SARA Home Page ~ last update:  15 July 2023

Shiawassee Amateur Radio Association

Welcome to our web site! Our [SARA] is a non-profit amateur radio organization in lower central Michigan (Shiawassee County) and dedicated to public service, emergency communications, and the advancement of amateur radio through education and technical excellence. Our club call sign is W8QQQ - listen for "Quack-Quack-Quack" on the air and give us a call ! {We also use Quebec-Quebec-Quebec & Queen-Queen-Queen] Club members are allowed to operate the station on a scheduled basis.

Check out our 'club details' on "SARA Club History". 

SARA invites anyone with an interest in amateur radio or public service to come to our meetings and/or join our club. In 2023 we started holding 'live' meetings {again/finally} at the James P. Capitan Building (lower level) in Corunna. We meet the Second Tuesday of each month (except December) at 7:00 PM local. We hope that 'Zoom Only' meetings as only contact  are a thing of the past - though we do continue to use and fire up Zoom for those that wish to check in and can not make the physical meeting. Meeting changes are held monthly at 7:00 PM but check our meeting schedule link as we post current information there [changes]. Dues are $15.00 a year prorated at a 1/2 year interval rates. You can find our membership application here. For any new licensee - we give a period of 'reduced club dues' - so it is "very low cost", check us out and join our local group. You can join us at any of our monthly meetings or at other times by contacting Dennis Phillips, KC8ETW, Treasurer at KC8ETW (email) or email us at W8QQQ <at> arrl.net. [Hint: most SARA members can be reached with email by using their "call letters"@yahoo.com.]

Shiawassee Amateur Radio Association Members ~ HINT:  The "SARA Announces" link on the main menu will have items that you may wish to check frequently. We post items that are new and changing in this local area for  hams, you can use it to stay current! {or let us know if you want to spread information to local  hams and we can assist.}

NOTE: To All SHIAWASSEE County Hams ~ We always need EMCOMM Assistance! This is for ALL Shiawassee County Hams (not just club members). Please review and report your status for the SARA's ARPSC [ARES/RACES] Local Inventory Form.  We keep a log of capabilities and contact information for Emergency Management in Shiawassee County. In general, if you are not  'preapproved' for EmComms [ARES and Skywarn] you may not be able to assist in an emergency, so it is very important to preregister which is free and has no 'strings'. You can <email> data to:   W8QQQ <at> arrl.net or to Shiawassee County Emergency Coordinator [EC] who is Phil Bates, AC8FW. He works directly with our Homeland Security contacts. Let Phil know if you would be willing to assist with county EMMCOMs / Skywarn. We have about 200 hams in the county, but only about 20 in the SARA club ~ and not all want to work EMMCOMS! (Probably 8~10 are all that are truly active!) WE NEED MORE EMCOM  HELP from ALL HAMS for Shiawassee county! The ARES group meets every other 'odd' month before regular SARA meetings, come to a meeting and check out our EMCOMM group. Equipment and other emergency capabilities for use in an emergency need to cataloged and logged to allow quick deployments when required by Homeland Security. We wish county hams would help for Field Day in June!

SARA's Social Grouping ~ Google

We have a Google Group that is open for all to join. SARA's Google Group is called "W8QQQ" and we invite anyone interested to join us. It is free to join. Click on the link to get started. If you join you will get notifications on some important 'local' ham information whenever it is published (meeting notifications, events, etc.) and emails on current topics for all Shiawassee area Hams.

                                             ... and so a GREAT BIG 73! direct to you de W8QQQ  

We hope to see you at a club meeting soon! or check in as it is really easy via Zoom Meeting, Check out the top menu "SARA Club Items" - "Meetings" page for current status and Zoom access.

W8QQQ Website is hosted on 'Google Sites'

The move to Google Sites {2022} required a change into a simpler page structure and we lost some of our past features, but we will work on keeping as many as practical. We ask for your patience as we continue to go through the updating and rebuilding process. Remember this is free labor for our hobby and can take away from the communication aspects at our root interest. {June, 2023 ~ awaiting information on how the sale of 'Google Sites' to 'Square Space' may impact us. Open statements say - "the same for the next 12 months".}

Website menu operation...

The website menu on the top of each page works by "clicking the down arrows" in front of a menu topic. You can not move through the site unless you click on those arrows! They are 'layered' and can go several levels deep ~ it is a 'Google Sites' thing. Take you time and/or search our site to assist you (the little spyglass in upper right corner). Like nearly all Web Sites, the links are "interactive" and there is no single path through the information ~ only your path as you navigate the site's web. Hover over links and make sure you know where you are going!