Eric,

Very interesting background.  Yep, I got into 10 FM, too, years ago and the
band was so hot, I worked Europe, South America, the Pacific, Japan and all
types of places with 5 watts.  It was a blast.  I even worked a Russian
satellite that transmitted strings of numbers in CW on 29.500 and if it
heard you, it retransmitted your call back to you in CW.  When I worked it,
I couldn't hardly believe it.  I worked a lot of repeaters in the 29.6 part
of the FM 10 meter band, too.  Frankly, although I'm not all that active
right now except for some 2 meter contacts with friends, I have had
thousands of hours of fun doing everything imaginable on the ham bands and
enjoying every minute of the hobby.  When I was a lot younger, in my
thirties, and weighed a whole lot less than I do now, and was a lot
stronger, I climbed my two towers and put up all sorts of wire antennas to
test and that in and of itself almost became a hobby to me for a few years.

Phil.
K0NX