Hi Phil,

I thinnk my most memorable contact with Japan was also on ten meters.  I was 
active in the Boise club at the time and we had a Red Cross van with a ham 
station in it they let us hams take out some times.  One Saturday afternoon 
a bunch of us took off for Idaho City which is a little town up in the 
mountains about forty miles away.  I was fifteen at the time and dating this 
really sweet, cute and mostly uninhibited girl.  When we got there my 
friends tuned up the station in the van and asked me if I wanted to operate. 
While I was really entranced with my girlfriend, I also wanted to play 
radio.  They were on CW and had one of those old leg keys that clamped 
around your thigh.  So, I indulged in both interests.  Somewhere in the 
annals of the ham club is a picture of me sitting in front of the 
transmitter with my girlfriend on one knee with her arms around me and the 
leg key on the other leg with me talking to Japan.  Very memorable indeed. 
<GRIN>

Take care and very 73.

Kevin :)
Amateur Radio:  K7RX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 1:42 PM
Subject: Wild DX Contact


> My Famous Japanese 10 Meter sideband Contact
>
> I don't think I've told this story before.
>
>
> This was back in 1970 when I was a senior in a public high school.  I =
> went to school half days because I only needed one credit to graduate so =
> I took three classes just in case but left at 11:30 since my first class =
> was at 7:30 in the morning.  So I spent my afternoons working 10 meter =
> DX with a 3 element triband yagi up about 25 feet and had a blast.  =
> Japan, back then, had 4 levels of ham tickets and the novice version of =
> their listen was 10 watts on 10 meters only.  I worked hundreds of =
> Japanese stations over the years, probably thousands, and after 40 years =
> plus of DX operations, I wouldn?t be surprised if I had close to a =
> million DX contacts if you add up all the DX contests and all that I =
> worked.  Anyhow, 10 meters had tons of Japanese operators since that was =
> the low powered novice band.  It wasn?t unusual to work a 10 over S9 =
> signal from Japan, running 10 watts, and a 10 element, wide spaced, huge =
> 10 meter mono band beam.  So keep that in mind as I tell this humorous =
> story.  You had to be there.
>
> So it is mid afternoon.  I drop down to about the bottom 10 KHz of the =
> 10 meter phone band, swing the beam around to the northwest, and call CQ =
> on side band.  A Japanese station calls and I answer.  Now, keep in mind =
> that I have never been very good with foreign accents.  That?s probably =
> why I like CW DX more than side band.  Anyhow, this guy is running 10 =
> watts and a big beam and is S9 into Denver.  He starts asking me =
> questions, which I can?t seem to understand, but not wishing to be rude, =
> I ask him to repeat and repeat and repeat.  First, he asks what city.  I =
> tell him Denver but had to make him repeat his question about 10 times.  =
> Then he gets it across, after several repeats, do I really live in =
> Denver or a suburb.  I got it so I said, Lakewood, which I had to spell =
> a couple of times using phonetics, of course.  Then he asked another =
> question which I didn?t understand so he repeated it a half a dozen =
> times until I realize he was asking for my address.  Oh, good, I think.  =
> He wants to QSL direct.  I give him my address.  Fortunately, it is all =
> numbers except for the word West 6Th Avenue.  Then he asks another =
> question which takes several times before I figure it out.  His question =
> was, what is your cross street.  Boy, that was a difficult one to =
> understand for me, too.  I told him the cross street was Car, spelling =
> it, like you drive.  You understand?  He comes back, happy as he can be, =
> and says, Oh, so good.  I have map.  I see exactly where you live on =
> map.  Is this ok, and he repeats my address and cross street.  Wow, what =
> a dedicated ham.  Of course, now, guys just pull up google and focus on =
> your house from the sky.  Sort of takes the fun out of getting to know =
> someone from another country.
>
> Phil.
> K0NX