SARA This Week May 30 – June 5

SARA holds daily on-air nets and ragchews. In-person activities are resuming as health and safety guidelines and restrictions ease. We continue to hold virtual meetings and Eyeball QSO Parties via WEBEX including the Tech Topic Thursday session, the monthly member meeting, monthly Board meeting, and event planning meetings.

Over the summer season, outdoor Eyeball QSO Parties will allow SARA to gather outdoors weekly. The weekly Thursday Eyeball QSO Party – Outdoors Sessions begin June 3rd. The weekly outdoor Eyeball QSO Party will be held at a local Stillwater-area park beginning at 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM. These sessions alternate with the previously scheduled Radios in the Park sessions.

Plans are afoot for the return of the SARA 2nd Saturday Breakfast at Perkins in Stillwater starting in June. Arrangements are pending with the restaurant to determine the group size and seating limits.

As we gradually resume our regular in-person meetings, our current on-air, virtual, and in-person gathering plans continue to be the best choice for the participation as well as health and safety of all our members. SARA leadership is staying in contact with the Stillwater Public Library and Boutwells Landing with hopes to be able to resume Thursday Eyeball QSO Parties at the Library and monthly meetings at Boutwells this fall.

Eyeball QSO Party – The Outdoor Sessions 

SARA’s weekly Thursday Eyeball QSO Party will resume this Thursday June 3rd. They will be OUTDOORS and we will rotate amongst Stillwater-area parks for these informal Eyeball sessions. The June 3rd session will be at Pioneer Park, 512 2nd St N (at Laurel Ave E) in Stillwater. Bring your lawn chair and bug spray. We’ll be there from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Radios in the Park 2021

The next Radios in the Park is Thursday June 10th. This is a live Technical Topic Thursday Session and we will focus on portable operating – radios & antennas, power sources, packing, deploying, and operating.

RITP is held at Valley View Park, 5421 Osgood Ave N in Oak Park Heights starting around 5:30 PM and going until around 8:00 PM.  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. Please help us comply with these guidelines. Attending the event is your choice.

Radios in the Park has scheduled dates of June 10, July 1, July 22, Aug 12, Sept 2, and Sept 23 are booked at Valley View Park. The Tailgate Swap will be rescheduled for Thursday July 1st.

Sunday Fusion

“Sunday Fusion” SARA’s digital voice hangout is every Sunday evening at 7:00 PM. “Sunday Fusion” makes use of the System Fusion C4FM digital voice capabilities of the repeater along with WIRES-X and YSF connectivity, It is an informal “hangout” for those who want to explore the System Fusion capabilities of their radios. “Sunday Fusion”  is a System Fusion C4FM digital voice-only hangout.

Join Bob WØGAF and the rest of the group hanging out on System Fusion direct via the repeater or connect via WIRES-X to the W0JH-Room 63969. Tonight at 7:00 PM

Unfortunately, the YSF node is offline until further notice.

Field Day 2021 – June 26 -27

SARA is planning for a smaller scale Field Day operation this year. We are going back to  Autumn Hills Park, our Field Day home for the past several years. Plans are evolving, but we’ll have at least one station using the club’s IC-7300, covering the mic with a baggie (or bring your own mic), and cleaning of contact surfaces on the logging computer keyboard, mouse, and radios with alcohol wipes. The recent changes to COVID-19 health safety guidelines opens the possibility of adding another station. More to come as we get closer to the Field Day Weekend.

If you choose to not join us onsite, you can work from home stations again this year and submit your own logs and points to the ARRL referencing SARA-MN for the compiled club score. THe rule waiver allowing working other Class D and Class E stations as valid contacts remains in place FD2021. Maximum power for Class D & E stations is limited to 150W.

Technical Topic Thursday Videos

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

SARA’s groups.io email reflector

Haven’t yet joined, why wait? Join now:

https://groups.io/g/StillwaterMNAmateurRadioAssoc.

This group is an email reflector for all things SARA and amateur radio. You can post questions, projects, activities and amateur radio experiences that you can share with SARA members are encouraged. This is a SARA members-only group and requests to join will be approved based upon your current 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.

SARA Special Event Stations Planned for 2021

SARA is planning two Special Event operations for later this year: the Tri-State Special Event from White Rock, SD and the 17th consecutive “Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald” Special Event from Split Rock Lighthouse State Park.

The Tri-State Special Event out in the ghost town of White Rock, SD is scheduled for August 27 – 29. The White Rock Special Event is as close as many of us will get to a “roughing it” DXpedition experience. The location has no electricity, no running water (unless it rains), and no toilets. That said, there are options for overnight accommodations: camping on-site (tent and RV) or a hotel room at the nearby Dakota Magic Casino. We set up one station in town and another part-time station about a mile north at the marker for the borders of North Dakota, SOuth Dakota, and Minnesota. More details coming soon!

The 17th annual “Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald” Special Event is scheduled for Oct 29 – 31. The Trail Center at Split Rock Lighthouse State Park has been reserved for the weekend. More to come as we get closer to the dates.

This week’s SARA activities