We lived in Kansas City, Kansas at first and then moved to Holiday, Kansas when I was five. I had two younger brothers and one older sister at that time. My baby sister was born about a year later. My Father worked as a structural steel ironworker and he boomed around the country from one construction job to the next. My Mother stayed at home and took care of me and my four siblings while my Father was out of town.

      I went to school in Holiday, Kansas to the 3rd grade. I spent two years in the third grade because I was hit by a car while I was playing tag in front of the general store so I missed too much school to pass on to the fourth grade. When I was nine years old, my Father was working in Detroit, Michigan and he called and told my Mother to load the five of us kids in the car and drive from Holiday, Kansas to Dearborn, Michigan. At the time four of us kids had the whooping cough. I believe it was my older sister that wasn't sick. That had to be one of the worst trips my Mother ever took. And this was only the first trip of many my Mother made. I spent the fourth grade in Dearborn, Michigan and my fifth in Dayton, Ohio. We moved back to Kansas City, Kansas in 1942. I went to school in Kansas City, Kansas for my sixth grade and seventh through ninth grades. I quit school in the first few weeks of my tenth grade. Bad Ralph!

      I don't have any of my siblings living at this time. My older sister and my baby sister and both younger brothers have passed on.

      I became an ironworker apprentice in June, 1947 and worked for my Father who had become a structural steel contractor. I married my sweetheart in 1950 and now have two children, one boy, Ralph III and one girl, Pamela.

      While my family and I were living and working in California in 1958 I passed the Novice class radio theory and Morse code of 5 words a minute and became a Novice class amateur radio operator ("Ham") , call sign of WV6ADT. I also passed the Technician theory and received a call sign of WA6ADT. When I moved my family back to Kansas in 1959 I was given the call sign, KØTJB. I then passed the General class amateur code and theory in 1967 and passed the Advanced class amateur radio operator theory test in 1978. I don't think I will ever get to be an Extra class because of the Morse code requirement of 20 words per minute. I had a difficult time with 13 words per minute to pass the General. I haven't been on the amateur bands for a while. This computer and the Internet seems to take up all my time.

      I obtained a High School Equivalency diploma in 1983 and took some computer classes at the Johnson County Community Collage for a few years. The classes were not easy for this old man but I had a grade point average of 3.89 when I stopped taking classes.

      I retired in 1987 after I fell from the high steel and injured my back. I enjoy computer programming and surfing the Internet on the computer and spend more time doing that than on the ham radio bands. I also enjoy reading novels, repairing things around the house. I built 5 computers for my family. My wife of 50 years passed away in August of 2000.

Ralph Hankins

      I'm five feet nine inches tall and weigh two hundred and forty pounds. I have brown hair and blue eyes. I have a beer belly that I gained while I was young and need to loose now. Even though I don't drink much beer anymore, I do like to eat and that keeps me from losing my belly.