SARA This Week April 11 – April 17

SARA gathers daily via on-the air nets and ragchews. We also gather virtually for the weekly SARA Eyeball QSO Party or Tech Topic Thursday session, the monthly General member, and Board meetings. Although we’d love to gather in-person, our current on-air and virtual gathering plan remains the best choice for the health and safety of all our members. We look forward to  gathering again in person this month starting with our tri-weekly outdoor “Radios in the Park” Eyeball QSO parties beginning April 29th.

Sunday Fusion – now on the WØJH repeater

“Sunday Fusion” SARA’s digital voice hangout, kicks off this evening at 7:00 PM. Using the System Fusion C4FM digital voice capabilities of the repeater along with WIRES-X and YSF connectivity, “Sunday Fusion” is an informal “hangout” for those who want to explore the System Fusion capabilities of our repeater and their radios. Join Bob WØGAF and the rest of the group hanging out on System Fusion direct via the repeater or connect via WIRES-X to the W0JH-Room 63969 or the YSF reflector US SARA-QRX-FCMG 64144.

Technical Topic Thursday

The “Yaesu System Fusion with John Kruk N9UPC” video is now available via our YouTube channel.

The May 13th session will feature Joe Eiesenberg KØNEB, CQ Magazine’s kit building editor, for an evening of “Kit Building Techniques for Success.” The June 10th session is planned to be a live in-person session at the Radios in the Park gathering that evening, which we also intend to stream on Webex.

SARA members have exclusive access to the Technical Topic Thursday playlist on SARA’s YouTube Channel.

The 1st Radios in the Park gathering for the season is Thursday April 29th. We’ll gather at Valley View Park, 5421 Osgood Ave N in Oak Park Heights starting around 5:30 PM and going until around 8:00 PM. Additional dates are May 20, June 10, July 1, July 22, Aug 12, Sept 2, and Sept 23. Reservations for the pavilion have been secured with the City of Oak Park Heights. We are required to follow all State and CDC health and safety guidelines including masks and social distancing. Attending the event will be your choice. We are also planning to utilize our Webex platform to stream live from the site for those who can not make it out to the park. More details to come.

Word is that the brand-new IC-705 QRP transceiver or two will make an appearance with it’s proud owner at that first session. The May 20th session will feature a “Tailgate Swap” so bring your “surplus” amateur radio gear and help it find a new home.

SARA’s groups.io email reflector growing

The newest benefit for SARA members is the StillwaterMNAmateurRadioAssoc group on groups.io.  Recent topics have included DX News, Hotspots, Maxtrac programming, and more! If you haven’t yet joined, why wait? Join now:

https://groups.io/g/StillwaterMNAmateurRadioAssoc.

This group is an email reflector for all things SARA and amateur radio. You can post questions, projects, activities and amateur radio experiences that you can share with SARA members are encouraged. This is an SARA members-only group and requests to join will be approved based upon your current membership status.

Topics are only limited in that they are to be amateur radio-related. Questions about antennas, steps to “tuning up” an antenna, how to use a piece of test gear, tracking RFI issues, programming a radio, figuring out a new radio, showing a new piece of gear, SARA events and activities, licensing questions, … the list is endless!

Sign up now and start sharing your questions and sharing your knowledge.

This week’s SARA activities