2026 SARA’s Radios in the Park
Radios in the Park, SARA’s outdoor eyeball QSO party, continue through September 10th. Folks start to gather around 5:30 PM and we wrap up by 8:00 PM every Thursday evening.
Here is the schedule through the end of July: (click on the Google Maps Plus link for the location)
June 25th Rotary Park 2290 2nd St N, North St Paul
(Google Maps Plus code: 2262+G5 North St Paul, Minnesota)
POTA site for US-9385 Gateway State Trail
July 2nd Baytown Township Hall 4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code: 2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota)
July 9th Valley View Park 5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
(Google Maps Plus code: 25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)
July 16th Birkmose Park 329 Front St, Hudson, WI 54016
(Google Maps Plus code: X68W+XF Hudson, Wisconsin)
July 23rd St. Croix Boom Site State Wayside Highway 95 north of Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code: 36P7+2R Stillwater, Minnesota)
(furthest north parking area along Hwy 95 from Stillwater)
POTA site for US-0673 Saint Croix National Wild and Scenic Riverway and US-12395 St. Croix Boom Site State Wayside
July 30th Sunfish Lake Park 3554 Kelvin Ave North, Lake Elmo
(Google Maps Plus code: 233W+2F Lake Elmo, Minnesota)
The full schedule has been posted on the SARA Discord server under Radios-in-the-Parks and in the June Signals From SARA newsletter.
ARRL Field Day “Amateur Radio: A National Resource” June 27 – 28
Get ready SARA members for ARRL Field Day, June 27 and 28! The theme for FD26 is ‘Amateur Radio: A National Resource”.
ARRL Field Day is the most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June, more than 31,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations. If you’re interested, here is a link to Field Day rules.
There’s lots to look forward to this year!
We are holding Field Day at the Baytown Township Hall, located at 4020 McDonald Drive North. The site is fantastic for the event. The facility has a refrigerator, small kitchen and restrooms. There is a large room with updated technology that can be used for displaying Club information and real-time logging statistics.
We plan to set up the SSB station in a screen tent near the gazebo. We will setup another screen tent shelter for the CW/Digital station to the east. And the GOTA station will be next to the SARA trailer near the NE corner of the Town Hall.
The site also enables us to operate overnight! Look for a sign up if you are interested in operating during the night shift.
The high-level schedule is as follows:
Saturday, June 27
9:00AM – Setup crews on site. On air at 1:00PM. Coffee and donuts provided.
7:00PM – Make any setup changes for overnight operations.
Sunday, June 28
8:00AM – Setup crews on site to make any setup changes for daytime operations.
1:00PM – Tear down and full pack up. Possible afterglow once done!
Monday, June 29
10:00AM – Deep clean of the Baytown Township Hall building and grounds. We will clean up inside and out. And we will also be doing some weed removal around the building and grounds as a service for our gracious host community.
Mark your calendars for June 27th and 28th, as the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association hosts the annual ARRL Field Day at Baytown Township Hall!
If you have any questions or suggestions, please reach out to Ray Speltz, ND0G speltzraymond at gmail dot com, and/or Tim Grotheer, KF0JEL timgrotheer at gmail dot com, your SARA Field Day co-chairs.
SARA & MVARA POTA Meetup and Picnic July 18
SARA and the Mississippi Valley Amateur Radio Association of LaCrosse, WI are getting together for a meetup and picnic and some POTA on Saturday July 18. We will gather at Frontenac State Park, 29223 County 28 Blvd in Frontenac, MN 55026, about 10 minutes southeast of Red Wing on Highway 61. The Google Maps Plus code for the park’s day use area is GMP7+69. We will be there from 11:00 AM to about 4:00 PM.
SARA is bringing the food for the picnic and the MVARA is bringing their Emergency Communication Bus! MVARA was the recipient of a generous grant of $116,399 from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) in October 2021. This grant allowed MVARA to refurbish and maintain a bus that had been previously used as a commercial emergency communication center. This includes equipment upgrades, such as matching HF/VHF/UHF stations and accessories and a fold-over tower attached to the bus for antennas. The equipment allows the club to operate four stations simultaneously, using a variety of different modes, including CW, voice, and digital modes.
Come on out and meet some new friends from the Mississippi Valley Amateur Radio Association and you don’t want to miss the chance to view the bus!
1st Thursday Technical Topic Night “Let’s Talk About…”
1st Thursday Technical Topic Night features a technical presentation and discussion based upon the level of interest in the club and the willingness of someone to prepare and lead the session. The sessions are livestreamed via Zoom for those who choose to join the session virtually; and are recorded and posted to the SARA YouTube channel for future viewing and reference. You can find all the 1st Thursday Topics in the 1st Thursdays Technical Topics playlist.
We are always looking for topic ideas and discussion leaders for future 1TTT nights. If you have a suggestion or are willing to lead a discussion, please let drop me an email at kc0oio2002@gmail.com.
The 1st Thursday Technical Topic Nights are held at the Baytown Township Hall, 4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater, MN 55082, beginning at 6:00 PM Central (23:00 UTC).
- July 2, 2026 NO 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
Radios in the Park outdoors at the Baytown Town Hall - Aug 6, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Fused Power Distribution Block Kit Build Night” - Sep 3, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Cloud-based logging with Wavelog led by Collin KEØIYN - Oct 1, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … 3d Printing and ham radio” led by Leslie KD9ZMI
The ZOOM livestream will NOT be available the months of June, and August sessions. There is no 1TTT session scheduled for July due to the Independence Day holiday.
The SARA POTA Challenge
The numbers for May 2026 have been posted on our website. >> CLICK HERE << to view the most recent posted results. We’re into the warmer months and activity is definitely picking up again in May.
POTA raised the minimum contacts returned in the Top Hunter search to 50 Hunter contacts. Therefore, the hunter threshold has changed to the minimum 50 for the 2026 Challenge because of what we can extract from POTA’s database.
SARA members who have registered on the POTA website https://parksontheair.com/# (sign up is under the Help/Getting Started tab) are automatically included in the SARA Challenges.
This week’s SARA activities
- “Sunday Fusion” Digital Voice Hangout June 21
19:00 Central (Daylight Time) (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 Evening HF Ragchew
Nightly
20:00 Central (01:00 UTC)
Frequency: 3.813 LSB +/- QRM
Alternates: 1.966 MHz +/- QRM (LSB), 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew June 22
08:00 Central (13:00 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew June 23
7:00 – ~8:00 pm Central (or until we finish!)
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
1st Tuesday of each month 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.
- Radios in the Park Thursday June 25
6:00 PM
Rotary Park 2290 2nd St N, North St Paul
(Google Maps Plus code: 2262+G5 North St Paul, Minnesota)
POTA site for US-9385 Gateway State Trail - ARRL Field Day Saturday June 27 – Sunday June 28
9:00 AM Saturday – Set up begins
1:00 PM (18:00 UTC) Saturday – WØJH 2A MN is heard on the air as the 24-hour operating window opens
1:00 PM (17:59 UTC) Sunday – radios are off and teardown begins.
Baytown Township Hall 4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code: 2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota) - Field Day Site Final Cleanup Monday June 29
10:00 AM
Baytown Township Hall 4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code: 2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota)