Local News and Views
President's Monthly Digest
| To keep all members informed of the latest happenings and news, our new President, Ramon Anquilan DU1UGZ, has started the President's Monthly Digest. To view the January edition, please click HERE. |
2010 PARA Hamvention & 17th International Grand Eyeball
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Hosted by FLARE |
Co-Hosted by COMPASS |
June 4-6, 2010
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For all the information please click on the logos above. |
Ben Fama, K6WAA Donates FT7400 to PARA
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K6WAA,
Benjamin Fama of Carson California has kindly donated a Yaesu FT7400
70cm mobile rig to PARA DX1PAR. It was shipped to an address in
Pateros, Metro Manila via NØDO Noel
Santos of Carson California by door to door box and is shown here
being turned over to DV1VGO Gilbert Galbis PARA Secretariat by DU1EQ
Panny S. Quintana on Friday 29th January 2010.
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DX6PAR
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The Panay Amateur Radio Club Inc., DX6PAR, will be hosting a Ham Orientation Seminar on Saturday, February 27th. More than 50 people have already expressed an interest in attending. The venue will be St. Joseph School, Sen. B. Aquino Ave., Iloilo City. Please contact Bobby DU6BG, du6bg@info.com.ph for more details. |
ACER General Membership Meeting
| DX1ER/ACER held their first quarter General Membership Meeting recently with a good turn out of members as can be seen above. |
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Regular Seminar Schedule Seminars for aspiring amateurs are conducted regularly. Those who are interested in attending please check firstly on the PARA news page for news of upcoming seminars. Please contact the PARA office for more details and confirmation. tel: 974 1986 email: dx1par@yahoo.com Local clubs are encouraged to conduct their own seminars to help their members to upgrade as well as introducing new members to the hobby. Assistance will be given to clubs so please contact Dolores at PARA HQ for more details. |
The NTC Provincial Examination Schedule for 2010 can be seen by clicking HERE
Online Callbook
| You can show your details online in our callsign listing by sending a scanned copy of your RSL to webmaster. |
New Board Members
| Congratulations to the following who were elected to serve on the PARA Board this year.... |
| Ramon Anquilan, DU1UGZ | President |
| Cesar Maligalig, DV1KC | Vice President |
| Mike Hogar, DU1XX | Secretary |
| Jojo Vicencio, DU1VHY | Treasurer |
| Butch Pacana, DU1RP | Director |
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INFEX 2010
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The 2010 International Friendship Exchange & DX Contest Sponsored by the Girl Scouts Ham Radio Enthusiasts for Service (GSP SHARES) From 0445Z to 0900Z (or from 12:45pm to 5:00pm local time) Saturday, February 20, 2010 Please click on any of the following downloads, as required.... |
Cycle 24 Update 1/6/10
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courtesy of KH6/K6MIO, from Moon Net group |
| This plot shows the
northern and southern R indices through December 2009. The
northern hemisphere shows a clear jump in activity that
continued to increase through October, November, and December
(and appears to be continuing into January); and it is
tracking quite close to the Cycle 23 northern-hemisphere trajectory. Even more encouraging is that in November and December, there is a similar jump in the southern hemisphere R, which appears to be approaching the Cycle 23 track. The current, very preliminary, indications continue to suggest that solar maximum may occur around the Northern Hemisphere winter of 2012-13, if normal rules apply (they may not). |
DX Marathon
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The CQ DX Marathon is a year-long activity, beginning at 0001 UTC January 1 and ending at 2359 UTC December 31. Each year’s event is separate. Any authorized amateur frequency may be used. Contacts through repeaters or satellites are not allowed for credit, nor are contacts with maritime or aeronautical mobile stations. All contacts must be made entirely over amateur radio frequencies—i.e., Echolink-type contacts do not count. Any authorized amateur mode may be used. Three modes will be recognized in the DX Marathon—CW, SSB, and Digital. All modes other than CW and SSB will count as Digital. Submissions with all contacts utilizing a single mode will be recognized. Now that Cycle 24 appears to be on an upswing according to the article above, you have no excuse not to participate in this activity. For more details please click on the link below... http://www.dxmarathon.com/Contestrules2010/DX Marathon Rules Dec09.pdf |
Ham Seminar at UST
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| PARA conducted the
first orientation seminar of 2010 with 70 ECE/EE students from
3rd-5th year at the University of Santo Tomas, UST Tan Yan Kee
Student Center, Manila on January 24th 2010. UST has requested a special exam on Monday Feb 15th at the same venue. The seminar will hopefully revive DX1UST, The University of Santo Tomas Amateur Radio Club. |
6m band now available in Bahrain
| Good news from
Bahrain....Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) has released
6 meter for amateur radio. This fantastic news is confirmed by the
long anticipated press release of the new national band plan. Radio
Amateurs in A9
were trying for many years to get access to 6m, a dream which has
finally come true. We got exclusive use of 50.000MHz - 50.500MHz as
primary users, and shared use of 50.500MHz - 52.000MHz. Other minor
changes to band plan include access to new upper part of 40m band,
and UHF band. Bahrain's national band plan can be seen on TRA
website:
http://www.tra.org.bh/en/home.asp
and PDF file of the plan can be directly accessed on this link:
http://www.tra.org.bh/en/pdf/KingdomOfBahrainNationalFrequencyPlanFianl.pdf (Page 15-16) shows 6m. We would like to thank TRA for their major step forward and their continuing support the to our small group of radio amateurs. 73 from Dr Mohamed Ali Albufalasa (A92GR) Secretary, Amateur Radio Association of Bahrain (ARAB) |
New PARA Forum
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A new Forum and Bulletin Board has been created now that we have a larger server space. This Forum is open to all comers but requires one time registration. The old forum posts have been migrated over to this new forum and bulletin board. Please click PARA Forum to register and visit our new Bulletin Board. If you don't know what "Forum" means please look it up in a dictionary. It is not a website, it is a place for your voice to be heard, whether questions about any topic relating to ham radio or PARA, or advice for newbies, or just something you want to post in the various topics to be found in the PARA Forum to start a conversation or thread about something that interests you. |
Ship for South East Asia Program 2009
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| Shown above
are the volunteers who provided communications assistance for
the visit of SSEAYP to Manila recently. Thanks to DU1EQ for the photos. |
77th PARA Anniversary
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The 77th PARA Anniversary activities were held on 21st November and the event was very well attended, surprising even the organizers! Almost 200 hams from all over the country representing all Districts were at the event. Please click on the above for more. Many thanks to Jojo, DU1VHY for the pictures. Some more pictures, courtesy of Aries Almera (DV1VNU), can be viewed by clicking HERE.... If you have any pictures you would like to have linked from here please contact the webmaster. |
Cavite ACE Ham Seminar November 14th
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Cavite Amateur Communication Enthusiast Inc., Cavite ACE, held a successful seminar on November 14 with 53 people attending. At the moment there are no plans for a special exam but watch this space. For more pictures in the Cavite ACE album please click on the above. Many thanks to Elmer of Cavite ACE for supplying the pictures. |
Golf Tournament
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| The 1st PARA Presidents Golf Tournament was held on November 20th, the day before the PARA Anniversary, at the Club Intramuros Golf Course. The tournament raised nearly P250,000 before expenses. |
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A major sponsor was my phone, which provided 5 cell phones to use as raffle prizes for the following day's anniversary. |
Butch carving out another bunker, as if there weren't enough hazards on the course already! |
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To see more pictures from the event please click on the tree... with thanks to DV1KC |
PACC Contest February 2010
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I am pleased to invite you
to take part in the PACC contest 2010, which takes place during the
2nd full weekend in February. The PACC is a “big one”
among the smaller contests with almost 1250 worldwide participants
in 2009! Please have a look at the contest rules. I look forward to
receive your log! For more information have a look on our website:
http://pacc.veron.nl/
and if you have any further questions, send us an email at:
contestmanager@dutchpacc.com The rules may be downloaded by clicking on the VERON logo. |
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IARU R3 adopts CoA
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Amateur Radio Union Region 3 Band Plan has been updated to include
five emergency Centre of Activity (CoA) frequencies. These are 3.600, 7.110, 14.300, 18.160 and 21.360 MHz. The move to adopt these frequencies made at the recent IARU Region 3 Conference, follows similar decisions at earlier IARU Region 1 and Region 2 Conferences. CoA are not spot frequencies, but a starting point + or – 5kHz, are not the only frequencies to be used, and are not mode specific and should be considered as being 'all modes'. IARU member radio societies in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to take action to include the CoA frequencies in their national band plans to help promote their use for emergency communications and training exercises. Jim Linton VK3PC Chairman, IARU R3 Disaster Communications Committee |
PARA Execom Meeting
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A PARA Executive Committee meeting was held on 17th October at the BSP HQ in Manila. Main items under discussion were the upcoming PARA Anniversary and the 1st PARA President's Cup Golf Tournament. More details of these will be published here when they firm up. Present at the meeting were Joey DU1BP, Ramon DU1UGZ, Butch DU1RP, Cesar DV1KC, George DU1GM, Greg DU1GE, Max 4F1BYN, and Dolly and Gilbert of the PARA Secretariat. The PARA Anniversary is scheduled for November 21st with the golf tourney taking place the day before. Thanks to BSP for allowing us to use one of their offices. |
40m Band - 7.0MHz to 7.2MHz
| The Frequency Management Division of NTC recently stated that the expanded 40m band is now available in the Philippines as from 30th June 2009. This date was the final date on which all broadcast stations must have stopped transmissions in the 7.1 to 7.2MHz segment. The statement came about because of prompting by PARA officials and the matter is now apparently resolved so lets get out there and enjoy the new space. You may find that there are some broadcast stations still lingering in the new segment, some from North Korea, but these are now illegal interlopers. |
| 52nd JAMBOREE-ON-THE-AIR (JOTA) and 13thJAMBOREE-ON-THE-INTERNET (JOTI) |
The
52nd Jamboree-On-The-Air (JOTA) and the 12th
Jamboree-On-The-Internet (JOTI) was held October 17th and 18th
at the BSP National Office, Manila. The
theme of the event was “Be prepared to respect and value the
environment”.
Lots more pictures by clicking HERE....thanks to Jojo, DU1VHY For more details please download the general information by clicking HERE |
Meeting with NTC to discuss disaster preparedness
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A meeting was held at NTC in Quezon City last October 2, 2009, in preparation for any impending calamity. The meeting was chaired by NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Asis Cordoba, and present were representatives from PARA and civic radio groups. PARA representatives present were : Butch, DU1RP |
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For a Narrative Report on the Pepeng/ARES activities please click on the pictures above |
More details can be read by clicking HERE
PARA Relief Effort - for victims of Tropical Storm Ondoy
| PARA President Joey Panganiban, DU1BP, announced
that PARA is soliciting relief donations both in kind and in cash
for the victims of typhoon Ondoy. The PARA Secretariat is one of the
designated reception areas for donations. Acknowledgment receipts will be
issued for cash donations. Please bring or send your donations to PARA Office, Boy Scouts of the Philippines Center, 181 Natividad Almeda-Lopez Sts, Ermita, Manila 1000, Philippines. Telephone Number is +6329741986.
Donations are also being accepted at Don
Bosco Technical College in Mandaluyong. DX1DBT is currently
conducting a nightly PARA/ARES net on 144.740MHz at 8pm to 9pm. NTC will shortly be issuing a Memorandum
Circular designating contact frequencies for use during the crisis
caused by Ondoy and possibly also the two upcoming typhoons. The NTC
MC will have a link from this page as soon as it is issued. |
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Albert Velasco, DU1ACV, recently hurdled the challenge of the FCC exams and passed all three tests in one sitting! He is now an extra class license holder with the call ACØQA. Photo shows Albert proudly displaying his certificate of successful completion of the exams from the ARRL. Seated in front of him is the ARRL Volunteer Examiner team comprised of Francis See, Pete Vargas, Jim Clarkson and Eddie Valdez. Congratulations Albert! |
District 1 Meeting 13th September
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| The latest District 1 meeting was held in the Wheatberry Cafe on 13th September 2009. Shown above are some of the attendees, including Marie Uriel, the latest addition to the Hogar family! Thelma DU1IVT is busily scribing away in the picture above so the meeting minutes will be published shortly; check back here for the url. |
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Eddie, DU1EV, recently visited the Tokyo Ham Fair and has made a slide show on YouTube. |
Ham Seminar at Rizal Technological University
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Ramon, DU1UGZ, in full flow. |
Students showing their appreciation at the end |
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PARA presented a Ham Seminar for students at Rizal Technological University on August 12th. Around 80 students attended this first of a series of 3 seminars with a total of about 250 students expected to attend over the next two weeks. The hope is that when students pass the Class C exam they will start up their own club station. |
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My Ham Shack is a place where you get a personal web page for you and your shack. Your friends, family and fellow Amateur Radio Operators will have a place to go to admire your Ham Shack. For example, if your callsign is DU1GM, then your web page address will be http://MyHamShack.com/DU1GM/ You will have a Station Blog so you can write information about you, your ham shack, your experiences, etc. You can build your network of Connections. You will have a place to upload pictures of your ham shack and radio equipment to share with the world. Create and share your own instructional projects. Learn what other hams have done to improve, fix, restore and upgrade equipment in the Projects section. Show others how you put up your own tower. Not signed up? Register today for a free web site for your ham shack. |
DX1L Repeater
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Putting up the PARL clubs UHF repeater at the QTH of Clifford, DU1CC. The repeater is on 431.900MHz, input on 436.900MHz, and uses a 100Hz tone for access. Installation crew: Clifford Certeza (DU1CC), Eddie Valdez (DU1EV), Greg Ella (DU1GE, probably the oldest DU ham still climbing towers and installing antennas - 80 years old), Mike Hogar (DU1XX) and Nicky Academia (DU1NA). The repeater tower was struck by lightning on September 15 and DX1L repeater was among those damaged or destroyed. Cliff is now soliciting donations for the repair of this repeater. If you are able to help lease contact Cliff on 09209616157 |
Cavite ACE Special Exam
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| Cavite ACE held a
special exam last July 18, 2009 at the Christian Values School
in Bacoor, Cavite. The exam was a success with 64 examinees
taking the amateur radio exams, 6 for Class A , 23 for Class B
and 35 for Class C. Present during the special exam was the
Region 4 Director Joselito Leynes. Hopefully the results will be
released in a few weeks from now. More pictures can be see by
clicking on the above... Thanks to Elmer Gomez, DU1EG for the news item. |
DX1DBT at a weekend outing in Pililla, Rizal, participating in the IARU HF World Championship.
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Group picture |
A hard day for one of the youngsters as Max soldiers on! |
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Despite the somewhat muddy conditions in places, caused by the recent rainy weather, everyone enjoyed the camaraderie, fellowship and interaction among the different age and experience groups. Max, 4F1BYN, showed off his new SDR transceiver to good effect. |
For more pictures please click on the above, as well as HERE for many more in the DX1DBT photo album.
Broadband over Power Line, BPL
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Is this something we should be concerned about? Well, BPL is now becoming established in the Philippines and will shortly be trialed in Malabon. BPL uses HF frequencies and has been shown to cause severe interference to VHF & HF receivers/transceivers such as used on amateur radio frequencies as well as government and civil agencies. |
A picture from PARA's 52nd Anniversary
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Left to
right : Jose Mari Gonzalez DU1JMG, Antonio Lazatin Jr. DU1LOG,
Mo Flores DU3MF, Donato Poblador DU7DP, Thanks to Rudy Rojas, DU8RF, for identifying the gent 3rd from left. |
PARA Board Resolution No.1
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WHEREAS, there is a need to adopt an icon that would officially represent the sponsorship of the PARA Annual National Convention; WHEREAS, this icon shall be passed from one District sponsor to the next District host during the culmination of every PARA Annual National Convention conducted; WHEREAS, the most appropriate icon that could be adopted for this purpose is a microphone as it is the most common object used by all ham radio operators; WHEREAS, the first turn over activity shall be conducted during the 2010 PARA Annual National Convention at Tagaytay City wherein the symbolic microphone shall be handed over by the PARA President and the District V Director, the host District in the year 2009; WHEREFORE, be it resolved as it is hereby resolved to adopt a symbolic icon, a microphone, to be handed over from one District host to another at the end of every PARA Annual National Convention; RESOLVED further that the 2009 District V Director be given the task and the privilege to provide the said icon together with its proposed inscription within ten (10) days from approval hereof, to be presented to the PARA Board for approval and adoption; RESOLVED finally that the first symbolic turnover shall be made during the 2010 PARA Annual National Convention in Tagaytay City to be handed over by the PARA President and the 2009 District V Director. Manila, 18 June 2009 |
Mystery of the Missing Sunspots, Solved?
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June 17, 2009: The sun is in the pits of a
century-class solar minimum, and sunspots have been puzzlingly
scarce for more than two years. Now, for the first time, solar
physicists might understand why. At an American Astronomical Society
press conference today in Boulder, Colorado, researchers announced
that a jet stream deep inside the sun is migrating slower than usual
through the star's interior, giving rise to the current lack of
sunspots.
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| PARA now has a Facebook page. To join the group please click on the Facebook logo above. If you are not yet a member of Facebook you will be given the option to create an account. See you there! |
Don Bosco Technical College Amateur Radio Club
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A new article has been submitted to the members articles section of the web site by Mario “Ricky” Maipid, KB4SAD. The article describes the history of DX1DBT, or DU1DBT as it was at the beginning. To view this article please click on the DX1DBT logo. |
Emirates Amateur Radio Society
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The Emirates Amateur Radio Society was formally authorized by the UAE government on February 5 2008 and EARS was accepted into the IARU on February 10th 2009. Based in Sharjah, it has 72 licensed Amateur Radio operators, 28 are members of EARS. His Highness Abdulla Faisal Al Qassimi, A61AQ, is EARS President. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in UAE authorized EARS to conduct examinations for aspiring amateur radio operators. Joining the ranks of EARS operators is our own Edgardo Tumang, DV3SJM, who has just received his callsign A65BC after regulatory changes in the UAE and IARU acceptance of EARS membership. Congratulations to Edgar who has waited since 2004 to be able to operate from UAE! |
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Affiliated Clubs
| Many affiliated clubs
have their own web sites. The latest to advise us of their web site
is DX3UNA, Ulo ng Apo, in Olongapo. To visit their website please
click on their logo above. To see other clubs web sites please visit
our affiliated clubs page
http://www.para.org.ph/clubnews.htm To add your own club's web site to this list please send the details to webmaster. |
| A committee has been formed to publish a new Handbook for Philippine Radio Amateurs. This will be separate from the existing Review Manual. The inaugural meeting of this committee was held on 24th April. The new Handbook will be built along similar lines to the ARRL Handbook and other national society handbooks, but will have a definite Filipino slant. The project is a medium to long term one but we already have a skeletal outline. The committee would like to solicit comments from members as to the contents they would like to see in the new Handbook. Please send your comments and suggestions to webmaster. |
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Reiteration by NTC of requirement for |
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Please click HERE to read the correspondence between NTC and PARA Sec. Gen. on the above subject. Included is a reiteration of NTC Memo 9-4-94 |
Contest News
| Contest news and information about DXPeditions etc will be posted on the PARA Forum. If you are not yet a member of PARA, please contact the secretariat. Paid up PARA members may join the Forum by going to http://para.lefora.com and filling in your username, which should be your callsign, email address and your desired password. |
In Memoriam - now on the PARA Forum
Current Solar information is shown on the Propagation Page
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As Solar Cycle 24 has now started it pays to keep your eye on various web pages that show solar information. We have collected some of this information and it is displayed on our Propagation Page. |
To find out more and to subscribe to the K9YA Telegraph click here....
Inside the February 2010 Issue...
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Autochenilles Across Asia
By Philip Cala-Lazar, K9PL |
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Band Reports Page Here you will find readers reports of propagation and stations worked during the past month or two. Please contribute your experiences so that the page can become a record of propagation to and from the Philippines. |
| District 1 Pakulo 1987 |
| Do you recognize
yourself here?.... |
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Check out some of the bargains to be had on the PARA Ads page. There are more than you can shake a stick at. Just mouse over the description to see the rig of your dreams, then click to go to the Ads page. |
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| Once upon a time there was a PARA QTC Journal. Now, thanks to Thelma, DU1IVT, who has a dog eared, coffee stained copy of the first edition, you can stroll down memory lane. This first edition was published in March 1991 and there are interesting articles and pictures, full of memories of troubled times as well as some good lessons for the present generation. To peer back to those days please click HERE. There will be more issues published, coming soon.... |
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Looking for a repeater near you? Please check out our Philippines Repeater Map
If you find any errors or omissions, please contact webmaster |
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Propagation bad? Is your antenna down or your rig broken? No problem, there are lots of ways to listen on the bands without having a radio - you just need an internet connection. |
PARA Website
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The para.org.ph domain and server cost extra each year to provide a service to members and non-members alike. If you feel you can contribute to the running costs of the website, please contact the Secretariat. The cost of the domain name is $70 for 2 years. All contributions will be gratefully accepted and you will be mentioned on our donors page. Maraming Salamat po. |
Check out the increasing number of articles submitted by members.
http://www.para.org.ph/membersarticles.htm
International Reply Coupons - IRCs
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Do you know there are new ones now available and the old ones you may have are already expired? Click HERE to read more.... |
© Philippine Amateur Radio Association 2010
