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Our Host, Ramon, PZ5RA
Ramon Kaersenhout, PZ5RA
Ramon was born in 1948 and raised in Suriname, and Erni (XYL) is a native of
Hong Kong. Ramon has a 22-year old son, Dean, who is studying at the local
university.
Ramon finished school at the age of 19 and started to work as a teacher on the
island of Curacao( Netherlands Antilles). In 1975, when Suriname became
independent he returned to PZ and started studying again. He then became a
headteacher and received a degree in Geography. In 1981 he quit teaching and was
employed by IBM Suriname. He started as a Sales Representative in office
equipment and later was in charge of selling PCs, main frames and the
guided learning center. He worked 9 years for IBM. He and Erni then decided
to go to Holland, where they stayed for about 9 years, until 1999. For the past two
years he has been co-owner of a shop with his brother-in-law. The shop is located in
the center of town and specializes in clothes, parfumes, cosmetics etc.
His interest in ham radio started in the 70's after seeing several demos by PZ1AC
during fairs where they promoted ham radio. He started with CB on 11
meters. In 1996 he received his ham license and quickly developed an enjoyment of digital
modes. Upon his return to Suriname, he received the call PZ5RA. He has also held calls PA3HGS, PB7RK and PZ/PB7RK.
His first antenna was a multiband dipole but after a year he installed the Mosley Pro-67-B beam, with 7
elements covering 10-40 meters. In Suriname there are just a few hams and only two
of them are very active. Up to now Ramon is the only one in the country running
digital modes( Pactor, Amtor, RTTY, PSK31 and SSTV ) in DX. He also enjoys CW.