New Radio Gear For Some SARA Members!
Release to Listen Award 2013
2017 SARA Officers
AGØH 2013
2020 S.A.R.A. EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
2019 SARA Executive Officers
May 14th Fox Hunt! What Fun!
SARA Field Day 2011
Ice Station WØJH 2014
SARA Work Party 1

SARA This Week: May 31 – June 6

ALL IN-PERSON ACTIVITIES REMAIN CANCELED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

SARA’s on-air activities continue to be a great way with others and check on their wellness as well as a boost of your own overall wellness. Those on-air activities provide healthy social contact while maintaining personal distancing.

The WIRES-X digital voice link is getting some use on the SARA WØJH repeater. The link node is operating in digital voice (System Fusion C4FM) mode only. The SARA Room is 63969 room, notable for those who wish to access the WØJH repeater via the PDN capability of some Yaesu System Fusion radios. System Fusion users can access the WIRES-X link on the WØJH repeater and bring up other rooms such as the MN/WIS, the DARC Room, AmericaLink, and many others. Refer to your radio’s manual on how to utilize the WIRES-X features of your radio, BE SURE TO DISCONNECT FROM THE ROOM WHEN YOU ARE DONE USING IT! Doug N9TOW notes that there is a failsafe in that if there is no activity into the repeater link after 5 minutes it will revert back to the SARA room. Check out https://wp.hamoperator.com/?page_id=105 for a list of active nodes and rooms. We will have a Thursday Technical Topic session June 4th to introduce everyone to the capabilities and operation of our WIRES-X link. Doug will explain all the pertinent information on using the WIRES-X link on our repeater including tips and tricks for using the link.

In SARA Field Day news, there are two items we’d like to call to your attention.

First, the ARRL Programs and Services Committee (PSC) has adopted two temporary rule waivers for the event. These waivers are for Field Day 2020 only.

Class D stations may work all other Field Day stations, including other Class D stations, for points.
An aggregate club score will be published, which will be the sum of all individual entries indicating a specific club (similar to the aggregate score totals used in ARRL affiliated club competitions).
For those SARA members who are “in it for the points” (we know you’re out there) these rule waivers will enable us to have some friendly competition within and across clubs. Details on the rules waivers can be found here.

http://www.arrl.org/temporary-rule-waivers-for-arrl-field-day-2020

Also, please check with your logging program provider to see what changes they are planning to support these rule waivers.

Second, to help us in our planning and communications, we’d like to know how many of you plan to participate in Field Day 2020. Your information will help us develop activities and communications that we hope will enhance your Field Day experience.

Watch this space for details on schedule and planned activities for SARA Field Day 2020.

Looking ahead for our bi-weekly Thursday Technical Topic sessions, Here’s the line-up through August 13 along with additional suggested topics to be scheduled:

Thursday Technical Topic Suggestions Moderator Date
Interpreting Solar Data Joe KC0OIO 7-May
ADSB: Tracking Air traffic with RTL-SDR  Collin KEØIYN 21-May
Accessing WIRES-X on SARA Repeater Doug N9TOW 4-Jun
Field Day – On your own + SARA member challenges and club team competition FD Plans Team 18-Jun
Antennas: VHF/UHF Dave W0OXB 16-Jul
Antennas: HF Dave W0OXB 30-Jul
Operating Procedures/Protocols HF vs VHF Joe KC0OIO
Brad VE3MXJ
13-Aug
Choosing your first radio
Do’s & Don’t’s when setting up your shack
MFJ-259/269 Analyzer Training
Setting up digital voice hotspots
Hamspeak – the language of ham radio Greg K0GW TBD
Grounding & Bonding your station
Station Electrical Power considerations
QRP/Portable Operations (SOTA/POTA)
Optional but useful shack accessories
Working DX
CW: Ways and trick to learning, setup paddles, keys, keyers

Moderators are needed for many of the topics. See something of interest or that you have some knowledge and experience, please consider volunteering to moderate the session. Email me at president at radioham dot org if you are interested in moderating a session. You can also email me with additional topic suggestions. I must note that although we have a great list of suggested topics, many of these topics will not be presented if no one offers to moderate the session. Many of the suggestions can be group discussion sessions. Others may require a little research. See something interesting, 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. That’s what I did for the Solar Data session.

Now onto this week’s activities!
  • 1. SARA Top Band Ragchew
    • Nightly
    • Time: 20:00 Central (01:00 UTC)
    • Frequency:  1.966 LSB +/- QRM

 

  • 2. SARA Monday Morning Ragchew June 1
    • Time: 08:15 Central (13:15 UTC)
    • Frequency:  3.856 LSB +/- QRM

 

  • 3. The Lunch Room
    • Monday through Friday
    • Time: 12:00 Central
    • SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
    • The Lunch Room is a weekday lunch-hour ragchew open to all amateur radio operators

 

  • 4. SARA Two Meter Tuesday (TMT) Round Robin Ragchew June 2
    • 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

 

  • 5. SARA Two Meter Wednesday Round Robin Ragchew June 3
    • Time: 9:00 PM
    • SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DCTS 026 Normal)
    • The Wednesday evening SARA Ragchew on the SARA repeater continues with primary host Rick KØBRThe Wednesday evening SARA Ragchew on the SARA repeater continues with primary host Rick KØBR

 

  • 6. SARA Two Meter Thursday TTT Preshow June 4
    • Time: 7:00 PM
    • SARA Repeater 147.060+ MHz (DCS/DTCS 026 Normal)
    • A short Thursday evening on-air preshow before the Technical Topic Thursday session

 

  • 7. SARA’s Technical Topic Thursday: WIRES-X via WØJH link June 4
    • Time: 7:30 PM
    • Technical discussion on using the new WIRES-X link enable on the W0JH repeater with Doug N9TOW.  By invite to the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association Webex video conference room.