 1, 2026 session – Happy New Year!
- Feb 5, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Pico Balloons” led by Brian KB9TBB - Mar 5, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Logging Workflows” led by Dale WØDHZ - Apr 2, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Antenna Analyzers” led by Joe KCØOIO
The SARA POTA Challenge
The latest SARA POTA Challenge 2025 monthly numbers available are posted on the radioham.org website. >> CLICK HERE << to view the current results for 2025. September 2025 numbers have now been posted to the website. Please note, the tabulators are having to review the data and hand merge participants with fewer than 50 contacts manually due to POTA data changes explained below.
POTA recently raised the minimum contacts returned in the Top Hunter search to 50 Hunter contacts. This is a limitation placed on the hunter database by POTA. For the remainder of 2025, we will continue to carry all those who’ve been listed as participants with more than 10 contacts that we have as of the August report. Unfortunately, the threshold will change for the 2026 Challenge, not by our choice, but because of what data we can extract from POTA’s database.
The monthly numbers were not available in time to share at the November monthly meeting due to the short timeframe with the meeting falling on November 1. Watch the website for the updates!
SARA members who have registered on the POTA website https://parksontheair.com/# (sign up is under the Help/Getting Started tab) are automatically included in the SARA Challenges.
This week’s SARA activities
- “Sunday Fusion” Digital Voice Hangout Nov 16
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
or connect via WIRES-X to the W0JH-Room 63969
System Fusion digital voice hangout to expand use and familiarity with the digital voice capabilities available on the WØJH repeater. - SARA Evening HF Ragchew
Nightly
20:00 Central (02:00 UTC)
Frequency: 3.813LSB +/- QRM
Alternates: 1.966 MHz +/- QRM (LSB), 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew Nov 17
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew Nov 18
7:00 – ~8:00 pm Central (or until we finish!)
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)1stTuesday is Emergency Power Night – participants are encouraged to operate the stations on emergency power.
The Tuesday evening on-air round robin ragchew, featuring the “Ask the Elmer” segment. The group leaders focus on encouraging any and everyone, especially those new to the airwaves, to join the session via the repeater. - Eyeball QSO Party Nov 20
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Conference Room
Stillwater Public Library
224 3rd St N, Stillwater
