Hello! I am Steve, AB4I. I live in southwestern Virginia in the county of Pulaski at grid square EM97qd. I am primarily a low-band CW operator, but do actually have a microphone that gets occasional use. I am a casual DXer and sometimes contester, using mostly homebrew vertical antennas and my 80M horizontal loop. I have been a radio amateur since 1970 and was assigned the callsign AB4I in 1978 when I became an Extra Class licensee. My radio background is pretty diverse and includes homebrewing all sorts of gear and antennas, traffic handling, contesting, DXing, QRP, some light digital dabbling, and occassional public service events.

I have worked DXCC on nine bands, all with homebrew verticals, but there will likely be a horizontal array in the near future as the sun spots of Cycle 24 become more numerous.  As the saying goes 'the first 300 couuntries are the easiest' and I have come to appreciate that piece of wisdom.

I tend to be a 160-meter denizen much of the time, but I have had an interest in VHF from the beginning, especially 6-meters.  This past summer I fired-up on 6M for the first time with the K3, using the 80M horizontal loop and it worked amazingly well.  I have 42 states and 10 countries on 6-meters and am enjoying the hunt.  Some horizontal aluminum for 6M will likely sprout at AB4I sometime in 2010.

I enjoy collecting QSL cards and always respond in turn. An SASE is not necessary for you to receive a return card from me. Drop me an email if you want a log check. I have also recently become somewhat active with LOTW and am slowly getting caught up with that system and will eventually upload about 20K QSO's, going back to the first one in 1970.

73 & good DX,

Steve
AB4I
cwforever