SARA This Week May 7 – May 13
Thursday Eyeball QSO Party
This Thursday’s Eyeball QSO Party is at the Stillwater Public Library, 224 E 3rd Street, Stillwater, MN 55082. We will gather in the Conference Room. 6:00 PM – 7:50 PM. We will have a planning session for the New Ham Night on May 18th.
SARA Monthly Meeting Saturday May 13th
The monthly meeting of the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association is Saturday May 8th. The meeting time is scheduled for 9:15 AM CDT (1415 UTC). Proceedings will begin by 9:30 AM CDT (1430 UTC).
The meeting program for May 13th will feature Mike Walker VA3MW, who will join us via Zoom for a presentation on FlexRadio. FlexRadio is a leader software-defined radio (SDR). Mike is a technical sales rep for FlexRadio Systems.
Mike operates his own remote base which is located a couple of hours north of Toronto and inaccessible for 6 months of the year. Mike has optimized his equipment for remote control and utilizes NodeRed on a Raspberry Pi to control all the components of the remote station. Many will recognize his voice as Mike is a regular on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast.
The meeting will be in Auditorium B at The Gables at Boutwells Landing 13575 58th Street North, in Oak Park Heights, MN 55082
Boutwells Landing requires face masks in public spaces in the facility. Please bring your mask. We are asked not arrive at Boutwells before 9:00 AM.
The meeting will be livestreamed via Zoom. To join Zoom Meeting, < click here >
Please allow time for equipment set-up so that the Zoom meeting can be started. It has been around 9:20 AM CST lately. The meeting program will be at the top and the business session will follow.
The meeting will be recorded and shared on the SARA YouTube channel.
Don’t forget the 2nd Saturday breakfast at Perkins at 7:30 AM.
SARA’s Summer in the Parks
The Eyeball QSO Party moves outdoors for SARA’s Summer in the Parks season beginning with the New Ham Night on May 18th. We will gather at various area parks on Thursday evenings through early September.
The shelter at Valley View Park in Oak Park Heights is booked for our May 18, June 8, June 29, July 20, August 10 and August 31 sessions. June 8 will be a site survey and planning session for our ARRL Field Day operation at the same park.
Locations will be announced in this weekly bulletin and will include Otto Berg Park, the St. Croix Boomsite, Autumn Hills Park, Birkmose Park, Brekke Park and along with other parks in the St. Croix Valley area. Suggestions are welcome!
SARA POTA Challenge ‘23
Activity is ramping up as the weather is warming! The full leaderboards through April 30th will be available soon the radioham.org website, and there has been a lot of movement on the boards for both hunters and activators alike!
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 7
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 8
08:15 Central (13:15 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew May 9
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 May 11
6:00 PM to 7:50 PM
Conference Room
Stillwater Public Library
224 E 3rd Street, Stillwater, MN 55082.
This will be a hybrid in-person/Zoom Eyeball QSO Live/New Ham Night Planning Session. - SARA 2nd Saturday Breakfast May 13th
7:30 AM
Perkins Restaurant
2500 Frontage Road
Stillwater, MN 55082 - SARA Monthly Meeting May 13
9:15 AM
The Gables at Boutwells Landing, Auditorium B
13575 58th Street North, Oak Park Heights, MN 55082Boutwells Landing requires face masks in public spaces in the facility. Please bring your mask. We are asked not to arrive at Boutwells before 9:00 AM.