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Kentucky Colonels Amateur Radio Club – History

In the summer of 1956, a group of amateur radio operators in Bowling Green, Kentucky, organized the Warren County Radio Club and applied for affiliation with the American Radio Relay League.  In September 1956, the group set up a demonstration table at the Southern Kentucky Fair.

Paul Shaw (W4OOS) was the first president and Alger Hanks (K4LOA) was the Secretary-Treasurer.  On November 17, 1956, the club applied for ARRL Affiliation with 18 licensed radio amateurs in the club of whom 14 were ARRL members.  In April 1957, the ARRL approved the application and the club was issued a charter.  The club call was K4OCH.

The club offered their services to the city of Bowling Green for Civil Defense in 1962 and received affirmative replies from Mayor Robert Graham and Sheriff Hubert Phelps. They contacted several government agencies about purchasing surplus equipment and received replies from Rear Admiral Bernard Roeder, US Navy, US Senator John Sherman Cooper, and US Representative William H. Natcher, Kentucky Governor Bert Combs and US Army Major Sidney Rexford on steps to take to procure the equipment.

In September 1962, a motion was approved to adopt the name of Kentucky Colonels for the club if approved and commissioned by the Governor and Lt. Governor; and a letter was sent to Lt. Governor Wilson Wyatt who had given verbal approval.  Final approval was received in 1963.

The first hamfest of the Kentucky Colonels Amateur Radio Club was August 4, 1963 at Beech Bend Park. The major door prize was a six-meter transceiver kit.  Seventy-six hams and their families attended.

In 1965, the club call was WA4VXO. It was later changed to K4LOL and is currently KY4BG.

Source: KCARC Minutes Archives.