SARA’s members are very committed to volunteering communications support to many community service events. In the past these have ranged from the Black River Biathlon, MS-150 Bike Tour, Succasunna Days, March of Dimes Walk America, Persons with Disabilities Bike-a-Thon, to the Budd Lake Triathlon.
Many SARA members are affiliated with their municipal OEM’s and are trained and ready for action in case of ANY civil emergency need.
The Splitrock Amateur Radio Association provides amateur communications to many non-profit organizations each year. Below are just a few.
North Jersey Hamfest
March of Dimes Walkathon in Roxbury.
Field Day at Horseshoe Lake in Roxbury, NJ .
DPD Bike-a-Thon “A Ride or Walk for Dignity” Jefferson Twp.
Monthly VE Exams , 2nd Mondays sponsored by Splitrock ARA
If you would like to have the Splitrock Amateur Radio Association provide communications for your non-profit event, please “contact us”. SARA reserves the right to decline a request due to repeater coverage or geographical location. There is never a fee for our services.
The Splitrock Amateur Radio Association (SARA) was formed in 1972 when a group of interested amateurs got together and built an amateur radio repeater from used commercial equipment. It was located on a radio tower on the north end of Rockaway Township, near the Splitrock reservoir (hence the club name). The call sign was initially WR2ADB.
The repeater was moved in 1976 to a site in Mount Freedom under the callsign WR2AKI, and underwent a major renovation. The repeater was relocated again in October 1979 to the White Meadow Lake section of Rockway Township. There it was sited on top of a water tank. When the FCC decided it would no longer renew any WR series callsigns in 1982, the Trustee placed his own call, K2RF, on the repeater. In 2005, as a backup, he obtained a new club callsign from the FCC Group D callsigns, KB2UGK. In 2013 our trustee retired and the new trustee obtained a new club callsign, NJ2SR, (New Jersey – 2 – SplitRock) this one from Callsign Group B. The new trustee elected to use his personal Group A callsign, K2GG, on the repeater, as allowed by the FCC.
The repeater underwent another major refurbishment in 1993. This upgrade consisted of a new controller and a system of multiple redundant amplifiers, exciters, and receivers that could be switched by remote control. In October 1994 a new site was found in Netcong, NJ on top of a 300 foot commercial radio tower. This sites altitude of 1,400 feet above sea level increased the repeater’s coverage substantially.
In 2001 a modern commercial grade repeater was purchased and put into use. In June 2001 the repeater was moved to its current location on top of a cellular phone tower in Roxbury, NJ.
2003 featured the installation of a Weather Receiver to broadcast severe weather alerts in our service area.
In 2007 we installed a remote receive site to cover the radio blind spot in and around the Morristown/I-287 area. Revised Location in July 2018 in Randolph utilizing club tower with excellent eastern coverage.
In 2013 we installed new hard line at the tower and a new antenna, a Station Master II, to replace the old 4-bay antenna.
October 2018 Installed new commercial repeater Vertex 9000 and new hardline at tower eliminated jumper, a new power supply and general wiring cleanup.