Glen Zook, K9STH
(formerly KN9STH, 1959)

From LaPorte, Indiana (northwestern Indiana, about 50 miles from Chicago), at 1913 hours on 30 September 1959 I was calling CQ on the 15 meter Novice band when KC4USB, located at Marie Byrd Land, Anartictia, answered my call.  I was running a WRL Globe Chief 90A transmitter and a Hallicrafters S-107 receiver ("reboxed" S-53A) and my antenna was a 2-element loaded 15 meter yagi (built from the article in the August 1959 of QST) at 20 feet above ground.  Now this was my first "real" DX contact.  I had worked a number of VE stations (Canada) before but, frankly, Ontario was closer than the southern end of the State of Indiana.  Therefore I didn't consider Canada as being DX.  Needless to say, I was a bit excited.

However, the best was yet to come.  Just after I finished working the KC4 station the telephone rang.  The call was from a local operator who had heard me working the KC4USB station.  This operator was the manager of the local General Telephone office and, it turned out, he ran several phone patches a week for the KC4 station.  In addition, he was also one of the QSL managers for KC4USB!  He told me that my QSL card was already filled out and waiting for me.  Since I was only 15 at the time and didn't have a driver's license, I jumped on my bicycle and rode the about 2 miles to his house. 

Within 15 minutes I had the KC4USB QSL card in my "hot little hands" and was extremely happy.  Now there obviously have been faster times between working a DX station and getting the QSL card.  However, I believe that the time between when I worked the KC4 and had my QSL card had to be in the top 99.99 percent in terms of time.  Then, a few days later, I got a second card in the mail signed by the actual operator at the station.  The card had been enclosed with some of the logs that were sent to the local operator for QSL purposes.  Since I was a Novice Class station at the time the operator at KC4USB thought that I would like to have one with his actual signature.