Welcome to RATS

Founded in 1972, the Richmond Amateur Telecommunications Society is an ARRL Affiliated general-interest ham radio club serving the Richmond Metro area.  We operate the W4RAT 146.88, 442.55, and 443.5875 MHz repeaters.  Our club meets via Zoom on the third Friday of each month.  Meetings are open to everyone -- you do not need to be a member of the club (or even a licensed ham) to join our meetings.  Most of our activities are also open to the public.  Our members participate in Field Day, the Virginia QSO Party, and a number of other activities in the area.  We invite you to join us.

We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on furthering the art and science of amateur radio by encouraging those interested in electronics and communications to further their knowledge in those fields, promoting the utilization of the higher frequency bands allotted to amateur radio, and offering the use of our communications systems during emergencies and for disaster response.  Learn more about RATS.

Need a license?  See our Get Licensed page.  Our friends at the Catastrophic Amateur Tactical Squad (CATS) offer monthly VE testing in Powhatan County.

Organizing a charity bike ride, marathon, or other special event?  Ham radio can help.  Contact Jim Rubin W4PKR for more information.

Special Offer for New Hams:  Qualifying new members can join RATS for only $1.  Open to amateurs of any license class who submit a membership application within 180 days of their initial FCC Technician license grant.  Renews in October 2025 at the regular rate (currently $35/year).  Online application, electronic billing, and enrollment in automatic dues renewal are required.  Click here and select the New Ham Rate.  Contact info@rats.net for additional information.

WIRES-X Updates

Effective March 20, the WIRES-X VIRGINIA room is now hosted by RATS, and there's a new room number:  68927.  It may take a few days or weeks for all linked repeaters to update and begin idling on the new room number.  Thanks to Kevin Numbers KC8MTV for hosting the Virginia Room for the last several years!  The weekly Virginia Room net is Saturdays at 8 PM.

DMRVA Talkgroup Matrix and Codeplugs Updated

DMRVA has posted an updated talkgroup matrix dated 2/27 which reflects several previously-announced changes to the system:

• Adds new K2VIZ repeater in Topping, VA (Middlesex County) zone MDX. This repeater is part of the RVA Metro repeater cluster and will be included in the RATS LTD and Full codeplugs.

• Adds new WB4EOT repeater on Thornton Mountain (Franklin County) zone FKN. Note that this repeater uses a non-standard offset and will be on the air later this year.

• Changes the frequency for the South Hill repeater, zone SOU.

All official RATS codeplugs were updated on 3/1.  These files are now available for download from codeplugs.rats.net.