SARA This Week: November 15 – November 21
In-person activities remain canceled until further notice!
Due to technical difficulties during his presentation during the Nov 14 SARA meeting, Erik NY9D has graciously agreed to reschedule for December’s meeting. He apologizes for the difficulties, his computer crashed hard. We look forward to Erik’s presentation next month.
It’s time for our annual membership renewal, and SARA’s online membership application and renewal forms, along with an online payment option through PayPal are now live and ready for use. See the news posting at the SARA radioham.org for a direct link to the application page. You can also get there by going to the About menu and choosing Membership Application. The online forms and multiple payment options will streamline the renewal process for members. Our thanks to the many members that worked on building and testing the new system. Please send any questions you have about the process to W0GAF@radioham.org.
The SARA Dues year runs January 1 through December 31. Annual full membership dues are $20/yr. Associate (non-voting) memberships are available for non-licensed folks and those who chose at $10/yr. Family memberships start at $30/yr for 2 licensed amateurs in the family plus $10/yr for each additional family member. We ask that family members reside at the same address. Family membership renewals and applications are asked to mail your dues payment as payment via PayPal is not offered for that membership option.
Dues payments may also be sent via mail to:
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, MN 55082.
Please include your callsign in the Memo for proper tracking in our records.
A SSL certificate has been added to our website to protect your private data. No private data is stored on the website or it’s hosting servers. This ensures that our website protects your personal information when completing the application and renewal processes. Financial transaction security is provided directly via Paypal once you enter Paypal’s payment portal.
The 16th Annual Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald Special Event was a huge success! The Distributed Operator Stations (DOS) plan worked extremely well, coordinated through the use of SignUpGenius.com. A total of 21 operators from 17 stations (4 family teams worked as operator /logger pairs.) The contact total is 1995. 375 certificates requests have been received. Many thanks to all who operated, all who worked us, and the team that planned and executed the Special Event – especially Dave WØOXB and Shel NØDRX!
Watch for news about our next Special Event: Ice-Ø-lation Station WØJH coming in February.
Technical Topic Thursday returns this week with “Optional but Useful Station Accessories.” This will be a group participation/show-&-tell session. If you have a useful, unique, or unusual station accessory – join us Thursday evening for the Webex session – we’d love to hear about it and see it. Joe KCØOIO will serve as moderating for the session, which will be via our Webex conference room https://stillwateramateurradioassociation.my.webex.com/meet/kc0oio beginning at 7:00 PM CST (0100 UTC)
I am pleased to report that Mike KFØCCL has offered to take up the coordinator role for Technical Topics. Mike has some background in teaching and technical training. He has some exciting ideas for building upon what we’ve got going already and has taken up the challenge with enthusiasm.
The following is a list of Tech Topic ideas compiled from suggestions gathered during a Two Meter Tuesday session earlier this year.
| Thursday Technical Topic Suggestions | Moderator | Date |
| Digital Modes & FLDIGI Primer | TBD | TBD |
| Do’s & Don’ts when setting up your shack | TBD | TBD |
| MFJ-259/269 Analyzer Training | TBD | TBD |
| Setting up digital voice hotspots | TBD | TBD |
| Grounding & Bonding your station | TBD | TBD |
| Station Electrical Power considerations | TBD | TBD |
| Working DX | TBD | TBD |
| CW: Methods to learning, setup paddles, keys, keyers | TBD | TBD |
Many of these topics make excellent group discussion sessions. Some may require a little research. Dig into it a bit and share what you learn. There is no better way to learn a topic than preparing to lead a session. See something of interest or that you have some knowledge and experience, please volunteer to moderate the session. Email Mike KFØCCL at sawmillman51@icloud.com if you are interested in moderating a session. You can also email him with additional topic suggestions.
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.
Here’s this week’s activities!
1. SARA HF Digital Net Sunday Nov 15
Time: 19:00 Central (01:00 UTC)
Frequency: 3.584.15 Look for the net up 500-1000 Hz +/- on your waterfall.
Mode: MFSK16
2. 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)
3. SARA Monday Morning Ragchew Nov 16
Time: 09:00 Central (14:00 UTC)
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM
4. 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.
5. SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew Nov 17
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 on 160 meters at 1.966 MHz LSB +/- QRM
6. SARA Virtual Board Meeting Wed Nov 18
Time: 6:30 PM
SARA WEBEX Meeting Room
WEBEX invites will be sent to members
7. SARA Two Meter Wednesday Round Robin Ragchew Nov 18
Time: 9:00 PM
SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
The Wednesday evening SARA Ragchew on the SARA repeater
8. SARA Virtual Technical Topic Thursday Nov 19
“Optional but Useful Station Accessories” Show-&-Tell + Discussion
Time: 7:00 PM CST (01:00 UTC)
SARA WEBEX virtual meeting room
https://stillwateramateurradioassociation.my.webex.com/meet/kc0oio
73!