Club Meeting Information & Location

The Palo Alto Amateur Radio Association was first formed in 1937, and then incorporated as a California non-profit orginization in March of 1956, and for many years has had the club callsign W6OTX, formerly held by club member and Palo Alto resident (Ramona St.) Wilbur C. Lauridsen, who died while serving in the Navy during WWII.

PAARA meets on the first Friday of every month (with an occasional exception for meeting room conflicts) at the Cubberley Community Center; 4000 Middflefield Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303.
Telephone: (650) 329-2418. .

In addition to the monthly club meetings, PAARA runs a weekly Net and Swap session at 8:30 pm every Monday evening on the N6NFI repeater (145.230, – offset, 100Hz PL), participates in the ARRL’s annual Field Day exercise during the last full weekend each June (in Menlo Park’s Bayfront Park), as well as other occasional activities.

Founding Documents

PAARA Constitution
Recently found among a collection of historical PAARA documents.
PAARA Bylaws
Current bylaws of PAARA, as last amended in 2007. The original bylaws are also available for historical interest.
PAARA Articles of Incorporation
This document was created in order for PAARA to be incorporated as a 501 (c) (4) tax-exempt corporation.
Menlo Park C_D Radio Club Constitution
The founding document of the Menlo Park Civil Defense Radio Club.
Menlo Park C_D Radio Club Bylaws
Rules governing the normal operation of the club.

Callsign History
The club has had its current callsign, W6ARA since January 10, 2006. It was previously held by long-time PAARA member, Joel Zobel, who became a Silent Key in 1999.  Gerry, N6NV, applied for the callsign after consulting with the Zobel family, and W6ARA was finally assigned to PAARA on January 10, 2006.  The callsign was first used in the North American QSO Party four days later, on January 14, 2006 by Ron, W6AZ, who made 112 QSOs in the contest.  Since then it has been used in every Field Day event.

The club also has had the callsign W6OTX, since at least 1988 (the date the FCC shows for the current grant), and likely back to 1950, when the club originally requested it, to honor Wilbur C. Lauridsen, who served as the club Trustee up until the start of WWⅡ, and who was lost in action early on in the Pacific.  The club’s previous call was W6UAM, which was allowed to expire before the club was able to reorganize.