Here is your SARA weekly update!
Eyeball QSO Party
The General License class gets priority over rooms at the Stillwater Public Library this fall, so the Eyeball QSO Parties will be a bit nomadic.
The schedule is as follows:
October 9 Lake Elmo Public Library Meeting Rooms A&B
October 16 Oakdale Public Library Large Room
October 23 Baytown Township Hall – Library Room
October 30 Oakdale Public Library – Small Conference Room
November 6 Baytown Town Hall (no tech topic this night)
November 13 Stillwater Public Library Conference Room
November 20 Stillwater Public Library Conference Room
November 27 Thanksgiving – NO Eyeball QSO Party
December 4 1st Thursday Technical Topic Night at Baytown Town Hall
December 11 Stillwater Public Library Conference Room
December 18 Stillwater Public Library Conference Room
December 25 Christmas Day – NO Eyeball QSO Party
1st Thursday Technical Topic Nights “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. You can find all the 1st Thursday Topics in the 1st Thursdays Technical Topics playlist.
We are looking for topic ideas and discussion leaders for future 1TTT nights beginning in October. If you have a suggestions or you are willing to lead a discussion, please let drop me an email at kc0oio2002@gmail.com.
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.
- Nov 6 session will be a normal eyeball QSO session as many of the usual participants will be preparing for the Split Rock weekend departure the next morning.
- Dec 4 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Pico Balloons” led by Brian KB9TBB - NO January 1, 2026 session – Happy New Year!
- Feb 5, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Meshtastic” led by Collin KEØIYN - Mar 5, 2026 1st Thursday Tech Topic Night
“Let’s Talk About … Antenna Analyzers” led by Joe KCØOIO
North Star Radio Convention Oct 11
LAST CALL!
The 3rd annual North Star Radio Convention is coming up quickly! The Convention will be held at the Hennepin Technical College in Brooklyn Center on Saturday October 11th. Doors open at 8:00 AM. The Convention is recognized as the ARRL MN Section Convention.
20 informative breakout sessions are scheduled, there is sure to be something of interest to everyone. Our own Collin KEØIYN is presenting two of them; “From Club Challenge to State Events – The Creation of MNPOTA” and “Equipment Setups for POTA”; and member Dale WØDHZ is presenting “Amateur Radio Logging and Logging Workflows.”
New this year will be a Swap Fest running from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The ARRL Forum and the Youth Lounge are returning as well.
>> Click here << for the North Star Radio Convention website for more information and to register for the 2025 Convention. Registration is open now and the cost is $25.00 per person. You will also have the option to add a Subway lunch selection for an additional $12.50.
SARA is hosting the new GOTA station to encourage folks to get on the air from the North Star Radio Convention. SARA will set up our Eskimo shelter and a full station outside. The primary focus is getting the youth and newer hams a chance to operate HF.
“Remembering The Edmund Fitzgerald” Special Event Nov 7-10
WØJH will again be operating from the grounds of Split Rock Lighthouse State Park, in Lake County Minnesota, Grid Square EN47, and will qualify for POTA US-2524 & US-8095, ARLHS USA-783.
November 10th is the 50th Anniversary of the tragic loss of this famous ship and her entire 29-man crew. This will be the 21st consecutive year, that the Stillwater Amateur Radio Assn (SARA), has operated to commemorate the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The Fitz passed Split Rock Lighthouse on her final voyage.
We plan to have 2 stations assigned to operating on SSB, primarily ~3.860MHz, 7.260MHz, 14.260MHz, 21.360MHz, & 18.160MHz + or – depending upon band conditions. While 20m routinely produces the most contacts for us, we have been known to spend time on other HF bands, including 10m. We also expect to have a 3rd station, that will also spend time operating on FT8 as well as SSB.
Due to staffing and access time to the park site, we anticipate WØJH being on the air from when we can get set up ~19:00 to ~23:00 UTC on Nov 7th, and ~15:00-23:00 UTC on other days of the event.
Confirmation certificates for valid contacts will only be sent by email as a pdf and will be sent to the email address from which your request was made. Logs will be uploaded to LOTW, QRZ, and POTA.
There will be at least two other groups using several call signs operating Edmund Fitzgerald special events during November. Be sure you have the correct call of stations you work, and follow the correct confirmation process for that station. We will only be using one call, and can only confirm contacts with WØJH.
Submit certificate requests promptly, as the incoming request email will likely no longer be monitored beyond 30 days following conclusion of the event. For confirmation certificates, send an email to: W0JHFitz@outlook.com and include the following information:
* Your Call
* Date of QSO (UTC date)
* Time of QSO (UTC time)
* Band or Frequency
* Mode
Any email received without the above information may be returned for clarification or discarded. No QSL Cards or postal requests please. Certificate requests from SWL stations should include the call sign of at least one station we were in contact with during the time you heard us, and a brief synopsis of the conversation you heard.
Certificates for valid contacts will be sent as a PDF file to your email address beginning approximately 3 weeks following conclusion of the event. We design a new certificate for each of our events, and that process can’t begin until the end of the event.
The SARA POTA Challenge
The latest SARA POTA Challenge 2025 monthly numbers available are posted on the radioham.org website. >> CLICK HERE << to view the current results for 2025. The August 2025 numbers were shared at the September meeting and have been posted to the website.
The monthly numbers may not be compiled in time to share at the October and November monthly meetings due to the short timeframe with the meetings falling on the 1st Saturdays those months. Watch the website for the updates!
It’s been discovered that POTA recently raised the minimum contacts returned in the Top Hunter search to 50 Hunter contacts. This speaks to the popularity of the POTA program. This is a limitation placed on the hunter database by POTA. For the remainder of 2025, we will continue to carry all those who’ve been listed as participants with more than 10 contacts that we have as of the August report. Unfortunately, the threshold will change for the 2026 Challenge, not by our choice, but because of what data 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.
Meeting Program Team
The team has secured programs for our meetings this fall through Februrary. These include the following programs:
- Broadcast Digital TV with Bob Wilmers KØAPW November 1
- Geochron with Patrick Bolan KJ7ZSU December 13
- SARA White Elephant Exchange Party January 3, 2026
- SARA POTA Challenge 2025 Awards Ceremony February 14, 2026
This week’s SARA activities
- “Sunday Fusion” Digital Voice Hangout Oct 5
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)
3.813 LSB +/- QRM
Alternates: 1.966 MHz +/- QRM (LSB), 21.316 MHz +/- QRM (USB) 50.166 MHz +/- QRM (USB) - SARA Monday Morning 75-meter Ragchew Oct 6
Frequency: 3.856 LSB +/- QRM - SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew Oct 7
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. - General Class License Class Session 4 Oct 9
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Conference Room
Stillwater Public Library
224 3rd St N, Stillwater - Eyeball QSO Party Oct 9
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Lake Elmo Public Library Meeting Rooms A & B
3537 Lake Elmo Ave N Lake Elmo, MN 55042 - North Star Radio Conference Oct 11
8:00 AM
Hennepin Technical College
9000 Brooklyn Blvd, Brooklyn Park, MN 55445
* SARA Hosting “Get on the Air” (GOTA) style station 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
