SARA This Week: Nov 12 – Nov 18
Here is your SARA update for this week!
SARA Board of Directors Meeting Wednesday Nov 15
The Board of Directors of the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association will meet via Zoom Wednesday Nov 15, 6:30 PM CST (00:30 UTC).
Nominations and Election of Officers for 2024
SARA’s officers are elected annually during the Annual Meeting of the Association held in January each year. The offices of President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and one director (2yr term) are open for election at that time. Nominations will be made during the December monthly meeting. If you are willing to serve SARA as an officer, please contact one of the current Board members for details of the position.
The future of “Signals from SARA”
Pat WAØTDA will be retiring as editor upon completion of the December 2023 issue. Now is the time for SARA to determine the future of our newsletter and how it factors in with all of our communications paths including this weekly bulletin, our radioham.org website, the StillwaterAmatuerRadioAssociation groups.io reflector, SARA’s Discord server, and SARA’s Facebook page. This important discussion will look at numerous questions including continuing the newsletter, what schedule: current Sept – May monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, twice a year? How can we improve/expand content and more contributors?
A hybrid in-person/online forum to discuss the future of Signals from SARA along with better use of our additional communications streams will be held on Nov 30. This forum is during the Thursday Eyeball QSO Party (in-person) and will also be online via the SARA ZOOM Teleconference Room. The meeting will begin at 6:15 PM CST (00:15 UTC)
If you have suggestions or comments now, please reach out to me or any of the Board members to share them with us. Feedback from the membership will be critical to the future of Signals from SARA!
Annual Membership Dues
Annual dues for 2024 and beyond are being accepted now. Individual memberships are $20/year, Family memberships are $30/year for the 1st two members and $10/year for each additional family member. Associate memberships are $10/year. Dues can be paid in person, via mail, or online via Paypal. Visit the membership application/renewal page on radioham.org >> CLICK HERE <<
VE Session Thursday Nov 16
The SARA VE Team has an Amateur Radio Exam Session Thursday Nov 16 at Boutwells Landing, 5600 Norwich Pkwy, Oak Park Heights, MN 55082. The session will be held in the Town Hall. Registration opens at 5:30 PM.
SARA POTA Challenge ‘23
The October recap along with some interesting charts will be available on radioham.org website this week. >> CLICK HERE << to view the update page.
There are now 13 “Legends” in the Hunter category. KEØIYN was an activator extraordinaire in October, 15 parks over a week period, many of them brand new POTA entities that he is the 1st to activate.
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.
SARA is sponsoring the MN POTA Activity Day. The date will be Saturday June 8, 2024, from 10:00 AM (15:00 UTC) to 6:00 PM CDT (22:00 UTC). The objective is to activate as many MN POTA entities as possible during that day. There will be no scoring. The web domain mnpota.com has been secured and the website will be built in the near future. Mark your calendars now.
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 Nov 12
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)
Frequency: 3.813 LSB +/- QRM or 1.966 LSB +/- QRM
Alternates: 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew Nov 13
08:15 Central (14:15 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew Nov 14
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 Virtual Meeting Nov 15
6:30 PM CST (00:30 UTC)
SARA’s Zoom Teleconference Room - Amateur Radio Exam Session Thursday Nov 6
6:00 PM (registration opens at 5:30 PM)
Town Hall
Boutwells Landing, 5600 Norwich Parkway, Oak Park Heights, MN 55082 - SARA’s Eyeball QSO Party Thursday Nov 16
6:00 PM to 7:50 PM
Conference Room, Stillwater Public Library 224 Third St E, Stillwater