RATS News - Richmond Marathon updates and more

[RATS General Mailbox]

Richmond Amateur Telecommunications Society
General Announcement

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Additional volunteers needed for the Richmond Marathon - Saturday, November 11

Due to some last minute cancellations, a few additional comms volunteers are needed for the Richmond Marathon.  If you're available Saturday morning please contact Jim Rubin W4PKR via e-mail.

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Upcoming activities on the RATS repeaters

Please be aware of the following upcoming activities:

• Wednesday, November 8 (7p) - The weekly RATS net will QSY to our 442.55 repeater for a one-week performance test.  WIRES-X network services will be disabled on the repeater from 6:45 PM to 8:00 PM Wednesday.

• Thursday, November 9 (4p-7p) and Friday, November 10 (4p-8p) - Communications volunteers for the Richmond Marathon will be picking up their supplies in advance of Saturday's event.  There will be occasional talk-in traffic on the 146.88 and 145.43 repeaters.  These repeaters should remain available for regular use, but please keep transmissions short and leave some extra space to allow talk-in traffic to reach Net Control.

Several local repeaters will be carrying moderate to heavy traffic supporting the Sports Backers Richmond Marathon on Saturday, November 11.  Repeater users not participating in this event should take note of the following information and plan to use other local systems during this event.

• The RATS 442.55 repeater is a primary channel for the marathon.  This repeater is closed to non-event traffic on Saturday.  The WIRES-X system will be disabled to prevent conflicting digital traffic, and all C4FM input will come out as analog FM (like the 146.88 repeater).

• The DMR "Richmond Metro" talkgroup (27500) is a primary channel for the marathon.  Users of the RATS DMR repeater and the directly-linked Petersburg DMR repeater should limit use of time slot 1 talkgroups to ensure the time slot remains available for marathon traffic.  Virginia Statewide (3151 on time slot 2) is a recommended alternative for short QSO's.  Richmond Metro traffic is carried on the Richmond, Beaverdam, Petersburg, Powhatan, and New Kent DMR repeaters.  Users of all five repeaters will notice increased activity on time slot 1 due to traffic on Richmond Metro.

• The MRA 145.43 repeater is also a primary channel for the marathon.  Stations not involved in the event should plan to keep clear of this repeater.

• The RATS 146.88 repeater is a backup repeater.  It may handle occasional overflow traffic if the other three systems are too busy, and it would serve as a backup if one of the primary repeaters were to go off the air.  The 146.88 repeater will remain open for regular traffic unless needed for backup service.  All users are asked to keep transmissions short, leave extended pauses (5 seconds) between transmissions, and immediately yield to marathon radio traffic.

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Upcoming Meeting Information - including a December Board meeting

The next monthly RATS Membership meeting is Friday, November 17 at 7:30 PM via Zoom.  Club member Rob Marshall KI4MCW will be giving a presentation on HOA-friendly HF antennas.  Please join us.  You'll find the links to our meeting rooms on our web site at https://rats.net/meetings.

The RATS Board traditionally skips its December meeting, but not this year.  There's enough going on to justify a December Board meeting, so that'll happen on the first Wednesday (Dec. 6) at 6:30 PM, as usual, via Zoom.  Club members are invited to join.

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Winter Field Day is right around the corner

Jeff has made contact with Pocahontas State Park about returning to the cabins for a repeat of last year's event, so we expect to be back at Pocahontas in January.  Winter Field Day is January 27 and 28, 2024.  We need a few volunteers to help put together this year's event.  Please contact the RATS Board if you've got some ideas how to make Winter Field Day more fun or if you'd like to be on the planning team.

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Auto-pay is here!

RATS is pleased to finally offer our members the added convenience of automatic dues payment!  Members enrolled in automatic payments will be invoiced for the next year's dues at the current year's rate approximately 45 days before the end of the membership year -- around August 15.  These charges will be conveniently billed to the card on file on October 1, renewing the membership for one additional year, no member action required.

Enrollment in automatic payments is now required for all new members joining on or after November 4, 2023.  All new members will be required to keep a valid payment card on file in our membership management system.

Existing members will be prompted to enroll in automatic payment during their next renewal (October 2024) but we are providing a way to opt-out.  If you would prefer to stick with our existing fully-manual renewal process, simply e-mail secr...@rats.net and we'll take care of you.

Learn more at https://rats.net/autopay

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RATS net to QSY to 442.55 for the November 8 net

The RATS net will move to the 442.55 repeater for the November 8 net.  We're just curious how it performs, if we hear anyone new, and whether it's noticeably easier or more difficult for certain regulars on our net.  This move is intended to last only a single week, but that could change at the discretion of the RATS net controls.

The 442.55 repeater normally operates as a primarily-digital system, linked 24/7 to several other Yaesu System Fusion (C4FM) repeaters in Virginia over the WIRES-X network.  The WIRES-X system will be disabled during the RATS net and the repeater will be handling local traffic only.  Stations wishing to participate in the net should use regular FM with a PL/CTCSS tone of 74.4 Hz.  The RATS UHF repeater uses a positive offset.

This net normally meets on the 146.88 repeater Wednesdays at 7 PM.
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Annual club asset inventory is complete

The RATS Technical Committee performs periodic inventories of the club's tangible assets at intervals established in agreement with the club's Board of Directors:  a full inventory of all items every five years, and an annual review of selected item categories all other years.  Inventories are timed to immediately follow the transition to a new Board in October of each year, and are intended to provide improved accountability for the whereabouts, condition, and proper disposal of the club's property.

This year's inventory verification was submitted into the club records on November 1.  All expected assets were present and updated photos were captured, except for tower-mounted equipment.  Members may view current and historical inventory documentation here.

The last full inventory was started October 2022.  The next inventory verification will take place in October 2024, with the next full inventory in October 2027.

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Sept/Oct 2022 Minutes & video posted

As discussed at the October Board and Membership meetings, the Membership meeting minutes from September and October 2022 still require the review and approval of the membership.  Draft minutes and links to download the corresponding meeting videos have been posted for member access here.  Given the amount of time that has elapsed since these meetings, members are encouraged to review the video and minutes for accuracy.  The membership will be asked to approve these two sets of minutes at the November 17, 2023 meeting.  If you have edits or other concerns please contact secr...@rats.net.

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New RATS General Contact Address

RATS has established a new in...@rats.net mailbox as a general point of contact for the club.  We've begun de-emphasizing the use of bo...@rats.net as an all-purpose contact address, so you'll hear us give that one out less often and you'll see less of it on our web site.  For improved handling of general inquiries, the new in...@rats.net box can be monitored by all Board members, our committee chairs, selected RATS Elmers, and other core RATS personnel.  If there's no dedicated e-mail address for the matter you need help with, in...@rats.net is the place to go.

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Next Meetings

Board Meeting - Wednesday, December 6 at 6:30 PM
Membership Meeting - Friday, November 17 at 7:30 PM

Meetings are held via Zoom.  Access codes and meeting links were recently changed.  See rats.net/meetings for current details.

You can find video and minutes from recent meetings at rats.net/minutes.

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Questions and general comments about RATS may be directed to the club's General Mailbox, in...@rats.net
Membership questions or news to share with the club?  secr...@rats.net
Questions about dues or other financial matters?  trea...@rats.net
Want to give a presentation at a RATS meeting?  prog...@rats.net