You are here:

Home
About Us

Maldives Amateur Radio Society (MARS) is a registered NGO at Ministry of Youth, Sports & Community Empowerment – Republic of Maldives. Registered on 10th December 2017 (at Ministry of Home Affairs).

Our Aims are:

To spread Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) awareness in Maldives.
To increase the number of Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) Operators in Maldives.
To make Maldives a disaster prepared country in terms of Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) with a Nationwide network.

Elected Office Bearers:

#	Post	Name	Call Sign
1	President (Founder)	Ali Mahir	8Q7AM
2	Vice President (Founder)	Mohamed Ibrahim (MI)	8Q7MI
3	Treasurer	Ibrahim Rasheed “Parker”	8Q7PR
4	Secretary	Abdulla Ismail	–
5	Program Coordinator	Mohamed Ivan Latheef	–

A Bit of History:

Our President (Founder), Mr. Ali Mahir – 8Q7AM, is one of the most active and longest-serving Amateur (Ham) Radio Operators in the Maldives. As an Amateur Radio Operator, Mr. Mahir experienced the terrorist attack in 1988 and later the Tsunami in 2004. During both incidents, he assisted the authorities and recognized the need for more Amateur Radio Operators in the Maldives.

Later, in 2006 and 2007, he helped The Scout Association of Maldives run a Radio Station during the annual JOTA-JOTI event. Jamboree on the Air – Jamboree on the Internet (JOTA-JOTI) is the largest Scouting event in the world, with over 1.5 million Scouts participating across more than 150 countries. Scouts and Guides from around the world connect with each other during JOTA-JOTI using the airwaves and the internet.

It was during the JOTA-JOTI events that we began discussing the formation of a Radio Club, as others also developed an interest in the hobby.

Formation of the Radio Club: Around 2014, we revived the idea of establishing a Radio Club and began by meeting with technical experts to seek their advice, as Amateur Radio was still a relatively new field in the Maldives. We also wanted to identify whether there were any existing Clubs or Radio Operators we were not aware of. Subsequently, we held a series of meetings with the relevant Government Ministries and Departments to discuss Amateur Radio and its role in disaster preparedness.