W4ET

Updated October 11, 2010
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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 live near Bristol, Tennessee in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains.

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, Icom IC-740 tranceivers; SP-20 and Yaesu speakers; MFJ 25 MightyLite Switching power supply; SM-6, HM-36, Heil Classic Microphones. Ameritron ALS-600 HF Amplifier; Drake MN-2000 and MFJ-949E tuners. Drake Line: is for sale. If you are interested please contact me at the email address above. Drake T4X, R4B, R4A, MS4 speakers; Old novice straight key and Bencher paddle. My antennas: B & W all-band folded dipole, 80, 40, and 20 meter inverted vee's. 3 element 6 meter beam, 11 element 2 meter beam (not up yet).

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

73 and I hope to cu on the air.

Ron - W4ET

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This is my twin brother Jonnie, WNØEDQ (now W4AW) in 1971 or 1972 at our station on our parents farm about three miles south of Belle, Missouri in Maries county. Somewhere I have a picture of me sitting at this station but so far I've been unable to find it. The "shack" was located down in the basement in my Dad's former dark room. The cat liked to sit on the transmitter in the winter time to keep warm. My call sign at the time was WNØDDG. The station consisted of a Heathkit DX-40 transmitter, Drake 1A receiver, a Johnson "matchbox" Tuner, and a straight key. The antennas were a windom for 40 and 80 meters, and a homemade two element 15 meter beam. We switched between transmit and receive using a knife switch. I used this station on AM after I upgraded to general class and after I purchased an external VFO. It was the only station I could afford for a while.

	This is me (W4ET, then WBØDDG) operating at my "in-laws" house in 1975 in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm using my Kenwood TS-520 and my Johnson matchbox tuner which is hidden to the right of the rig. I set up the rig on the kitchen table. The fellow sitting next to me is my father-in-law Robert Boling who was very interested in ham radio. Dig my groovy pants!
	This was my ham shack in Almo, Kentucky in 1987 when I was KR5E and preached for the Hickory Grove church of Christ. The little fellow in the picture is my son David, who is now grown and has his own family. If you look closely, you will see a Kenwood TS-830S, the old Johnson Matchbox Tuner sitting on top of a Dentron Super Tuner, a commodore 64 computer (which I used on RTTY), along with a computer printer and a portable TV that I used for a monitor (boy was that hard to see). You can also see the tip of my old MC-50 Microphone right above David's head.
	This was my station in 1989 at Almo, Kentucky where we lived for ten and a half years. In the picture is a 20 amp power supply, Johnson matchbox (tuner), Dentron super tuner. An Icom IC-735 and a Kenwood TS-830S transceiver with a MC-50 microphone.
	This was my ham shack in Stella, Kentucky in 1997 or 1998 shortly after we moved into our new house. The rigs are a Kenwood TS-440sat (right), MFJ Antenna Tuner, TM-241 2 meter rig, and an Icom 735 to the left.
	This was my 2004 Station in Stella, Kentucky where we lived from 1997 to 2005. The station consisted of an Icom 706 MKIIG, Yaesu FT-767GX, Drake 2C speaker, MFJ Tuner, Bencher paddle, SM-6 Microphone, Kenwood MC-50 Microphone, B & W all-band folded dipole, 3 Element beam for 6 meters and an 11 element beam for 2 meters.

The Drake "B" Line was my "dream station" when I was a novice back in the 70's. Of course I couldn't afford to buy one then. In 2005 I was able to aquire a Drake "B" Line. It consisted of a R4B receiver, T4XB transmitter, matching Drake Speaker, D-104 Microphone, MFJ Tuner, MFJ Electronic Keyer, and a Bencher paddle. How well I remember drooling over the pictures of the Drake Line in the old QST's.

This is a picture of my 2 complete Drake "B" twins shortly after I bought them in 2005. I later sold one station and kept the other one for a year or so before I sold it.

This was my 2005 Stella, Kentucky station. It consisted of an Icom IC-756pro, Ameritron AL-811 HF Amp, Desktop computer, Drake 1KW Tuner, SM-6 Microphone. Antennas were a B & W all-band folded dipole, homebrew G5RV, 3 element six meter beam, and 11 element two meter beam.

	This was my portable station in Walnut Creek, California October 2005 to April 2006. I made several contacts with a 20 meter coaxial dipole draped over the balcony. Not a very good location for HF.
	We moved to Phoenix, Arizona in April 2006. I used the 20 meter coaxial dipole laying on the floor of the balcony. It did not work well because we were in a stucco building and the balcony floor was cement. Unfortunately, our apartment balcony faced the apartment building office. There was really no way to get an antenna up without being discovered.

This was my portable station in Glendale, Arizona December 2006. I used my 20 meter coaxial dipole on the balcony, but it wasn't very effective because of the stucco building.

This was my portable station at my daughter's home in Tri City, Kentucky in March 2006. I received a new call sign (WØRH) while here on February 13, 2007. The station consisted of an Icom 756pro transceiver, SM-6 Microphone, Bencher paddle, Compaq Armada M700 laptop computer with external monitor, 20 meter coaxial dipole and a 40 meter inverted vee.

This is Joanne (K4JRN) at our portable station in Tri City, Ky. March 2007

Another picture of Joanne operating in Tri City, Ky. 2007.

This is our 6 year old grandson Anthony talking to my brother Jonnie (W4AW) in March 2007 at my daughter's home in Tri City, Kentucky.

This was my "ham shack" in Durham, North Carolina when we first moved to Durham in April 2007. We were in the Southern part of Durham near the junction of NC 54 and NC 55 in the Korman Community apartments. We were located on the third floor. I used this setup which consisted of using online remote bases before I set up the "real" ham equipment. When I got the real radio's set up it was the same setup as below. I used the 20 meter coaxial dipole sitting on top of the railing of the balcony. It worked well and I made quite a few contacts from this location.

	This was my ham shack in our home in Durham, N.C. We moved there February 24, 2008. I was using a 20 meter coaxial dipole in the attic and a ham stick dipole for 40 meters. I also had a Tak-tenna for 40 meters in the attic. It seemed better than the ham stick dipole, but not much better.
	This was my ham shack as of January 2009. Drake twins (T4X transmitter; R4B receiver; R4A receiver (not shown); MS-4 speaker; D-104 microphone; Drake MN-2000 antenna tuner; Heil Classic microphone; Icom IC-756pro, MFJ-949E antenna tuner, Bencher paddle, and my old straight key. On top of the Drake tuner is the Icom SP-20 speaker and the Palstar WM150 SWR/WATT meter. The antennas consist of a half-wave 40 meter dipole with about 16 feet on each side of the antenna at right angles to the rest of the antennas (in order to get it to fit) and a 20 meter coaxial dipole in the attic.
	First operating position of the Ham shack as of March 2009. Icom IC-756pro; Icom SM-6 microphone; Ameritron ALS-600 solid state amplifier; Drake MN2000 antenna tuner; Bencher paddle; Icom SP-20 speaker; Palstar WM150 SWR/WATT meter. The antennas consist of a half-wave 40 meter dipole with about 16 feet on each side of the antenna at right angles to the rest of the antennas (in order to get it to fit) and a 20 meter coaxial dipole, both in the attic.
	Second operating position March 2009: Drake twins, T4X transmitter; R4B receiver; R4A receiver; MS-4 speakers; MFJ- antenna tuner; Heil Classic microphone; Old straight key. The T4X and the R4A were in great shape when I got them. The R4B had some problems which were corrected by cleaning the switches and putting in one new tube.
	This is our daughter April (K4AJH) making her first HF psk-31 contact from our station in Durham, NC (2009)
	This is our son-in-law Jason (KF4TOV) making his first HF psk-31 contact at our station in Durham, NC (2009)
	This is our ham shack at our present QTH in Bristol, Tn. (January 2010). When the blinds are open we have a great view of 4200 foot Holston mountain which is about 12 miles from us.
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THE RADIO AMATEUR'S CODE

	This is where my interest in radio began. This is a 1941 Model 42-380X Philco radio that my parents had down in our basement on our farm near Belle, Missouri. My brother (W4AW) and I used to listen to hams on 80 and 40 meter AM. We also used it to listen to shortwave broadcast stations. I kept a log of the stations we heard on this radio in an old ledger book. I still have that book and it's fun to look back in it and see who we heard all those years ago. One ham that I remember was WAØSWE. This fellow had a very unique way of saying his call sign that I'll never forget.
	My Novice receiver was a Drake 1A. This was one of the few receivers at the time it came out that didn't weigh over 40 pounds. It was a great SSB receiver and held it's own on CW too. I bought this in 1970 from a CB'er who called himself "Yogi" for $85.00. I'm not sure if "Yogi" had been or was a ham. He evidently knew his electronics. He lived in a single wide house trailer in Vichy, Missouri which had stereo and tv equipment scattered all around that he was fixing for folks. He also fixed CB's for people. I remember that along with the electronics equipment there was at least one goat, a dog and chickens roaming around the trailer too.
	The Heathkit DX-40 was my Novice transmitter. I bought it from Larry (KØLA - then KØJWN) for $40.00 in 1970. It was a great transmitter and I used it on AM after I got my general ticket. I had several crystals for the 40 and 80 meter novice bands as well as a few 15 meter crystals. After I upgraded to General Class I added a Heathkit VFO to it.
	This is an E. F. Johnson 275 Watt Matchbox Tuner. It is not a picture of mine, but it is just like it. I bought my tuner in 1970 and used it with a windom antenna for 40 and 80 meters. It worked quite well. I kept it up until a few months ago and sold it to someone who intends to restore it. It would be nice to see it restored and working again.