SARA This Week Jan 31 – Feb 6
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.
Ice-olation Station WØJH Special Event Feb 13 – 15, 2021
With a little pandemic-related “rebranding,” Ice Station WØJH has become Ice-olation Station WØJH. This year, in keeping with COVID-19 social distancing requirements, we will operate from our individual QTHs … not from frozen Lake Elmo as in the past. This marks the 8th consecutive year, the club is sponsoring and conducting this Special Event. Ice-olation Station WØJH will be on the air Saturday February 13, Sunday February 14, and Monday February 15.
All SARA members may participate, though we do suggest Special Event or Field Day or contest operating experience to take part. By taking charge of “pile ups” where multiple stations are calling at the same time, it’s likely you could have 5 or more stations calling you at once! However, if you think you’d like to give it a try … please let Joe (KCØOIO), Bob (WØGAF) or Dave (WØOXB) know you’re interested. We can give you some pointers and steer you toward some times and bands that the rate of contacts is not as hectic. The WEBEX training session “New Ham Introduction to Operating SARA Special Events” this past Thursday was recorded and will be available in the Thursday Technical Topic Sessions playlist linked below. Although its name/title implies “New” hams; the content is appropriate/meaningful for ANY of our members, young and old, wanting to learn about Special Event operation.
We will again use the “Distributed Operating System” (DOS) format we developed for the Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald special event. Each operator will be scheduled to participate from their own QTH. Each Op will have selected agreed upon time(s) when and where they can operate. Each Op must operate in accordance with their license class and use the club’s call sign, WØJH. We will have multiple stations simultaneously using the same callsign, operating on different bands.An Operator sign-up page has been published via the online SignUpGenius service. The sign-up page is now open for all. There are band/mode time slots starting at 8:00 AM CST (14:00 UTC) to 6:00 PM CST (0:00 UTC) each day. Operating bands include 80M, 40M, 20M & 15M (depending on time of day & typical propagation characteristics) and modes are Phone, CW, and Digital. Contact kc0oio at radioham dot org for the SignUpGenius link.
General Class License online classes are in progress.
Online classes (via WEBEX) for the General Class license, began Wednesday January 27. If you are interested in upgrading your license, or you know of someone that would be interested: this is the class for you. The class will use the ARRL General Class License Manual 9th Edition as the study guide. The study guide may be purchased online at the arrl.org or from Amazon. The sessions will be recorded and will be available for viewing on the SARA YouTube channel in the near future.
For more information, email Bob WØGAF at w0gaf@radioham.org.
Technical Topic Thursday Session Videos online.
SARA members have exclusive access to the Technical Topic Thursday playlist on SARA’s YouTube Channel.
Sessions available include:
- Good Amateur Radio Practices (KCØOIO & VE3MXJ)
- Antenna Basics Part 1 VHF UHF (WØOXB)
- Antenna Basics Part 2 HF (WØOXB)
- Hamspeak – the language of amateur radio (KØGW)
- Shack Electrical Considerations (KAØPLT)
- Setting up your ham shack (WØTLG)
- New Ham Introduction to Operating SARA Special Events (WØGAF. WØOXB & others)
The February 11th topic “Using the MFJ-259/269 Antenna Analyzers” will feature the authority on the MFJ analyzers Martin Jue K5FLU, founder and owner of MFJ Enterprises.
If you have a suggestion for a technical topic, contact Mike KFØCCL via email at kf0ccl at protonmail dot com
Newsletter submission deadline Feb 5th
Pat WAØTDA is always looking for content for the newsletter. Have something you would like to submit, send it to wa0tda@arrl.net.
This week’s SARA activities
SARA’s on-air and virtual activities are a great way to stay connected with others. These activities provide healthy social contact while maintaining personal distancing. A reminder that SARA activities refrain from discussions of political, religious, racial, or other inappropriate topics. We are a multi-cultural, multi-generational association with a shared interest in amateur radio – let’s be sure to keep it that way.
- SARA HF Digital Net Sunday Jan 31
Time: 19:00 Central (01:00 UTC)
Frequency: 3.584.15 Look for the net up 500-1000 Hz +/- on your waterfall.
Mode: THOR16 - SARA Top Band Ragchew
Nightly
Time: 20:00 Central (02:00 UTC)
Frequency: 1.966 LSB +/- QRM
Alternates: 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning Ragchew Feb 1
Time: 09:00 Central (15:00 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - The Lunch Room
Daily (Monday thru Friday)
Time: 12:00 Central
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
– anyone can open the Lunch Room if the usual host is not there.>>>>>> 1st TUESDAY EMERGENCY OPERATING EXERCISE – Emergency Power Bonus for the Lunch Room, Two Meter Tuesday, and Top Band Ragchew <<<<<<
- SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew Feb 2
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 with the Top Band Ragchew at 1.966 MHz LSB +/- QRM - SARA Two Meter Wednesday Round Robin Ragchew Feb 3
Time: 9:00 PM
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
The Wednesday evening SARA Ragchew on the SARA repeater - SARA Virtual Eyeball QSO Party: “Ask the Elmer! Question & Answer Night” Feb 4
Time: 7:00 PM (01:00 UTC Feb 5)
SARA Webex virtual meeting room
WEBEX meeting info will be provided to members