SARA This Week March 31 – April 6
License Prep Classes continue through April 18
SARA’s Technician License Prep Class convenes weekly at 6:00 PM, at the Stillwater Public Library, 224 3rd Street, Stillwater.
SARA is facilitating an Amateur Extra Class License study group. The study group will continue meeting Thursday evenings at the Stillwater Public Library through April 18. The current Amateur Extra Class license exam question pool expires at 11:59 PM June 30, 2024, so now is the perfect time to pursue that goal. SARA’s Extra Class license study group is a peer-led study program.
A license exam session by SARA’s Volunteer Examiner team will be held on April 25th.
Remote Station WØJH
The WØJH Remote Station, located in Hayward, WI, is online with TX limits as refining operation of the station continues. The station is limited to 75 watts transmit power and 80M to 6M for HF.
This remote station is accessible to current SARA and Courage Kenny Handihams members. You need to have a General, Advanced or Extra class license to use the remote station.
To access the remote station, you will need to establish an account with remotehams.com and then download and install RCForb client from remotehams.com. It is available for Windows (download from remotehams.com) and Android (Google Play). Sorry, it is not available for IOS devices.
The SARA POTA Challenge
The SARA POTA Challenge 2024 is off to a great start. March results will be shared at the monthly meeting and then posted to the radioham.org website.
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.
A thorough source of information for those that want to get started POTA hunting or activating is 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.
MN POTA Day 2024
Minnesota Parks on the Air Day is Saturday June 8, 2024, from 10:00 AM (15:00 UTC) to 6:00 PM CDT (22:00 UTC). Details can be found at mnpota.com. This is a free admission day to MN State Parks.
Activators can register their planned activation(s) and indicate if they are willing to mentor others interested in POTA activating, co-operate, demonstrate, or welcome visitors to their activation.
MN POTA Day builds upon SARA’s POTA Activity Day the previous 2 years. The SARA POTA Activity Day will continue on the same day with a similar schedule as in previous years: 2nd Saturday Breakfast, day of operating in the parks, and dinner to follow at a local establishment in the evening.
Meeting Programs
In April, Minnesota’s leading POTA activator Pat WØYES joins us to share his POTA experiences. And in May we will be joined via Zoom by Adrian KO8SCA, a CQ DX Hall of Famer, veteran of numerous DXpeditions including the 2022 3YØJ Bouvet Island team, and WRTC 2022 competitor!
This week’s SARA activities
- NO “Sunday Fusion” Digital Voice Hangout Mar 31
19:00 Central (01:00 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 (02:00 UTC)
160M on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays: 1.966 LSB +/- QRM
80M on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays: 3.813 LSB +/- QRM
Alternates: 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew Apr 1
08:15 Central (13:15 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew Apr 2
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 Eyeball QSO Party Thursday Apr 4
6:00 PM – 7:50 PM Central
Conference Room
Stillwater Public Library, 224 3rd Street, Stillwater - SARA Technician License Class Thursday Apr 4
6:00 PM – 7:50 PM Central
Margaret Rivers Room A+B
Stillwater Public Library, 224 3rd Street, Stillwater - SARA Extra Class Study Group Thursday Apr 4
6:00 PM – 7:50 PM Central
3rd floor Lounge Commons
Stillwater Public Library, 224 3rd Street, Stillwater