SARA This Week: July 19 – July 25
ALL IN-PERSON ACTIVITIES REMAIN CANCELED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!
SARA’s on-air activities continue to be a great way to connect with others and check on their wellness as well as a boost of your own overall wellness. Those on-air activities provide healthy social contact while maintaining personal distancing.
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Check out the first of it’s kind QSO Today Virtual Ham Radio Expo 2020 coming August 8 and 9. This ARRL-sanctioned Hamfest is an international online Expo featuring over 70 speakers from around the world, an exposition hall featuring many amateur radio manufacturers and vendors, breakout rooms for further discussion, and more. And it’s all free! To register and for more information go to qsotodayhamexpo.com/.
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Please remember to submit your Field Day contacts totals to the ARRL to contribute to our aggregate club score. The club name everyone will need to use is “SARA MN”. We’ve published a detailed cheat sheet on how to submit your score. The SARA web site has a page dedicated to Field Day. All FD resources are now available in one easy to access location. radioham.org/events/field-day-2020/. You can find the link to the ARRL submission page and the detailed cheat sheet there. Deadline for submitting your report to the ARRL is 2059z July 28th.
Be sure to also submit your Field Day report for the SARA club competition. You can also let Bob know what your total score was on your ARRL Field Day submission. PRIZES will be awarded! Check the SARA Leader Board at radioham.org/radioham_files/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/FD-Comp-Ldr-Board.pdf
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The W0JH repeater WIRES-X link is active, operating in digital voice (System Fusion C4FM) mode only. The SARA Room is 63969, notable for those who wish to access the WØJH repeater via the PDN capability of some Yaesu System Fusion radios. System Fusion users can access the WIRES-X link on the WØJH repeater and bring up other rooms such as the MN/WIS, the DARC Room, AmericaLink, and many others. Refer to your radio’s manual on how to utilize the WIRES-X features of your radio, BE SURE TO DISCONNECT FROM THE ROOM WHEN YOU ARE DONE USING IT! There is a failsafe in that if there is no activity into the repeater link after 5 minutes it will revert back to the SARA room.
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Looking ahead for our bi-weekly Thursday Technical Topic sessions, Here’s the line-up through August 27 along with additional suggested topics to be scheduled:
Thursday Technical Topic Moderator Date
Antennas: HF Dave W0OXB 30-Jul
Operating Procedures/Protocols HF vs VHF 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 & tricks to learning, setup paddles, keys, keyers TBD TBD
Operating Digital Modes – A Primer 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 president at radioham dot org if you are interested in moderating a session. You can also email additional topic suggestions.
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The SARA Board of Directors will be meeting via Webex teleconference on Thursday August 6th beginning at 7:00 PM. Regular SARA Board meetings are open to all SARA members. Among the items on the agenda are planning for Fall/Winter club meetings in the pandemic environment, the Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald Special Event, taking Technician Class and General Class licensing classes to an online format via Webex virtual sessions, VE exam sessions – options to conduct, offering a Paypal option for dues payment, and replacing the Remote Base computers, and a possible Radios in the Park in September.
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Planning is underway for the “Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald” WØJH Special Event station scheduled for November 6-7-8, 2020. We are planning along two tracks this year, due to the current pandemic and the unknowns related to that. Traditionally, we hold the event in the Trail Center lakeside at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park near Silver Bay. We may still be able to do this, albeit with a smaller group, with social distancing plus cleaning & disinfecting protocols in place. There are many concerns with this option, the least of which is the size of the room plus how do we disinfect equipment when we switch operators.
The 2nd track is a “distributed effort” that would involve members operating from their home station or possibly a couple of small portable operations from Split Rock for the hardy ones. There would need to be a schedule of operators developed and strictly adhered to to make this work. It also opens the opportunity to add CW, plus more digital mode options as well as simultaneous multiple band/mode stations to the operation. Stations would operate as Special Event Station WØJH during their scheduled time slot. This is similar to what is being done with the annual 13 Colonies special event amongst others.
The good news is that the SARA’a Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald Special Event will be held for the 16th consecutive year, however the wheres and hows need to be planned out further. Watch for more on this in the coming weeks.
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Now onto 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 July 20
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 July 21
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 July 22
Time: 9:00 PM
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
The Wednesday evening SARA Ragchew on the SARA repeater
6. SARA Two Meter Thursday (TMT2) Thursday July 23
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
Due to Tech Topic Thursdays, we have shifted to an every other Thursday schedule for the Two Meter Thursday sessions!
7. SARA Virtual Eyeball QSO Party “Manhattan Project” – Friday July 24
Time 7:30 PM
The bi-weekly Webex Eyeball QSO Party live video conference with good friends, good discussion, good questions and answers, a few good jibes and pokes, and good beverages. Join us this Friday evening!