Baltimore Radio Amateur Television Society

The BRATS will call a special board meeting at the next general meeting on March 9, at 7 pm at the Pikesville Library.

It is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of Edward Lind K3OF.

The next meeting is Monday, Feb 9th, at 7 pm at the Pikesville Library

The Baltimore Radio Amateur Television Society has been awarded a grant from Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. as a part of their Emergency Response and Safety Grants program to continue improving and expanding our repeater network!

This is very exciting, as this will allow us to further improve our existing systems, and expand our reach by allowing us to purchase and install additional equipment for new sites.

BRATS Officers and board members at the BGE Emergency Response and Safety Grants press conference

To the friends and members of the BRATS family, we hope you had a happy Hanukkah, and wish you a very merry Christmas!

As the year winds down, stand by for end of year status updates on some very exciting news, and be sure to stop by often or say hi at our upcoming meetings as Oryx K0RYX leads us into 2015!

The BRATS 2014 Brats Holiday Party & Elections will be held on Monday, December 8th from 7:00 – 9:00 pm at the Greene Turtle in Owings Mills.

The BRATS hosted 164 Cub and Boy Scouts and family members aboard the Nuclear Ship Savannah in Baltimore Harbor for the 2014 edition of the Jamboree on the Air. Scouts, parents, and our volunteers had a blast as we shared several aspects of ham radio, from chasing DX to experimenting with software defined radio.

Scouts make contacts with our two HF stations in the Veranda aboard the Nuclear Ship Savannah

We would like to thank all of the volunteers for their time and support this Saturday, including Walt Mathers, who planted the seeds for hosting aboard the NS Savannah, then walked miles of decks and climbed hundreds of ladders leading tours for the Scouts and their families, Cliff KB3VQU of the NS Savannah ARC for his assistance organizing, setting up antennas, and training our volunteers, Matthew, Shane K2GZL, our prolific CQers Mark W3MSR and Steve KA3ZMN, Johnel, Lizard N3GXH, and Oryx K0ryx.

Mark your calendar for JOTA 2015 — October 16, 17, 18!

Walt leading Pack 307 on a tour of the NS Savannah

For this weekend’s public service event, the BRATS hope to use an alternative to the trailer tower and operate a portable repeater “mobile maritime’ from the S/V Bay Retriever. The top of her mast sits 44′ above the water, providing a great platform for a repeater for the 18 mile walk around Kent Island.

Stand by for pictures of the setup and reports after the event!

It’s time to buckle down as we wind down JOTA preparations, and the BRATS will be returning to the Pikesville Library for the September meeting.

Monday, 9/8/14, at 7 pm at the Pikesville Library.