Michigan Radio Amateurs Technological Society

Welcome to MIRATS!

Welcome to the Michigan Radio Amateurs Technological Society! Our callsign is WE8CHZ. We are an FCC-registered amateur radio club.

While we focus on Michigan residents, anyone can join us. We enjoy exploring radio tech, using it in real-life ways, and diving into other parts of the radio hobby—whatever sounds fun.

We are an online club, so we don’t have a physical meeting spot. Most of our chats happen on Discord, and is highly recommended to use Discord as the primary way to interact with club members, but you can also reach us on our Facebook that we almost never check. Joining the club is as easy as getting on the Discord server and asking to join. We’d love to have you onboard!

Our members often hang out on the IRA Linked Repeater System (w8ira.org), the W8BCI repeater in Lansing (w8bci.org), and others like West Michigan Connect on Wires-X.

List of Michigan Repeaters | List of Michigan Nets

Adventures in Motorola Radius M1225 R.I.C.K. programming, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Not Love the R.I.C.K.

April 6, 2026N8GMZ

Got two Motorola Radius M1225 radios and a R.I.C.K. repeater controller and want to make a repeater? First off, there is no ID, so it’s not legal for amateur or GMRS use. Second, seriously rethink it. There are tons of other ways to go about this. You’re about to go...

Simple and Preconfigured DM32-UV CSV DMR Contact Lists for Michigan, NA, and sections of the US

March 21, 2026N8GMZ

NOTE: Firmware version 1.47 will allow for 150,000 contacts but gets rid of voice recording. If you want to keep voice recording, stay on 1.45 and only import 50,000 contacts. Else you can upgrade to 1.47 and load all of North America on. Here is the DM32-UV CSV file for...

The Easy Way to Get the DM32-UV to connect with CPS software

March 21, 2026N8GMZ

To write to the Radio: And that’s it. Pretty simple, but also confusing...

The “Not So Confusing” Method to Upgrade Firmware on the Baofeng DM32-UV

March 21, 2026N8GMZ

Some things to note:...

How To Use 44Net-Connect and Proxmox To Route A Subnet

March 6, 2026Jay NT0Y

Setting up a new 44Net-Connect VPN tunnel is required before following this guide. This next section is completely optional and requires a few things. First, we’re going to create a dedicated 44Net network and a new LXC in Proxmox. Next, we’re going to configure the LXC as a Linux router...

How To Use 44Net With A 44Net-Connect VPN Tunnel

February 26, 2026Jay NT0Y

What’s 44Net? 44Net is simply a collection of IP version 4 addresses on the public internet. The 44.0.0.0/9 and 44.128.0.0/10 networks are put aside strictly for amateur radio use and are managed by the ARDC, or Amateur Radio Digital Communications for the exclusive use of hams worldwide. The ARDC sold...

The 9 Most Wanted Maidenhead Grid Squares in the US

February 24, 2026N8GMZ

So you’re hunting grid squares? This can be a challenge, especially if your mode of choice is FM satellite. If you want to know what the very rare grids are, this compiled list should help you. It should be noted that this is a personal list, and not based on...

How To Create Stunning AllStarLink Custom Voice Announcements Right Now

January 21, 2026Jay NT0Y

You’ve just gotten your new AllStarLink 3 node up and running, either on your high-power simplex repeater, or on a long-range full duplex repeater setup. Awesome! But the thrill is gone once you realize it can only use CW to identify itself. No announcements, no voices, no time…… nothing. Let’s...

Connect to an AllStar Node Using DroidStar For Great Audio Quality

January 9, 2026Jay NT0Y

Traditionally, for those who travel but would love to get into their regular local repeaters, two technologies were the default. First was the IRLP or Internet Radio Linking Project, which required very specific hardware and was focused on repeater-to-repeater internet linking instead of the end-user. Echolink was developed to bridge...