SARA

The Sarasota Amateur Radio Association (SARA) was merged into the Sarasota Emergency Radio Club (SERC) on January 1, 2021. This page is a tribute to that organization. Those who were members will never forget the great times they had being a part of SARA.

SARA was formed in 1962 from a group of Amateur Radio Operators looking for technical information of its members for the ever-growing hobby of Amateur Radio. And to share this information with each other to further their knowledge. It received its Charter from the State of Florida in 1964 as a not for profit corporation.

Here is a gallery of some of those good times (click image for larger view):

SARA Memories Part 1

by Bobbie Lander N4HDH

Walter and I were at the Sarasota County Fair and stopped to look at the “ham” equipment at the Sarasota Amateur Radio Assoc., Inc. booth. Wil Holt KD4QJ and Jim cook _______ talked to us. Walter told them he had always wanted to be a “ham” because he loved radio equipment. OF COURSE, they signed him up and we attended the club meetings. Walter took the course taught at Jim’s home and received his license KA4RBM. We became very active in the club activities. We built a radio room, equipped it and put up a huge tall antennae with the help of Jim and Wil.

Sarasota Square Mall had “CLUB EXHIBITION” week and we worked in the SARA Booth. We met Santos and Marisol Sepulveda. They were from Puerto Rico but had moved to Sarasota. They became members. Santos got his license ______. Marisol and I decided to “join” the guys and get our license. We had no trouble with the Morse Code but the technical was a different story!! We bought the “BASH” book, memorized it, went to Tampa, aced the test 100% !!! I received KA4PVB, Marisol _________.

Walter and I lived in Old Miakka, on our ranch “ALOHA RANCH”. We invited SARA to hold their “FIELD DAY” activities at our property. Jim and Wil were delighted. They had bought an old school bus, adapted it with all the necessary radio equipment and parked it at our home. For several years we all enjoyed the “CAMP OUT” with campfire and 24 hours Radio Communications.

When the Sunshine Skyway Bridge was hit by a ship, SARA members were called to come and be the South side radio contact with the North side. That was exciting!! We all got the news before it hit the TV stations!!

In the years we were active, postcards were exchanged whenever you made contact with other ham operators. Our walls in our radio room were covered.
It was truly a fun time for us. Handheld radio came into being and we all had them. Made interesting conversation with by-standers when we were working security or helping at activities that required radio contacts.

Meanwhile, Sahib Shrine Temple was built and chartered in Sarasota and Walter being a Shriner (ALOHA TEMPLE 1960) he joined as a Charter Member. In 1982 He started the Sahib Radio Unit with about 20 members (there were operators from all over coming for the winter months so they also joined the Unit.)

Next article will entail how SARA and Sahib Radio Unit worked together at many activities in Sarasota.

P.S. Walter and I were upgraded to General licenses:
He became N4FCF I became N4HDH

Bobbie Lander N4HDH

SARA Memories Part 2

by Bobbie Lander N4HDH

When Walter became a member of SARA, there was already a member by the name of Walter, so Jim and Wil nicknamed Walter Lander “O.W.” because he’d always answer “Outstanding” when asked how things were going.
1982 Walter chartered the Sahib Shrine Radio Unit with 8 members. Most of them were members of SARA and/or SERC so they all worked closely with the clubs. They enjoyed the Field Days and doing security at various activities with the Shrine as well and helped in booth exhibitions.
The Shrine Radio Unit worked with the new Tampa Shrine Hospital which opened in 1985. Getting patients to and from the hospital and gathering information when needed via radio contact.
The ladies of the Shriners were always actively supporting the men at all the functions. Therefore, they decided to form an auxiliary. They were impressed with the shirts and vests the men wore and wanted to also have them. We named ourselves the “LIVE WIRES”. Those who were hams had their own hand held radios and helped to bring attention to the unit as well.
We all attended the Shrine Conventions and helped with communications among all the Units participating in their various competitions. It instilled other Shrine Temples to also start their own Radio Units and we all stayed in touch over the years.
We all joined the repeaters and participated in the Net Meetings locally and thoroughly enjoyed the unity of all the amateur radio operators in Sarasota and around the world.
In 1983 Walter was appointed to the Divan (Board) at Sarasota Shrine Center and began his 7 year travel to being elected POTENTATE in 1989. He was extremely active in all the responsibilities that came with that dedicated adventure so our radio unit participation took a “leave of absence’. We have renewed our licences and did what we could with the Unit and clubs even though we were not actively involved during those years.
CONGRATULATION TO SERC AND SARA ON THE MERGER. This will benefit and enlarge the love of amateur radio.

This article IS IN LOVING MEMORY OF WALTER ‘O.W.’ LANDER N4FCF
July 3, 1921-November 18, 2020

Thank you for allowing me to reach way back in my “Memory Bank” and let you know how much we loved the association with all the operators in SERC and SARA.
God bless you and keep you more and more in touch with His beautiful world.
Bobbie Lander N4HDH