If you want to find out Steve Kelly, K7EM's favorite bands, all you have to do is look up … at the antennas outside his station in Beavercreek, Oregon, about 20 miles outside Portland. Let's see, first there's the full-size 80-meter four-square… Then, over on the 165-foot tower, there's a side-mounted 6-element beam for 15 meters, and another for 10 … and oh, yes, two stacked full-size 3-element 40-meter Yagis on ring rotors. Finally, on the "small" tower, the 72-foot motorized crankup, there's a 5-element monobander for 20 and a 2-element "shortie" on 40. If you're still not sure, try this: Steve's FT-1000D can be routed either to his big Henry amplifier -- used only for 80 and 40 meters -- or to his smaller Ameritron amp, which he uses on the higher HF bands and with the "shortie on 40."

Still unsure of his favorite bands? Try this: Steve holds the 7th call area record in the CQ World Wide DX Contest for 40-meter SSB. Oh, did we mention that 40 meters is Steve's favorite band, followed closely by 80?

Steve was licensed in 1978 at age 14 and was quickly introduced to contesting through the now-defunct Novice Roundup. After a few years of pursuing other interests, Steve returned to contesting in the mid 1980s, focusing on 80 meters, then started contesting on 40 "kind of for the fun of it" and has been doing "some fairly serious competing" on the band for the past decade.

Since our cover photo shows the inside of Steve's shack, he says you can see some photos of his antennas (along with freshwater aquariums, his other hobby interest) on his website at <http://www.bctonline.com/users/skelly>. (Cover photo by Larry Mulvehill, WB2ZPI)