SARA This Week June 11 – June 17
SARA’s Radio in the Parks Summer on Thursdays
The Eyeball QSO Party is outdoors for SARA’s Radios in the Park Summer season. We gather at various area parks on Thursday evenings through early September.
The schedule of park locations and dates will be:
June 15: Pioneer Park, 515 2nd St N, Stillwater
June 22: Sunfish Lake Park, 3554 Kelvin Ave N, Lake Elmo
June 29: Valley View Park, 5421 N Osgood Ave, Oak Park Heights
July 6: Autumn Hills Park, 5697 Norwich Pkwy, Oak Park Heights
July 13: Birkmose Park, 329 Front St (park entrance is on Coulee Road east of Second Street S., up the road from the Dairy Queen), Hudson, WI
July 20: Valley View Park, 5421 N Osgood Ave, Oak Park Heights
Mobile Installation Show-n-tell
July 27: Brekke Park, 5500 Omar Ave N. Oak Park Heights
August 3: Washington Park, 915 Abbott St W, Stillwater, MN
August 10: Valley View Park, 5421 N Osgood Ave, Oak Park Heights
August 17: St. Croix Boom Site Scenic Overlook on Hwy 95 north of Stillwater
(St Croix National Scenic River K-0673 activation)
August 24: Otto Berg Park, 90th and Norell, Stillwater Township
August 31: Valley View Park, 5421 N Osgood Ave, Oak Park Heights
SARA Swap Shop – Tabletop & Tailgate Micro Hamfest
Sept 8: Browns Creek State Trail (K-9386) at Browns Creek Park 8312 Neal Ave N, Stillwater
In case of inclement weather, Collin KEØIYN has offered the “shed” and “The Diner” at his QTH on Osgood Ave south of Valley View Park as a covered location for those evenings.
SARA POTA Activity Day 2023
This year’s POTA Activity Day was a big success! Each of the activator teams at the fixed sites had planned and prepared effective mentoring and operating opportunities that were well received. And the 5-park Rove was completed by Collin KEØIYN and me earning the POTA Warthog award. It was fun and rewarding for the “mentoring” activators to share their experience and enable quite a few first-time activators Saturday.
Thanks to all who joined the fun of the day, SARA continues the tradition of “raising the bar.” There’s even talk of raising the bar again next year with custom t-shirts!
ARRL Field Day 2023 June 24 & 25
ARRL Field Day is always held on the 4th full weekend in June. Field Day is ham radio’s open house. Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933 and remains the most popular ham radio event.
The Stillwater Amateur Radio Association will be participating in Field Day on Saturday June 24 and Sunday June 25 at Valley View Park in Oak Park Heights. This is a new Field Day location for us, although the park is very familiar.
The plans have us setting up Saturday morning around 10:00AM. Operating begins at 1:00 PM (1800 UTC) until about 7:00 PM (around 0000 UTC). We will resume operating Sunday around 9:00 AM (1400 UTC) until 1:00 PM (1800 UTC), with teardown to follow.
SARA will have 2 stations operating as WØJH 2A MN. The CW Station will be located along the east side of the park. The Phone station will be at the park shelter. And the GOTA station is expected to be to the south of the park shelter.
Collin KEØIYN has volunteered to handle the food prep for Saturday with Sloppy Joes leading the menu. Coffee and donuts will be provided Saturday morning. We have secured an “adult beverage” license for the weekend so you are welcome to BYOB. Water will be provided.
SARA’s Field Day is one of the leading events on our annual activity calendar. Come out and join the fun of ARRL’s oldest operating event as SARA joins the hundreds of clubs and thousands of hams getting on the air throughout the Americas that weekend.
SARA POTA Challenge ‘23
Saturday August 12 will be the first ever SARA-sponsored POTA Meetup Day at Wild River State Park (K-2529) near Almelund, MN. POTA enthusiasts from east central MN and west central Wisconsin are invited to come out and meet up with fellow POTA participants. We have reserved the Picnic Shelter at the Park. Hot dogs and brats will be available, please consider bringing something to share (chips, salads and desserts). Water will be provided, otherwise bring your own non-alcoholic (park rules) beverage. A collection will be taken to defray the costs of food, supplies, and site.
There is plenty of space and numerous “antenna supports” in the immediate area, plus a very nice pavilion. The park is large with plenty of additional spots to set up and operate, including 2-fer possibilities along the St. Croix River. There will be an opportunity for everyone to work each other within the park using HTs on 2 meters and 70 cm. Bring your HT! More details are coming.
The standings as of the end of April were recently posted after a gentle reminder poke. The May standings are due to be posted this week.
If you are a SARA member AND have registered on the POTA website https://parksontheair.com/# (sign up is under the Help/Getting Started tab), you are included in the SARA Challenge 2023.
A thorough source of information for those that want to get started POTA hunting or activating is also found on the POTA website. The https://docs.pota.app/ page is a great resource of all info for POTA. Start with the Getting Started with POTA page and go from there.
This week’s SARA activities
SARA’s on-air, in-person, and virtual activities are a great way to stay connected with others.
- “Sunday Fusion” Digital Voice Hangout June 11
19:00 Central (00:00 UTC)
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 Top Band Ragchew
Nightly
20:00 Central (01:00 UTC)
Frequency: 1.966 LSB +/- QRM or 3.813 LSB +/- QRM
Alternates: 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew June 12
08:15 Central (13:15 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew June 13
7:00 – ~8:00 pm Central (or until we finish!)
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
1st Tuesday 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. - SARA’s Summer in the Parks Thursday June 15
~5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Pioneer Park, 515 2nd St N, Stillwater