SARA This Week July 5 – July 11

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SARA This Week July 5 – July 11

2026 SARA’s Radios in the Park

Radios in the Park, SARA’s outdoor eyeball QSO party, continue through September 10th. Folks start to gather around 5:30 PM and we wrap up by 8:00 PM every Thursday evening.

Here is the rest of the schedule through September: (click on the Google Maps Plus link for the location)

July 9th         Valley View Park      5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
(Google Maps Plus code:    25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)

July 16th        Birkmose Park         50 Coulee Road, Hudson, WI 54016
(Google Maps Plus code:    X68W+XF Hudson, Wisconsin)

July 23rd       St. Croix Boom Site State Wayside         Highway 95 north of Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code:    36P7+2R Stillwater, Minnesota)
(furthest north parking area along Hwy 95 from Stillwater)
POTA site for US-0673 Saint Croix National Wild and Scenic Riverway and US-12395 St. Croix Boom Site State Wayside

July 30th       Sunfish Lake Park    3554 Kelvin Ave North, Lake Elmo
(Google Maps Plus code:    233W+2F Lake Elmo, Minnesota)

Baytown Township Hall     4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code:    2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota)
1st Thursday Tech Topic Night: “Fused Power Distribution Block Group Build”

August 13th   Valley View Park      5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
(Google Maps Plus code:    25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)
“Mobile & Portable Stations Show-N-Tell”

August 20th   Lily Lake Park                   1208 Greeley St S, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code:    25WH+CVP Stillwater, Minnesota)

August 27th   Brown’s Creek Park  8312 Neal Ave N, Stillwater – trail parking area
(Google Maps Plus code:    35C4+39V Stillwater, Minnesota)
POTA site for Brown’s Creek State Trail US-9386 and/or Brown’s Creek Aquatic Management Area US-10721

Sept 3rd        Baytown Township Hall     4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code:    2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota)
1st Thursday Tech Topic Night; “Let’s Talk About … Wavelog”

Sept 10th      Pioneer Park 515 2nd St N, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code:    356R+7J Stillwater, Minnesota)

SARA 2nd Saturday Breakfast July 11

Our monthly 2nd Saturday Breakfast is this Saturday July 11, 7:30 AM, at Perkins Restaurant located at 2050 Frontage Road in Stillwater.

Come join us for breakfast and friendship and then head over to the MAGIC Repeater Yard Sale on Rice Street in Roseville right afterwards.

SARA & MVARA POTA Meetup and Picnic July 18

SARA and the Mississippi Valley Amateur Radio Association of LaCrosse, WI are getting together for a meetup, picnic and POTA on Saturday July 18. We will gather at Frontenac State Park, 29223 County 28 Blvd in Frontenac, MN 55026, about 10 minutes southeast of Red Wing on Highway 61. The Google Maps Plus code for the park’s day use area is GMP7+69.  We will be there from 11:00 AM to about 4:00 PM.

SARA is bringing the food for the picnic and the MVARA is bringing their Emergency Communication Bus and a trailer-mobile tower! MVARA maintains a bus that had been previously used as a commercial emergency communication center. This includes matching HF/VHF/UHF stations and accessories and a fold-over tower attached to the bus for antennas. The equipment, plus two towable crank-up towers, allows the club to operate four stations simultaneously, using a variety of different modes, including CW, voice, and digital modes.

The bus and trailer will be located in the overflow parking area just west of the day use area. And the Park’s Picnic Pavilion has been booked for the day. Come on out and meet some new friends from the Mississippi Valley Amateur Radio Association and you don’t want to miss the chance to view the bus!

1st Thursday Technical Topic Night “Let’s Talk About…”

1st Thursday Technical Topic Night features a technical presentation and discussion based upon the level of interest in the club and the willingness of someone to prepare and lead the session. The sessions are livestreamed via Zoom for those who choose to join the session virtually; and are recorded and posted to the SARA YouTube channel for future viewing and reference.

The 1st Thursday Technical Topic Nights are held at the Baytown Township Hall, 4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater, MN 55082, beginning at 6:00 PM Central (23:00 UTC).

  • Aug 6, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
    “Let’s Talk About … Fused Power Distribution Block Kit Build Night”
  • Sep 3, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
    “Let’s Talk About … Cloud-based logging with Wavelog led by Collin KEØIYN
  • Oct 1, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
    “Let’s Talk About … 3d Printing and ham radio” led by Leslie KD9ZMI

The ZOOM livestream will NOT be available the months of June, and August sessions.

The SARA POTA Challenge

The numbers for June 2026 are being compiled and reviewed. They will be posted on our website once they are ready.  >> CLICK HERE << to view the most recent posted results. We’re into the warmer months and activity is definitely picking up again in May.

POTA raised the minimum contacts returned in the Top Hunter search to 50 Hunter contacts. Therefore, the hunter threshold has changed to the minimum 50 for the 2026 Challenge because of what we can extract from POTA’s database.

SARA members who have registered on the POTA website https://parksontheair.com/# (sign up is under the Help/Getting Started tab) are automatically included in the SARA Challenges.

This week’s SARA activities

  • “Sunday Fusion” Digital Voice Hangout July 5
    19:00 Central (Daylight Time) (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 Evening HF Ragchew
    Nightly 
    20:00 Central (01:00 UTC) 
    Frequency: 3.813LSB +/- QRM 
    Alternates: 1.966 MHz +/- QRM (LSB), 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
  • SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew July 6
    08:00 Central (13:00 UTC)
    Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM
  • Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew July 7
    7:00 – ~8:00 pm Central (or until we finish!) 
    SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)1stTuesday of each month 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.
  • Radios in the Park Thursday July 9
    6:00 PMValley View Park 5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
    (Google Maps Plus code:    25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)
  • 2nd Saturday Breakfast Saturday July 11
    7:30 AMPerkins Restaurant 2050 Frontage Road, Stillwater