Ice Station WØJH 2014
2019 SARA Executive Officers
The Joe Simonet WØTBC Memorial Award
2020 S.A.R.A. EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
2014 SARA Officers
Kilo Parks Award
Fitzgerald Crew 2011
SARA Work Party 3
May 14th Fox Hunt! What Fun!
Split Rock 2013

SARA This Week May 14 – May 20

Here is your SARA update for this week!


 

SARA’s Summer in the Parks “New Ham Night” Thurs May 18

The Eyeball QSO Party moves outdoors for SARA’s Summer in the Parks season. We will gather at various area parks on Thursday evenings through early September.

This week it’s the New Ham Night at Valley View Park, 5421 Osgood Ave N, Oak Park Heights, MN, 55082. The park entrance is on the east side of Osgood Avenue, just south of the residential area.

New Ham Night is a chance for newly-licensed, recently-licensed, and recently-upgraded to explore what’s next in their journey in the hobby. Topics include choosing a radio, getting on the air, “My First Year” experiences, Resources available to you, and upcoming activities. A “Get on the Air” net will be conducted on the SARA repeater 147.060+ DCS 026 Normal at approximately 7:15 PM CDT, everyone who has one, please bring an HT. Those without an HT can borrow a radio that evening or pair up with another who has one. HT programming will be available through Collin KEØIYN. There will be a Show-N-Tell period.

Valley View Park is our “home” park for SARA’s Summer in the Parks as we have booked the shelter there for every third week. Additional evenings at this park are June 8 (Field Day Site Survey and Planning), June 29, July 20, August 10, and August 31.

The early schedule of additiona park locations and dates will be:

May 25:       Otto Berg Park, Norell Ave N & 90th St N, Stillwater

June 1:        Browns Creek Park/State Trail 8312 Neal Ave N, Stillwater

June 8:        Valley View Park

June 15:      Pioneer Park, 515 2nd St N, Stillwater, MN 55082

June 22:      Sunfish Lake Park, 3554 Kelvin Ave N, Lake Elmo, MN 55042

June 29:      Valley View Park

July 6:         Autumn Hills Park, 5697 Norwich Pkwy, Oak Park Heights, MN 55082

July 13:       Birkmose Park, 329 Front St, Hudson, WI 54016

In case of inclement weather, Collin KEØIYN has offered the “shed“ garage and “The Diner” at his QTH on Osgood Ave south of Valley View Park as a covered location for those evenings.

Suggestions are welcome! If you know of a good park location in the area, drop me a note at kc0oio2002@gmail.com and I will add it to the list.


Making a Big Decision — Together

Monday, May 1, ARRL launched a survey for members, encouraging their participation as we consider a dues increase.

The survey includes some short questions about raising dues and modifying the way some membership benefits are bundled. The survey will also include an opportunity for members to share their feedback.

The participation of every member is important. Please encourage all the ARRL members in your radio club to complete the survey in May.

The survey will open on May 1 at www.arrl.org/take-dues-survey. This is a member-only page. Members need to be logged into the ARRL website to take the survey. Members who are not logged in may select the Login button on the top of the web page, and they will be prompted to enter their ARRL website username and password. If they have not logged in since April 2022, they should use these Login Instructions.


SARA POTA Challenge ‘23

The full leaderboards through April 30th will soon be available on the radioham.org website, and there has been a lot of movement on the boards for both hunters and activators alike!

Club totals through the end of April show 12,658 Hunter QSOs, 201 Qualified Activations, 82 Parks activated, and 10,220 Activator QSOs. All of 2022’s totals were 17,364 Hunter QSOs, 329 Qualified activations, 199 Parks activated, and 12,044 Activator QSOs! Needless to say, the POTA Challenge is engaging our members.

SARA’s 2023 POTA Activity Days are scheduled for 2 Saturdays this summer, plus the annual Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald weekend at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park. Saturday June 10 will be the multi-op, multi-park, roving day. Gather for the SARA 2nd Saturday breakfast at Perkins, then spend the day activating area parks. Activators groups can rove from park to park, or a few “veteran” activators are planning to set up at a park for the day and other activators can visit and work from the park with that activator. A list of parks with a primary activator will be published before the Activity Day.

Saturday August 12 will be the first ever SARA POTA Meetup Day. We will gather at the Picnic Shelter at Wild River State Park in Almelund, for a day of multi-op activations. A picnic lunch is planned. Watch for more details to come.

If you are a SARA member AND have registered on the POTA website https://parksontheair.com/# (sign up is under the Help/Getting Started tab), you are included in the SARA Challenge 2023.

A thorough source of information for those that want to get started POTA hunting or activating is also 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.


This week’s SARA activities

SARA’s on-air, in-person, and virtual activities are a great way to stay connected with others.

  • “Sunday Fusion” Digital Voice Hangout May 14
    19:00 Central (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 Top Band Ragchew
    Nightly
    20:00 Central (01:00 UTC)
    Frequency:  1.966 LSB +/- QRM or 3.820 to 3.826 MHz (depending on QRM).
    Alternates: 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
  • SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew May 15
    08:15 Central (13:15 UTC)
    Frequency:  3.856 LSB +/- QRM
  • SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew May 16
    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 Board of Directors Meeting Wednesday May 17
    6:30 PM CDT (23:30 UTC)
    via Zoom meeting
  • SARA’s Summer in the Parks Thursday May 18
    New Ham Night
    6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
    Valley View Park
    5421 Osgood Ave N, Oak Park Heights, MN, 55082