Here is your SARA weekly update!
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 11th Valley View Park 5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
(Google Maps Plus code: 25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)
June 18th Lakeside Park 101 Lake Circle, Bayport, MN 55003
(Google Maps Plus code: 268G+9J Bayport, Minnesota)
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 May Signals From SARA newsletter.
SARA 2nd Saturday Breakfast June 13
SARA’s Monthly breakfast continues over the summer at Perkins Restaurant, 2050 Frontage Road in Stillwater. Plan to arrive about 7:30 AM. Hope to see you there!
SARA POTA Activity Day on MN POTA Day June 13
SARA will be participating in the 3rd Annual MN POTA Day. This is an event that SARA created, building upon our own success with the SARA POTA Day in 2022 and 2023. MN POTA Day encourages participants to get out and activate from any of the 278 POTA sites across Minnesota. The MN POTA Day runs the UTC day of June 13 from 00:00 UTC (7:00 PM Local Friday June 12) to 23:29 UTC (6:59 PM Local) Saturday.
SARA is planning a day of radio activity for MN POTA Day. It all starts with the 2nd Saturday Breakfast at Perkins Restaurant in Stillwater at 7:30. After that, it’s over to the Brown’s Creek State Trail Trailhead 8312 Neal Ave N, Stillwater – trail parking area
(Google Maps Plus code: 35C4+39V Stillwater, Minnesota). A POTA station will be set up and available all day from the 2-fer location on the east side of Neal Ave. You’ll be able to activate both US-9386 Brown’s Creek State Trail and US-10721 Brown’s Creek Aquatic Management Area. This site will have antennas for 2m, 6m, and 10m in addition to HF bands. This stationary site will be for folks to hang out, learn about POTA, and for new techs to get an activation or two. The site lead is Brian KB9TBB, additional SARA members are needed to help staff this station throughout the day. Operating time window is likely 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
Another group of POTA enthusiasts will embark on an activation rove to operate from various POTA local sites with a focus on Technician operating privileges on 10-meter HF, 6-meter and 2-meter VHF. Led by Collin KEØIYN, including Shane WØNKA and Joe KCØOIO, the Rove team will visit 4 sites within 10 miles of the stationary station. The planned stops include the St. Croix Savanna SNA US-10725, the St. Croix Boom Site Wayside US-12395 / US-0673 St. Croix National Wild and Scenic Riverway, Gateway State Trail US-9385, and Keystone Woods WMA US-11983 (order TBD). Collin is looking to add 2 more people to the rove team.
The day will wrap up with a social dinner gathering at a Acapulco Mexican Restaurant, 1240 West Frontage Road in Stillwater, around 5:30 PM
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 recently 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 station.
The site also enables us to operate overnight! Look for a sign up if you are interested in operating during the night shift.
Here’s where we all come in. There’s plenty for everyone to do, so take a look at some of the things that you can help with below. Be thinking about how you want to participate and watch for an email with links to online sign-up logs soon!
1) Operators and loggers for the SSB, CW and GOTA stations. For daytime operations, signup sheets for operators and loggers will be on-site. We need to determine who will be on-site overnight. There is a SignUpGenius page planned for overnight operators, but it is not ready as of this bulletin.
2) Food: The club provides hamburgers, hot dogs, and bratwurst, as well as ice and bottled water.
We need volunteers to sign up to bring a dish to share! Some suggestions:
Fresh fruit, Chips/Dips, Bars and cookies, Pickles and olives, Veggie tray, Jello salad, Noodle salad, Paper plates, Plastic forks/spoons/knives, Tablecloths and napkins.
3) Gas grill – We need someone to bring a gas grill. The club will supply the propane.
4) Set-up and break-down crews on Saturday and Sunday. Since we plan on operating overnight, there should be minimal breakdown on Saturday evening and minimal setup on Sunday morning.
5) We need a volunteer to transport the club trailer from Dave K0AIF’s place in Lake Elmo to the Township Hall and then back again after the event.
6) We need volunteers on Monday morning June 29 for the final thorough cleaning of the Township Hall and grounds. We will also be doing some weeding of the landscaping of the building as a thanks for the use of the facility.
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!
So mark your calendars for June 27th and 28th, as the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association hosts the annual ARRL Field Day at Baytown Township Hall!
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.
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.
White Rock Tri-State Special Event set for Sept 25-27, 2026
The dates have been set for SARA’s return to the ghost town of White Rock, SD, located on MN/SD border and 1 mile south of the ND/SD/MN tri-state border. The last time we visited White Rock was in August of 2021. We establish camp near what was once the railroad depot in White Rock. We’ll operate a station from there all weekend. Weather permitting, we’ll venture out to the tri-state marker to set up and operate from there.
This is as close to a DXpedition as many of us will ever experience! Some folks roughing it by camping (RVs and tents) onsite for the weekend, while others opt for the motel at the Dakota Magic Casino about 12 miles away. More details will be provided as we firm up plans and get closer to the event.
Mark your calendar now for this rare Special Event Station!
The SARA POTA Challenge
The numbers for May 2026 have been captured and are being prepared to go up online soon. >> 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 7
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: 3.813LSB +/- QRM
Alternates: 1.966 MHz +/- QRM (LSB), 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew June 8
08:00 Central (13:00 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew June 9
7:00 – ~8:00 pm Central (or until we finish!)
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
1stTuesday 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 11
6:00 PM
Valley View Park 5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
(Google Maps Plus code: 25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota) - SARA 2nd Saturday Breakfast June 13
7:30 AM
Perkins Restaurant, 2050 Frontage Road, Stillwater MN 55082 - SARA POTA Activity Day on MN POTA Day June 13
9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
8312 Neal Ave N, Stillwater – trail parking area
(Google Maps Plus code: 35C4+39V Stillwater, Minnesota)
See information earlier in this bulletin.