SARA This Week March 21 – March 27
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.
SARA launches groups.io email reflector group
I am pleased to introduce the newest SARA member benefit: the StillwaterMN AmateurRadioAssoc group on groups.io. https://groups.io/
This group is your email reflector for all things SARA and amateur radio. Your questions, projects, activities and amateur radio experiences that you can share with SARA members are encouraged. This is an SARA members-only group and requests to join will be approved based upon your current membership status. Continued membership in the group will be based upon your SARA membership status.
Topics are only limited in that they are to be amateur radio-related. Questions about antennas, steps to “tuning up” an antenna, how to use a piece of test gear, tracking RFI issues, programming a radio, figuring out a new radio, showing a new piece of gear, SARA events and activities, licensing questions, … the list is endless!
Sign up now and start sharing your questions and sharing your knowledge.
Technical Topic Thursday
Mike KFØCCL has confirmed with John Kruk K9UPC, National Sales Manager for Yaesu, for a discussion on System Fusion and more on April 8th. May 13th, Joe Eiesenberg KØNEB, CQ Magazine’s kit building editor will join us for an evening of “Kit Building Techniques for Success.” The June 10th will be a live in-person session at the Radios in the Park gathering that evening, which we also plan to stream on Webex. Watch for more on that coming soon.
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)
- Using the MFJ-259/269 Antenna Analyzers with Martin Jue K5FLU
- An Evening with Icom – IC-705 and more with Will Jourdain AA4WJ
Radios in the Park 2021!
SARA’s Radios in the Park are back April 29th. We will meet at Valley View Park at 5421 Osgood Ave N in Oak Park Heights on select Thursday evenings starting around 5:30 PM until 8:00 PM. The dates are April 29, May 20, June 10, July 1, July 22, Aug 12, Sept 2, and Sept 23. Reservations for the pavilion have been secured with the City of Oak Park Heights. We are required to follow all State and CDC health and safety guidelines including masks and social distancing. Attending the event will be your choice. We are also planning to utilize our Webex platform to stream live from the site for those who can not make it out to the park. The Thursday May 20 date will be a mini Tailgate Swap Fest – got something excess to your shack to sell?, looking for something for your shack? Maybe work out a trade? May 20th is the evening. Save the dates for summer radio fun with SARA!
This week’s SARA activities
- SARA Top Band Ragchew
Nightly
Time: 20:00 Central (01:00 UTC)
Frequency: 1.966 LSB +/- QRM
Alternates:
21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning Ragchew Mar 22
Time: 09:00 Central (14:00 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. - SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew Mar 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 with the Top Band Ragchew on 160 meters - SARA Two Meter Wednesday Round Robin Ragchew Mar 24
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 – “Manhattan Project” Virtual Happy Hour Friday Mar 26
Time: 7:30 PM (00:30 UTC)
SARA Webex Meeting Room
Webex meeting link will be sent direct to SARA members