RobH

The cost was 49.300 PHP. Thats with all installation and ¾ pipe. They wanted to fit ½ inch, but I said it had to be ¾. It took the best part of a day to fit. Pleased with it.

Just an aside. We used to have a central electric water heater that went on the blink (Thermostat no parts. 6 Kw) I went for a 200L solar heater works fine but it does take a time for the hot water to appear. Thats down to Philippine plumbing practice of ½ pipe everywhere. Going to replace that with 1 inch around the outside of the house, not so bad as its at the back. the plus side is that there is no electric costs and even with no sun for 4 days the water is still hot enough for a shower. the tribe of Filipinos that live here (family) only use cold water for showers and dish washing.

Hi All, Any idea what this type of building costs? per square meter. What its like for heat insulation? I am thinking of building a 5X4m shed for a radio shack remote from the house.

Absolutely nothing, I love her dearly. But some of the stuff she eats even the dogs look at it in a funny way (they are British dogs and won't touch rice either) And I as sure as hell wouldn't eat it.

And of course If your wife dies before you and you have no kids its good bye Philippines.

Strangly enough last night I got an email from World Remit asking why I hadn't uses them lately (for about a year) I soon put them straight. I enjoyed that immensely.

Thats OK for the floor. I was thinking about the bathroom we have tiled surrounds to the hand basin fine till you get to the edge, then you get the raw tile colour, and a sharp edge.

I think my wife is turning British. She insists that the aircon is on at night, and has started to use hot water in the shower, but she still takes an hour to have a shower. Need to get her on to proper British food next.

we have the same tiles, I thought they were wood when I first saw them, nice. Whilst talking about tiles has anyone noticed that there are no edge tiles here, with the small radius. all the tiles in the house have sharp edges.looks bloody awful when it gets to the edge.

This is the same as happened to me. Phone calls sorted out till the next time, three times this happened. They don't read the previous emails, you can't pin down any particular person to get it sorted. I gave them the elbow over a year ago. Switched to Azimo, not as quick, but no constant problems.

I completely forgot to mention. Disaster relief communication is a big thing here, well there are more disasters so its to be expected. PARA does a lot with this. There are local nets on VHF weekly. I can't hear any here. And 7.095Mhz is the HF one. Its all announced on facebook page by PARA.

I started out when I bought a small crystal set when I was 13, My dad found a first world war booklet about making crystal sets. so I started making short wave versions, and used to listen at night in bed. Thats when I found amateur radio. The local hams used to chat every night on top band, it fascinated me I didn't know what they were talking about, technical discussions ,this went on for a long time, and I gradually learned more an more, there was a local government surplus shop where there was tons of components, military radios, which I would vist to buy parts and learn a bit more about radio. When I started work as an apprentice instrument maker ( No they don't make instruments, as such. but electro/mechanical items. we made military radios) there was a scrap yard where PCB boards and components could be bought for pennies. I had progressed to ex government receivers and a proper aerial and an earth. hearing stations all around the globe. I joined the army and used motor bikes to get around. Old motor bikes have been my love for most of my life. I only stopped when I came here. When I got older I didn't ride so much, so it was not such a problem, but I do miss my machine shop and the availability of all that goes with making things. I took my amateur radio exam when I got out of the army and got married, but old bikes were still my main interest which grew and grew over the years. I knew that I would need some sort of hobby when I came here, so when the wife came back here to find us a lot too build a house, she was told to find a lot with tall palms that was big, up a mountain. we got a ready built house, no palms and no mountain. but its nice here so I don't complain, but its a big lot so any aerial can fit. I have a 2 wavelength horizontal loop on 160, balanced feed and it tunes top band to 10. The local club DX3OC does a lot with the scouts and has a yearly Jota thing with them, not so good for me as I don't speak Tagalog. This also applies to VHF/UHF which is nearly all Tagalog, nearly all the locals dont speak English well not as I know it, So it makes it really hard work to have a QSO. there is very little SSB, in Bagio there is some activity I am told. So HF for me. As far as women are concerned there are a lot more on air here than there are in the UK, the proliferation of the Bofeng seems to have affected this, the low cost has brought a lot more people into the hobby here. Unfortunately it has also brought the amount of bootleggers up to a high amount, there are many more of them than there are of us, With little or no enforcement, it has now become unenforcible. Which makes VHF/UHF useless for meThere are a few rich (by Philippine standards) people on HF with modern rigs who do speak English. as far as repeaters go I can't access any from here. There are very few digital repeaters.. I can hear one but don't have any equipment to access it. And I am not prepared to spend on it.

Don't think you can get a reciprocal foundation license. They asked for a full licence when I got mine. But worth an email to PARA to find out for sure. The Philippine version of the foundation licence is for 2M and they have just allowed 70 cms. Thats all you get.

You need to be careful of bringing in radio transmitters. The licence here has the serial numbers of all the rigs on it. the reciprocal licence is the permit to posses and to import. of course the bootleggers just go out and buy what they want. Its a typical Philippino arrangement. Just like road traffic.. The exams are spread about around the country so you wouldn't have to go to Manilla, its just the nearest one to me, a 5 hour bus trip. might see if I can get a full Philippine licence without jumping through all the hoops when I go to renew the reciprocal. I should have my SRRV by then but I am not holding my breath, Cant see why not if you are living here permanently. HF is very popular, especially with some of the new digital modes, FT8 you can work the world on 100 watts, but for me its an automated system with computer to computer on HF. I like computers but not so much integrated with radio. And I use a Mac not much software for radio. Para don't seem to have a database for clubs, because of the low numbers of hams here the clubs are well spread out mostly citys. I found the local one on facebook. The other thing they don't have is a very detailed band plan especially for VHF/UHF. well its the Philippines its what to expect. I am lucky here we have a big lot, I have a 2 wavelength horizontal loop on 160 M fed with open wire, and a balanced ATU. and an Icom 7610, 7200 and a 7100, which I might sell. We are at 15 meters ASL with mountains on 3 sides, pretty but not so good for VHF I can reach just south of Manilla nothing in the other directions

Hi Tommy. I have a reciprocal licence, my original licence is UK. You need to email PARA they will give you all the requirements. Its not terribly expensive or difficult but you need your home country valid licence. They do like you to Join PARA which is useful. I had an antenna stuck in customs for 3 weeks, because they didn't know the rules, email to PARA here in 2 days. they also prefer you to get a Philippine licence, but I won't take 5 trips to Manilla to do the exams. I finished all that in 1976.I am just too old to do it all again. The 2 Meter and 70 Cms bands are not policed, lots and lots of bootleggers, so bad I dont use either now. Buying equipment, second hand stuff is mostly cheap Chinese hand helds or 30 year old crap, best to import, beware of the customs they make it up as they go along. Check Australia or the US for best prices. Very little HF stuff for sale here. No towers or antennas available. the population here is about 100 million, 8 thousand hams, 98 percent VHF/UHF only even those that have the full licence can't afford the equipment UK 65 million 60 thousand hams.