Hello to all:

My station is a  solar powerd amateur station, located in rural western Tennessee. Because of the  limitations of my  power source, I  can only run 100-110 watts out.

My staion is located in an underground storm shelter which I have converted into my "man-cave" with carpet, TV/DVD, Wi-Fi, couch, chair and double bed- all the comforts of home- 10 feet underground, where I can work the bands, surf the web or watch a movie without being disturbed!!

My HF rig is a Kenwood TS440-S with the vintage kenwood MC-60 desk mic

My antennas are currently a Hy-Gain Vertical up 45 feet  with over 700 feet of grounding radials , and two W5GI collinear arrays, up 35 feet. These are in  V  sloper configuration. One V points NorthEast, the other points SouthWest. I have the ends tied off to trees and the antenna ends are about  16 feet above ground. The ground slopes off steeply in the soutwest direction which seems to give the antenna a better "take off". So far in my tests the W5GI's are outperfoming the vertical, which is a suprise. The W5GI's have a bit more noise. I guess from local power lines because there is no other RFI emitting sources within miles.

I have a 2 meter vertical side mounted on the tower and run an APRS repeater station K4SOL-1 at my QTH which is active 24/7 on 144.390

My callsign- K4SOL- represents the fact that my station is solar powered, but in big DX pileups, with  100 watts   competing with  the big gun multi element Yagis. log periodic arrays and 2KW's-- "SOL" has another meaning too- S*** Out of Luck!!. A lot of folks get a chuckle out of the callsign. Well-at least its one they remember!

I work  the 20, 15, 17, 12 and 10 meter bands, but I really enjoy 17 and 12 meters and thats where you'll find me whenever they are open. I do work 40 and 80, but not often.

My previous calls were: KB4ITO and KE4FGR.

 Give me a call anytime you hear me!

73's

Roy