Volunteers Needed for Ashland Half Marathon | SUMMERTHUNDER | MRA Update | more RATS news inside...

Thank you everyone who came out for Field Day at Laurel Park last weekend! We’re still processing the log, and we’ll share the score as soon as we have it. We do know Allan Johnson’s VE team produced 5 new Technicians, 2 General upgrades, and 1 Extra. Congrats to all new hams and upgrades!

While Field Day is fresh on everyone’s minds, we’re looking for a fresh pool of volunteers to take over the club’s winter and summer Field Days and also put together a few other activities throughout the year. Check out this page and if you’re interested in leading or serving on a proposed Activities Committee, send a note to in...@rats.net.

Volunteers Needed for Ashland Half Marathon - August 23

From Nathan N8ELS, via RVAHams Slack:

Hanover County ARES is seeking amateur radio operators to assist with communications for the upcoming Ashland Half Marathon on August 23rd. This event is similar in scope to the Monument Avenue 10K and offers a great opportunity to support the community through emergency communications.

Operators will be assigned to positions such as water stations, medical tents, and in the lead and tail vehicles. We are aiming to recruit 20 volunteers for this event.

This is a fantastic chance to:

Practice operating in a directed net environment
Gain real-world experience in public service communications
Engage with the community in a fun and meaningful way

At this time, we are simply gauging interest. If you're interested in volunteering or learning more, please reach out to Sean Pyne, W4BKR, Hanover County's Emergency Coordinator via email at sean...@gmail.com.

We’d love to have you join us for this rewarding event!

Please get in touch with Sean if you can help.

Big News from the MRA

The Metropolitan Repeater Association has completed repairs (and upgrades!) to their system and the repeaters are back on the air. A few months ago, RATS made a $1,000 donation toward the repair efforts, and many generous hams made their own significant contributions. Now that the repairs are complete, the MRA treasury could use another boost. If you haven’t joined or renewed your MRA membership, or if you can make an additional contribution toward sustaining the operation of these valuable repeaters, please visit the MRA website for donation and membership details.

From the MRA:

Friday June 27, 4 PM, the 145.430 KG4MRA repeater returned to service, full power, sensitivity, and range.

The long saga that was the last ~3 months, will be captured with pictures and narrative at a later date.

Of note, MRA spent the entire Treasury down to $0, $13K to the tower crew, that worked 6 days, 6 man crew, in blazing heat and humidity at 700 feet up the tower. Several BoD are also "out of pocket" even more, to the level of about $2000. So anyone out there using "MRA writ large" please at least renew your memberships, or donate more.

"MRA writ large" means, 145.430, 224.420, and now adding UHF and soon VHF digipeaters (including VARA FM), at the 700 foot AGL tower level, on fresh new feed lines and antennas. So "MRA" is more than the original 145.430 that it was since 1982, and more recently, in 2016 with the move to the WTVR Tower.

Big thanks to all the members and patrons, and to WTVR CBS6, and to Radio Communications of Virginia (Joe Buttner AD4DJ) without whom the MRA would be in a very decimated status.

Big repeaters can be very expensive to build and maintain. We appreciate your support in keeping our stuff on the air, and MRA certainly appreciates anything you do to help them out.

SUMMERTHUNDER Simplex Event in Progress

The popular SUMMERTHUNDER simplex event runs the full length of July. This VHF/UHF simplex contest gives 1 point per station worked, per designated SUMMERTHUNDER frequency+mode, per day. FM, D-STAR, DMR, and C4FM contacts are all valid (work the same station on all four modes, earn 4 points). You can find more information about this event at hamactive.com.

If you’re a fan of simplex or want to brush up your skills, don’t forget about the RVA Simplex Net. This net meets the first Friday of each month at 7 PM, and the third Friday at 9 PM, on 146.490 FM.

June 2025 Member Survey Results

The member survey closed on June 30 with a total of 29 responses. We learned a lot! Thank you everyone who participated!

We have a lot of ham radio tenure in the club, and many members want to share their knowledge.
Public service and emergency communications are top interests among our members, followed by repeaters and digital voice modes and antenna building/DIY.
Members called out no significant barriers to participation in club activities and are willing to travel great distances for compelling events, if we offer them.
Members prefer our virtual format for meetings and workshops, but also want more in-person activities. The survey indicates we have a large pool of members who are willing to help make these happen. (We’ll be in touch!)
Our members are most interested in learning more about digital voice modes, antenna building, HF digital modes, antenna modeling, and propagation tools.
There is strong support for some sort of Tech Night or “Workshop Wednesday” type event (not necessarily on Wednesday) – and we’ve identified some members who can help.
The survey reflects generally low interest in a club loaner equipment program, however, survey responses were heavily skewed toward long-time, higher-license hams who may already be well equipped.
Member satisfaction with our meetings was a mixed bag, and there’s strong support for reworking committee and officer reports to shift club business over to the Board meetings almost exclusively, provided we continue to make videos, minutes, and committee reports easily accessible.
Responses support replacing that time with new and forgotten meeting activities such as introductions, “show & tell”, and other interactive features.
Club leadership scores highly on operational transparency, access to reports, decisions, etc.

The survey results and analysis is posted on our website.

The Board reviewed the results earlier this week and your feedback is already influencing the club’s future. Look for a special presentation on EMCOMM and public service event procedures coming up at our August meeting.

Wild Apricot Migration Complete - Membership Renewals Start July 19

We successfully migrated club member profiles and membership transactions out of the expensive Wild Apricot platform last weekend, and online membership apps are working again. Please take a moment to sanity-check your member profile to ensure we have the correct information on file. In particular, your preferred contact telephone number may not have carried over from the old system. A membership data lookup tool has been provided at rats.net, and a web-based interface will allow direct updates sometime next year. In the meantime, if your data needs adjustment, follow the instructions provided in that system.

The current membership year ends on September 30. Our first small batch of electronic renewal notices will go out on or just after July 19.

RATS is Invited to Join RARC at RVA MakerFest

RATS has been invited to join the Richmond Amateur Radio Club at RVA MakerFest on Saturday, October 15 at Deep Run High School. We’re looking for a volunteer or two to present a professional, welcoming image of amateur radio while answering questions about the hobby from festival attendees. If you would like to participate as a representative of RATS, send a message to in...@rats.net.

Mid Atlantic Severe Weather Conference - November 8 at University of Richmond

The popular Mid Atlantic Severe Weather Conference will bring meteorologists, SKYWARN spotters, storm chasers, media, and the curious public together for a day of presentations on a range of interesting topics. The current slate of guest speakers includes Brent Watts of WDBJ-TV, Ricky Matthews of WAVY-TV, Cheryl Nelson of PreparewithCher.com, Virginia Tech Senior Meteorology Instructor Dave Carroll, storm chaser Jordan Hall, Mark Sudduth of HurricaneTrack, and Maribel Street, Director of Emergency Management for the University of Richmond. More may be added to the agenda.

MASWC25 is Saturday, November 8 at the University of Richmond Jepsen Alumni Center. Discounted tickets (which include lunch) are available through August, and prices begin to climb after that.

More information: https://www.midatlsevere.com/

Berryville Hamfest - August 3

The Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club will host the 74th annual Berryville Hamfest on Sunday, August 3 at the Clarke County Fairgrounds. That's at 890 West Main Street in Berryville, about two and a half hours north of Richmond.

Gates open at 6:00 AM, breakfast starts at 7, BBQ at 11, and great hamfest deals to be had all day long. Hamfest tickets are $10, children under 16 free.

For more information see https://svarc.us/hamfest/

Meetings and Club Contacts

Next membership meeting: Friday, July 18 at 7:30 PM

Next Board meeting: Wednesday, August 6 at 6:30 PM

Link to all meetings: https://go.rats.net/zoom

Meeting minutes and video: https://www.rats.net/club-info/minutes

Listen to our repeaters from anywhere with the Broadcastify network and Brandmeister Hoseline

Club leadership, committee, and workgroup contact information is available on our website.

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