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SARA This Week June 29 – July 5

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SARA This Week June 29 – July 5

Here is your SARA weekly update!

ARRL Field Day 2025 “Radio Connects” June 28 – 29

SARA’s ARRL Field Day continues today June 29! Reports from the site confirm that the antennas survived the late night severe thunderstorm 100%. It was quite a light show according to co-chair Tim KFØJEL.

This year’s theme is ‘Radio Connects’. Amateur Radio certainly does connect, both on the air and in person.

We are holding Field Day at the Baytown Township Hall, located at 4020 McDonald Drive North. The site is proving to be fantastic for the event. The facility has a refrigerator, small kitchen and restrooms. There is a large room with recently updated technology that is being used for displaying Club information and real-time logging statistics.

Outside there is a covered shelter that we plan to use for the SSB station. We will setup a tent shelter for the CW/SSB station and another one next to the trailer for the GOTA (Get On The Air) station.

The addition of the beam antenna has been fruitful. The antenna, a hy-gain TH-3JRS tribander (20, 15, 10) has performed admirably. Mounted on a tripod at 25 feet, the SWR was almost exactly as advertised in the manual. Special thanks to Rich AD0SN for making it possible to use the antenna and tripod.

(To view the Field Day Site layout map >> Click Here <<)

Field Day on-air operations continue until 1:00 PM Sunday, with site teardown to follow. Stop on by if you can, all are welcome!

If you have any questions or suggestions, please reach out to Ray Speltz, NDØG, speltzraymond at gmail dot com; and Tim Grotheer, KFØJEL, timgrotheer at gmail dot com; your SARA Field Day co-chairs.

Radios in the Park 2025

The popular outdoor “Radios in the Park” Eyeball QSO Party series continues through Sept 11.  Folks start to gather around 5:30 PM and we wrap up by 8:00 PM every Thursday evening. Note that locations may change due to weather forecasts.

Here is the remaining schedule:

July 3rd         Baytown Township Hall     4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code:    2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota)

July 10th       Valley View Park      5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
(Google Maps Plus code:    25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)
Build Project Night: 40M loading coil for portable vertical antennas (POTA)

July 17th        Autumn Hills Park    5697 Norwich Parkway, Oak Park Heights
(Google Maps Plus code:    25J7+5W Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)

July 24th       St. Croix Boom Site State Wayside         Highway 95 north of Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code:    36P7+2R Stillwater, Minnesota)
POTA site for US-0673 Saint Croix National Wild and Scenic Riverway and US-12395 St. Croix Boom Site Unique Area

July 31st       Valley View Park      5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
(Google Maps Plus code:    25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)
Mobile and Portable Show-n-tell

August 7th     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 … Oscilliscopes”

August 14th   Sunfish Lake Park    3554 Kelvin Ave North, Lake Elmo
(Google Maps Plus code:    233W+2F Lake Elmo, Minnesota)

August 21st   Valley View Park      5421 Osgood Avenue, Oak Park Heights
                   (Google Maps Plus code:    25JX+35V Oak Park Heights, Minnesota)

August 28th   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 4th        Baytown Township Hall     4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
                   (Google Maps Plus code:    2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota)

Sept 11th      Pioneer Park 515 2nd St N, Stillwater
(Google Maps Plus code:    356R+7J Stillwater, Minnesota)

The full schedule of parks and dates is posted on SARA’s Discord server and published in the April and May issue of Signals from SARA newsletter.

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

1st Thursday Technical Topic Nights feature a technical topic 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.

  • July 3 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
    NO formal topic – Radios in the Park at Baytown Township Hall
  • August 7 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
    Let’s talk about… “Oscilloscopes” led by Dan KEØIYF

Project Build Night coming to Radios in the Park July 10

Developing from a recent # antennas thread on the SARA Discord server, I am putting together a kit to build a 40-meter loaded coil for those who use the 17-meter telescopic antenna for portable operations. This kit is based upon the designs shared in the KB9VBR video https://youtu.be/I6sgg5vA_J0?si=Sstpa7IJE_KNb4L- and the HamJazz  video https://youtu.be/FCm2b_y3iIo?si=-6D3JMUUz_D6ohpw. I will source and prepare all the components, kit them up, and we will build them as a group during the Radios in the Park at Valley View Park July 10. The kit will include the PVC components, 3/8”-24 bolts and nut, 10 feet of 14ga wire, and terminals. The design variation we will be building adds a quick connect wire to quickly bypass the coil rather than removing it from your antenna setup when you jump to the higher bands.

Kit costs are yet to be determined and will depend on the number of people interested in building one. I expect the cost will be less than $25 for the parts.  I have 4 signed up so far. If you want to build one yourself, either at the group build on the 10th or on your own, please drop me an email at kc0oio2002@gmail.com by Thursday July 3rd! I am planning to order enough components for at least 10 to 12 kits.


SARA’s Summer Activities

Look forward to the following SARA activities this summer:

August 9       SARA WØJH Station at “Britfest” Car Show in Hudson
We’ll be promoting amateur radio during the annual “Britfest” Car Show along the St. Croix in Hudson. This will also be a WØJH POTA activation of US-0673 St. Croix National Wild & Scenic River. Brian KB9TBB is the lead for this event. If you want to join the team, contact Brian via email at brian at schousek dot com.

The SARA POTA Challenge

The latest SARA POTA Challenge 2025 monthly numbers are posted on the radioham.org website. >> CLICK HERE << to view the most recent results for 2025. The May 2025 numbers are now up on the website.

Just a reminder, we are only able to track participation for those with a minimum of 10 Hunter contacts, a limitation placed on the hunter database by POTA.

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

  • ARRL Field Day June 29
    Baytown Township Hall
    4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
    (Google Maps Plus code:    2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota)
    ON-AIR Operations continue until 12:59 PM (17:59 UTC) Sunday.
    Teardown and cleanup follows immediately.
  • “Sunday Fusion” Digital Voice Hangout June 29
    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 Evening HF Ragchew
    Nightly 
    20:00 Central (01:00 UTC)     813LSB +/- QRM 
    Alternates: 1.966 MHz +/- QRM (LSB), 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB)
  • SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew June 30
    08:15 Central (13:15 UTC) 
    Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM
  • SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew July 1
    7:00 – ~8:00 pm Central (or until we finish!) 
    SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
    1stTuesday 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 July 3
    6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
    Baytown Township Hall
    4020 McDonald Dr N, Stillwater
    (Google Maps Plus code: 2554+4M Stillwater, Minnesota)