Hi. My name is Ron Hutchison. I have been a licensed amateur radio operator (ham) since 1970. My wife Joanne (K4JRN) and my daughter April (K4AJH) are also licensed and have their general class licenses.  My daughter's husband Jason (KF4TOV), also a general class, is a ham as well as my brother Jonnie (W4AW), his wife Gail (W4ETJ), Jonnie and Gail's daughter Amber (KG4TYZ), and her husband Luke (KG4TZA).  Altogether, counting cousins and in-laws, there are 16 hams in our family.

I am a life member of the ARRL.

We lived near Murray, Kentucky for 19 years where I was a member of the Murray State University Amateur Radio Club.  I also was very active in Army MARS for many years and was at one time the State Training Officer for Kentucky.  Although I enjoyed the discipline of Army MARS, I decided that I wanted to try to regain some of the magic of ham radio that I remembered from my novice days, so I resigned from that service and begin to dedicate myself to pure Amateur Radio operation. 

My main interest is CW, PSK-31, and RTTY. My favorite band is 40 meters. I also enjoyed working CW and SSB on 6 meters when I lived in Kentucky.  Most of my time on HF is now spent on RTTY and PSK-31.  I occasionally work a contest, but I only do that to try to work countries or states that I haven't worked.

My interest in ham radio began by listening to an old 1941 Model 42-380X Philco radio which my parents had down in our basement. It covered 2.3 to 7 MHz and 9 to 15.5 MHz plus the AM broadcast band (This included the 80 and 20 meter ham bands, plus some of 40 meters).  One of the call signs I remember hearing on 75 meter AM during those days was WAØSWE. This fellow had a unique way of saying his call sign that I will never forget.  My brother and I used to record the stations we heard in an old ledger book. We also listened to shortwave broadcast stations.  One of the other things that contributed to my interest in radio was receiving some 11 meter "walkie talkie's" for Christmas one year.  Those radio's became me and my twin brother's constant companions.  One of the features of the radio was a way to send morse code.  We began to learn morse code at this time.  

I was first licensed in December of 1970 when I received my novice license with the call sign WNØDDG while living near Belle, Missouri. My twin brother (Jonnie - WNØEDQ now W4AW) and I were shown the way into ham radio by our high school science teacher Larry Atkinson, whose Amateur Radio Call sign at the time was KØJWN. He is now KØLA. Larry was our "elmer" which is a person who helps tutor you into ham radio. Larry loaned us equipment, gave us the novice test, and helped in every way he could to get us on the air. I remember sitting in the summer evenings at Larry's house in Belle, Missouri listening to his Drake 2B receiver and watching and listening to him working DX on 15 meters with his Hallicrafters HT-37 transmitter.  He had a two element tri-band quad in those days which was turned by the "Armstrong method."  In fact, my brother and I made several trips down into the field where Larry had his antenna to turn it for him while he worked DX. No wonder he was always inviting us over. :-) Larry gave that quad antenna to me several years later.  I put it up while living in Arkansas and had it up for about a month when we had an ice storm that broke the fiberglass arms to pieces. I carried the boom around with me in all our moves intending to use it to make another one, but never did.  I don't remember where I finally left the boom.  I could hear stations on the quad antenna that I could not hear on any other antenna.  It really worked well for the month I had it up.

Note: the following information, for the most part, came from my old logbooks. I would recommend if you are not keeping a paper log, or at least a computer log, that you begin to do so.  You may want to know some of your history when you get older and a log book is a great way to get information about your operating over the years. Write down as much detailed information as possible in your log book for each QSO.  What equipment each of you is using, what your location is at the time etc...

My first ham radio contact as WNØDDG was on December 14, 1970 with Bob Henderson (WN8HDA) in Muskegon, Michigan. I believe Bob is now WB8HDA and is living near Heber Springs, Arkansas.   The frequency was 7188 Khz and the mode was CW. My rig was a Heathkit DX-40 Transmitter [crystal controlled] and a Drake 1A receiver with a homebrew windom antenna which I used with a Johnson 275 watt matchbox (tuner). 

I passed my general class test in the latter part of 1972. I don't remember exactly what month, but I believe it was in September or October.   I received my license on January 20, 1973.  I was assigned the call WBØDDG. I was really hoping to get WØDDG, but it was not to be. I understand that the FCC at the time did issue a few calls by just dropping the "N" from the novice call, but most of us got the "N" converted to an "A" or "B."  My first contact as a general class ham was with Frank (W9IHU), in Chicago, Illinois (CW on 7071 KHz) on January 20, 1973. My first phone contact as a general class operator was with WB5AGZ in Edmond, Oklahoma on 7291 Khz. I was using the DX-40 with an external VFO and running 60 watts on AM.  This was also on January 20th.   My novice license had expired on December 4, 1972 so I was unable to get on the air until my general class license came in the mail on January 20th. Back then you had to wait until you had the license in hand before you could get on the air and it took almost three months (if I remember correctly). Between the time I had taken and passed the general class exam and the time I received the license, I had bought an external VFO that I could use with the DX-40.  I had also rigged up an old CB microphone (a turner) to use on phone.  Everything seemed to work ok and I got good signal reports with my AM station. In August 1973 I moved to Memphis, Tennessee to attend the Memphis School of Preaching and was there until June 1975.  It was during this time that I borrowed my brothers Drake TR-3 and used it beginning February 1, 1974 through April 19, 1975.  I used the TR-3 with the Johnson matchbox and the homebrew windom antenna that I had used as a novice. I also married Joanne (K4JRN) in August 1974 so my ham radio activities kind of slowed down for a while.  In July 1975 Joanne and I moved back to Belle, Missouri.  It was at this time that Larry (KØLA) loaned me his Hallicrafters FPM-300 on September 5, 1975 and I used it until the 9th of September. That was a neat rig.    

We moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky in October 1975 to work with the Potter Children's Home as house parents.  I immediately got an antenna up and made a few contacts with the Heathkit DX-40/Drake 1A station.  We "earned" $400.00 a month working at Potter.  But, after being a preacher student with only about $200.00 a month support, $400.00 seemed like a lot of money. So, while we were at Potter I bought a new Kenwood TS-520 with an MC-40 desk microphone (on credit - $15.00 a month as I recall) from Henry Radio in Bulter, Missouri.  My first contact on it was on November 13, 1975.  It was a great rig.  I was able to put an antenna on top of one of the tallest buildings on the Potter campus and made many contacts from Bowling Green.  Since I left our mailing address at my mother's home in Belle, Missouri while we were living in Bowling Green, I used my WBØDDG/4 call.

In April of 1976 we moved back to Belle, Missouri  while I was looking for a place to preach.  It took us 2 months, but in June of 1976 we moved to Warm Springs,  Arkansas.  It was during this time that I changed my address and received the new call sign WB5UTQ (back then, if you changed your permanent address to a new call area, you had to get a new call sign for that area). I have lost my logs for the time I held this call which was from August 1976 to November 1977.  When we moved back to Missouri in November 1977 I was reassigned WBØDDG.  We stayed in Belle until September 1978 and then moved to 4405 Aloha in Memphis, Tennessee to work with the Knight Arnold Road church of Christ in their child care program.

I took my advanced class exam sometime before we moved from Belle to Memphis in 1978. I received my advanced class license in October of 1978 and was assigned a new call sign (KBØDZ). My first contact with my advanced class license was with Sandy (WB1GYP), in Centerville, Massachusetts on 28587.5 Khz on USB.  I kept my permanent mailing address in Missouri so I operated as KBØDZ/4 while we were living in Memphis.  In October of 1979 we again moved back to Belle.  At this time I ran a hardware store in Bland, Missouri for a friend of mine and repaired TV's.  I also preached for the Smyrna church of Christ near Vienna, Missouri.  We lived in Belle for a year until October 1980 when we moved to Cord, Arkansas to preach for the Charlotte church of Christ.  We were at Cord until April 1981 when we moved to Amagon, Arkansas to preach for the Midway church of Christ.  

In May 1981 while still living in Amagon, Arkansas I took my extra class exam before the FCC examiners in Little Rock and was assigned a new call sign (KR5E) which was a great CW call.  My first contact with my new extra class license was with my brother WB5WRG (now W4AW).  It was on May 16, 1981 on 3893 Khz LSB.  In December 1982 we moved to Galax, Virginia where I operated as KR5E/4. In December 1983 we again moved back to Belle, Missouri. In 1984 we moved to Rolla, Missouri where I operated as KR5E/Ø.  In October of 1985 we decided to go back into full-time preaching and moved to Sesser, Illinois where I operated as KR5E/9.  We were there until June of 1987 when we moved to Almo, Kentucky where I preached for the Hickory Grove church of Christ until December 1997. I operated as KR5E/4 until 1996 when I was assigned W4ET under the new vanity call sign system.  We lived in Kentucky from 1987 to 2005. In 1997 through 2005 I worked at the Murray-Calloway county hospital as an environmental services tech and also preached at the Van Dyke church of Christ near Paris, Tn.  In 2005 Joanne decided that she wanted to try travel nursing. So in October 2005 we packed up and moved to Walnut Creek, California where I operated as W4ET/6. I was not really able to use the radio very much because Joanne's company put us in an apartment. No where to put up an antenna except on the balcony.  I did put up my 20 meter dipole, but did not have much luck with it. In May 2006 we moved to Phoenix, Arizona where I operated as W4ET/7. Again, we lived in an apartment and I did not have very good results, so my ham radio activities were curtailed.  In January 2007, we took a few months off and stayed with our daughter April (K4AJH) between visits to other relatives. I was able to put up antennas for 20 and 40 meters on my son-in-laws TV tower and set up a station in their dinning room. So I worked quite a few stations during the day while they were at work. While we were visiting my daughter I discovered that the former holder of the call sign WØRH had passed away and I applied for it under the vanity call sign system. On February 13th, I received the new call WØRH.  This call was actually my first choice in 1996 when I received W4ET. However, I changed it to my second choice at the last minute and received W4ET.  I chose W4ET because it is a great CW call and because I was living in Kentucky which is in the "four" call area at the time.  WØRH is an initial call sign and that is the main reason I switched when I found out that the former holder had passed away.

In April 2007 we moved to Durham, North Carolina so Joanne could work at Duke Medical Center as a travel nurse where I operated as WØRH/4.  In July 2007 we remained in Durham and Joanne worked at Durham Regional Hospital as a traveler. We were supposed to be in Durham until October 27, 2007, but Durham Regional ask Joanne to extend.  She worked as a travel nurse until February 2008 when she was asked to stay on as staff. On Feb. 24th I started work with the Durham church of Christ as their preacher.

Since we decided to stay in Durham and work, I decided to get my old call sign (W4ET) back which I had held for 11 years.  I did this because I really didn't like WØRH as well as I thought I would, and we were living in the "4" call area again. Also, although I had changed call signs several times over the years, I associate myself with W4ET more than any other call I have held. When I changed from W4ET to WØRH (although the latter is an initial call) it was almost like changing my name. I think some of you hams can appreciate what I am saying.  Since we have now moved to Bristol, Tn. I don't believe I will be changing my call sign again.

Ron, (W7VU) was nice enough to look up W4ET in some of his old call books and this is what He found out about the history of this call sign:

"My call book collection only spans 1953 to 1997, and here's what I found. W4ET is not listed in the three 1953 books that I have. In the Fall 1954 it was issued to Robert W. Gassin, RFD 3, Glenwood Acres, Taylors S.C. Around 1958 he moved to 3 Dobbard St, Greenville, S.C.  He's in the 1959 call book but not in the 62 call books. Unfortunately I loaned by 60 and 61 call books to a friend for the weekend, so the call sign disappeared during that time. In 1968 W4ET was re-issued to a Robert E. Kaval, 504 Eagle Dr. Winchester, Va. He later moved to 2101 Hobson Ct. Augusta, Ga. He is in the 1986 call book. W4ET is not listed from 1987 to 1997 which is the last paper call book."

On August 1, 2009 we moved to Bristol, Tennessee.  This is an opportunity for Joanne to extend her training in other areas and an opportunity for me to once again retire.  It is also an opportunity to live in a smaller city with less crime and less people.  We moved into a home where I can now put up outside antennas, something I have been unable to do for a little over five years.

I upload all my QSO's to LoTW (although not always immediately).  I don't use eqsl.cc because they have some QSL cards on their site that contain nudity.  I will not support such sites and I do not believe nudity has any place on a ham radio site that kids may visit.   I also send out paper QSL cards to those who request them. 

My present station consists of the following:
Icom 756Pro; SP-20 speaker; MFJ 25 amp MightyLite Switching power supply; SM-6 Microphone.
Ameritron ALS-600 HF Amplifier. Drake Line: T4X, R4B, R4A, MS4 speakers; MN-2000 tuner; MFJ-949E 300 watt tuner - Heil Classic microphone - old novice straight key. My antennas: B & W all-band folded dipole, 80, 40, and 20 meter inverted vee's.  3 element 6 meter beam.

Click here to view pictures of some of my past ham shacks. 

73 and I hope to cu on the air.

Ron - W4ET