The Panama Canal Amateur Radio Association is a ham club made up of a variety of unique operators. The club exists for the furtherment of ham radio, emergency communication services, and public support in the Canal Zone area. The club is primarily open to U.S. Department of Defense employees, such as Panama Canal Commission employees and members of the armed services stationed here in Panama.
The club will admit Panamean citizens into the club who are not U.S. defense employees with certain exceptions. If they are from Panama City, they must first be a paid up member of another club or association here before they can apply to become PCARA members.
(Author's Note:The reason for this is that our club dues are considerably less expensive than other clubs in Panama. When the Association was formed, those rules had to be made in order to assure the other clubs that our association was not out to "steal" their membership.)
An exception to this rule exists for HP2 calls, which are operators on the Atlantic side of the Canal. Since there are no existing radio clubs over there that we can scavenge membership from, they are allowed to join the club without having to be a paid up member of another club. What a deal! All kidding aside, it offers those hams an opportunity to be productive members of an active ham radio club.
This is a listing of the current PCARA Club Officers and Board of Directors. If the individual has consented, his email address and snail mail contact information are provided. The current term for all officers will expire at the end of this year, 1998.