SARA This Week – Aug 9 – Aug 15
SARA’s IN-PERSON ACTIVITIES REMAIN CANCELED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!
The current and fluid situation with the COVID-19 pandemic has SARA continuing to eliminate nearly all of our in-person activities, including the Eyeball QSO Parties at the Library, monthly meetings at Boutwells Landing and 2nd Saturday breakfasts.
We are looking to go ahead with the Radios in the Park gathering at Valley View Park on Thursday Sept 3, following all state and national health and safety guidelines. We’ll see how things are going as we get closer to the date to confirm this session.
SARA’s on-air activities (listed below) remain a great way to stay connected with others, boosting the overall wellness of all involved. Those on-air activities provide healthy social contact while maintaining personal distancing.
We are shelving the Two Meter Thursday Round Robin Ragchew indefinitely as we found it was in conflict with our Webex offerings on Thursdays more often than not.
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From SARA’s Field Day Coordinator Bob WØGAF:
LAST CALL for submissions to the SARA Field Day CLub Competition. Any one who participated in the ARRL Field Day 2020 that has not submitted a SARA score sheet has until 11:59 PM August 15th to send it to Bob at w0gaf@radioham.org. This is the last chance to see how you fared against your fellow club members.
Thanks to all of those who named SARA MN as their affiliated club. AA0U, AD0SN, AG0H, K0AIF, K0GW, K0HAS, KC0OIO, KD3VIN, KE0IYN, KE0N, KE0QQN, N5LB, W0GAF, W0OXB all contributed to SARA’s participation in this year’s Field Day!
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Our bi-weekly Thursday Technical Topic sessions continue this month, Here’s the line-up through August 27 along with additional suggested topics to be scheduled:
Good Amateur Radio Practices Joe KC0OIO & Brad VE3MXJ 13-Aug
Hamspeak – the language of ham radio Greg K0GW 27-Aug
QRP/Portable Operations (SOTA/POTA) NØBJE TBD
Choosing your first radio TBD TBD
Do’s & Don’ts when setting up your shack TBD TBD
MFJ-259/269 Analyzer Training TBD TBD
Setting up digital voice hotspots TBD TBD
Grounding & Bonding your station TBD TBD
Station Electrical Power considerations TBD TBD
Optional but useful shack accessories TBD TBD
Working DX TBD TBD
CW: Ways and trick to learning, setup paddles, keys, keyers TBD TBD
Although we have a great list of suggested topics, many of these topics will not be presented if no one offers to moderate the session. Many of the topics can be group discussion sessions. Others may require a little research. Dig into it a bit and share what you learn. There is no better way to learn a topic than preparing to lead a session. See something of interest or that you have some knowledge and experience, please volunteer to moderate the session. Email me at president@radioham.org if you are interested in moderating a session. You can also email me with additional topic suggestions.
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The SARA Board of Directors met via Webex teleconference on Thursday August 6th. We learned that Boutwells Landing does not foresee allowing public group use of meeting spaces until possibly this winter or even next spring. The Stillwater Public Library continues to not allow group gatherings in their meeting facilities, with no change expected any time soon.
It was decided to continue to hold SARA 2nd Saturday monthly meetings via our Webex teleconference room until such time that we are able to gather in suitable meeting space. Our schedule of Thursday Technical Topics will be adjusted to likely once monthly with the opposite bi-weekly session to be an open forum for ham radio-related questions and discussions. The bi-weekly Friday evening Eyeball QSO Party (happy hour / “Manhattan Project”) will continue in the weeks opposite our TTT sessions.
We are looking to restart the Technician License Class that was abruptly interrupted back in March as the pandemic took hold. This will be an online offering via our Webex teleconference room. Sessions will also be recorded and made available for members and registered students to view on-demand via YouTube. Our Education & Training coordinator Bob WØGAF has reached out to the instructors and all look to be good to go with the online instruction model. Watch for further details as we ramp up and take our licensing class online.
The Park Ranger at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park has informed Shel N0DRX that the Trail Center has been reopened to the public, however they have limited capacity in the room to 15 people – following social distancing rules and mask rules. A working group has formed to plan a “distributed operation” for SARA’s 2020 Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald Special Event. KE0IYN, VE3MXT, W0OXB, KE0QQN, N0DRX, AA0U, N0BJE, AG0H, K0HAS, W0GAF and KC0OIO will begin working out details during a Webex teleconference on Thursday evening Aug 20.
The Board approved a plan to offer a PayPal option for online payment of membership dues. There are a few pieces that need to be put in place to implement this process, but progress is already being made. There is a cost associated with processing transactions through PayPal and it is likely that we will need to add a small convenience fee when paying via Paypal. Of course, dues payments will still be accepted via snail mail or in person once we can gather.
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Here’s this week’s activities!
1. SARA Top Band Ragchew
Nightly
Time: 20:00 Central
Frequency: 1.966 LSB +/- QRM
Alternates:
3.960 MHz +/- QRM (LSB)
21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
2. SARA Monday Morning Ragchew Aug 10
Time: 08:15 Central (13:15 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM
3. The Lunch Room
Daily (Monday thru Friday)
Time: 12:00 Central
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
4. SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew Aug 11
Time: 7:00 – ~8:00 pm (or until we finish!)
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
The Tuesday evening on-air round robin ragchew
An HF Afterglow follows on 160 meters at 1.966 MHz LSB +/- QRM
5. SARA Two Meter Wednesday Round Robin Ragchew Aug 12
Time: 9:00 PM
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
The Wednesday evening SARA Ragchew on the SARA repeater
6. SARA Technical Topic Thursday Aug 13
Time: 7:00 pm”Good Amateur Radio Practices” moderated by Brad VE3MXJ and Joe KC0OIO. SARA Webex meeting room