2017 SARA Officers
SARA Field Day 2011
Fitzgerald Crew 2011
May 14th Fox Hunt! What Fun!
Kilo Parks Award
New Radio Gear For Some SARA Members!
OXB Special Install
AGØH 2013
WØJH 2004
SARA Work Party 1

SARA This Week March 8 – March 13

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.

March Meeting will be a SARA Member Forum: 2021 & Beyond…

The March 13th SARA virtual meeting will be a member open forum. This forum session will be a report card on how SARA is doing, develop a better grasp of what members are looking for from SARA, and lay a path for the future. The virtual meeting will begin at 9:00 AM, (15:00 UTC) with “Morning Coffee” starting up about 8:15 AM (14:15 UTC). Please join us this Saturday for this important session and help shape the future of SARA.

Technical Topic Thursday

Technical Topic Thursday March 11 will feature Will Jourdain AA4WJ,  Icom America Sales Rep – Amateur & Receiver Products, joining us for a presentation on Icom’s newest QRP radio – the IC-705, as well as other Icom news and products. The IC-705 QRP SDR transceiver is the third direct sampling SDR radio from Icom and is proving very popular. The session will be a live, virtual session via the SARA Webex room. Invites will be sent direct to SARA members. April 8th brings us John Kruk K9UPC, National Sales Manager for Yaesu, for a discussion on System Fusion and more. And on May 13th, Joe Eiesenberg KØNEB, CQ Magazine’s kit building editor will join us for an evening of “Kit Building Techniques for Success.”

SARA members have exclusive access to the Technical Topic Thursday playlist on SARA’s YouTube Channel.

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

Radios in the Park Scheduled for 8 sessions in 2021!

SARA’s Radios in the Park will return April 29th. With the health guidance on outdoor group gatherings easing some along with the increasing number of vaccinated people, the Board is comfortable in scheduling our Radios in the Park gatherings.

We plan to meet at Valley View Park on Thursday evenings starting around 5:30 PM until 8:00 PM. The dates will be  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 will follow all 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. More details to come.

This week’s SARA activities

SARA’s on-air and virtual activities are a great way to stay connected with others. These activities provide healthy social contact while maintaining personal distancing. A reminder that SARA activities refrain from discussions of political, religious, racial, or other inappropriate topics. We are a multi-cultural, multi-generational association with a shared interest in amateur radio – let’s be sure to keep it that way.

  • SARA Top Band Ragchew
    Nightly
    Time: 20:00 Central (02:00 UTC)
    Frequency:  1.966 LSB +/- QRM
    Alternates:
    21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
    50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
  • SARA Monday Morning Ragchew Mar 8
    Time: 09:00 Central (15:00 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 9
    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 10
    Time: 9:00 PM
    SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
    The Wednesday evening SARA Ragchew on the SARA repeater
  • SARA Virtual Technical Topic Thursday – Thursday Mar 11
    Time: 7:00 PM (01:00 UTC)
    SARA Webex Meeting Room
    Webex meeting link will be sent direct to SARA members
  • SARA Virtual Monthly Member Meeting –  Saturday Mar 13
    “Morning Coffee” pre-meeting 8:15AM (14:15 UTC)
    Meeting Time: 9:00 AM (15:00 UTC)
    SARA Member Forum: 2021 and beyond…
    https://stillwateramateurradioassociation.my.webex.com/meet/w0jh