You can call me "RIC." Those two round characters in my call sign are NOT zeros. -hi  

Shortwave Amateur Radio Station wo4o, in historic Ridgetop, is 15 miles north of “Music City” Nashville, the state capital of Tennessee. More on Ridgetop at: http://www.ridgetoptn.org/

Wo4o QSL Policy:

As the "final courtesy" and for your convenience I QSL 100% via eQSL http://www.eQSL.cc and Logbook of the World (LotW) service by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).  I also reciprocate 100% DIRECT with a postcard QSL upon receipt of your QSL postcard and your Self-Addressed Envelope with adequate postage. QSL postcards received via the Bureau before 2010 will eventually be answered with a Wo4o QSL postcard with one exception: Those not clearly marked PSE QSL are presumed to possess a wo4o QSL or don't want/need one. Wo4o has logged more than 153,000 contacts worldwide from 1990 through May 2010. All have been uploaded to LotW and eQSL. Contacts from 1969 to 1990 are M.I.A. -hi Please do not send QSL postcards to me via the Bureau. Thank you.

History: 

My first Novice license and call sign WN8CVW were earned in 1969 in OH (TU "Elmer", WT8W). My first ARS was a used, crystal-controlled, CW-only, 75-watt Lafayette Starlite transmitter, a Hallicrafters SX-110 receiver and a homebrew multi-band dipole antenna for 80/40/15 meters. Entered the ARRL Novice Roundup and placed at #3 in the Great Lakes Division. (Two other OM in that NR are better known today as K1AR and N5RZ.)

Moved to FL in 1971 and changed call sign to WN4CQI. Moved to CA in 1975, upgraded to General and call sign changed to WA6KUI. Moved to TN in 1990 and saw K4AMC operating Field Day using a semi-automated ARS making 100+ contacts per hour. This fast paced action lit a fire in me and, as a result, I began to operate in more amateur radio contests. In 1993 I assembled a team to play in the CW North American QSO Party. We named the team the Tennessee Contest Group (TCG). To our pleasant surprise, we took First Place. The desire and determination to become more competitive motivated me to upgrade to Amateur Extra and, in 1996, my call sign was changed to wo4o. Also that year, the TCG became an ARRL affiliated club. Today the TCG is a very active contest club.

General:

In a futile (but well intentioned) attempt to give back to the hobby what I've gotten out of it, I've served as a VE, taught CW classes and served as a TCG officer. 

Enjoyed operating on the W1AW/4 team with other TCG members during the 2006 IARU HF World Championship!

Revenues from my business ventures are invested toward improving the lives of people in approximately 50 DX entities, including 3W, 4X, 5N, 5V, 5X, 5Z, 8R, 9V, BY, CO, CP, CT, DA, DU, EA, EI, FG, G, GI, GM, HI, HK, HL, HR, I, JA, JT, KH2, KL7, LZ, OA, OD, P2, PY, ST, T8, TU, UA, UA0, UA9, UN, UT, V6, VK, VU, W, XE, YL, YO, YV, ZA, ZL, ZS, and more. 

For my Radio Station Description, type wo4o into the "Call" field at: http://www.conteststations.com

Join the TCG to get the most out of playing Real-time Radio Games: http://www.k4ro.net/tcg/index.html

What's a Real-time Radio Game? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contesting

Attend the Tennessee QSO Party: http://www.tnqp.org/

Support the sponsor funding my toys/tools at: http://www.Home-Sweet-Loans.com

73 Ric wo4o