Amateur Radio: Buzz Kutcher a ham for more than 40 years

By Sherri Ellington

“The first time Buzz Kutcher sat for his amateur radio license, he did not pass. Now he is president of the Butts County Amateur Radio Club and has many awards under his belt. He is also the ham emergency coordinator for Butts County.

Kutcher got involved in the amateur radio world in the 1980s while living in York, Pa. He first talked on ham radio as a child. A family friend known as uncle Jack was “the first ham I ever met. I took a class with my high school friend Barry. He passed and I didn’t,” Kutcher said.

Both of them were Kutcher’s “Elmer’s,” or mentors, Kutcher said. “You Elmer people and the hobby grows. There’s a big social aspect,” Kutcher said. “It’s a heck of a lot of fun. I’ve been a ham everywhere I’ve lived.”

Buzz and Frieda Kutcher came to Jenkinsburg in 2004, via South Carolina through his job at Caterpillar.

“There were clubs in York and Sumter, S.C., but there was no organization here,” he said. “There are a lot of people who deserve credit for getting things started here.”

The fledgling group set up a ham radio communications network for Butts County after being contacted by Butts County Emergency Services Director Glen Goens about the Citizens Emergency Response Team. The mounted search and rescue group wanted to convert from family to amateur radios…READ MORE