Club call
WN4AFT
Ed Tinney’s first call sign, issued in 1951.
Ed was first licensed in 1951, at age 12, as WN4AFT. He later held the call K4DVJ, which was changed to K5ORW while he served in the U.S. Air Force from 1957 to 1961. When his military service ended, the K4DVJ call was re-issued to him.
He worked in two-way radio from 1961 to 1969, when he was hired by Southern Railway in the communications field. He retired from railroad service on May 11, 2001.
Ed lived in Dallas, Georgia, and planned to move to Tecumseh, Alabama, for the rest of his retirement.
Radio ran deep in his family. Eight amateur radio operators were licensed in his household: Ed, his wife, their three sons, and three daughters-in-law. His father, W4RPO, also lived in Dallas until his death in 1980. The local repeater on 146.850 has been on the air since 1971, carrying his father’s old call, W4RPO.
In later years Ed was inactive on the high-frequency bands, and when he operated it was mostly CW or the two-meter band. He also held a private pilot license and flew whenever time permitted.