A CL65 CREW; ON A FLT FROM SBA TO DEN; WAS ASKED TO CONTACT THE ZDV SUPVR TO EXPLAIN WHY THEY WERE OUT OF CONTACT FOR 600 MI.

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I WAS THE FO ON A CRJ FROM SANTA BARBARA; CA; TO DENVER; CO. WHEN WE CONTACTED ZDV IN THE VICINITY OF HBU VOR; WE WERE ADVISED TO CONTACT ATC BY TELEPHONE WHEN WE GOT ON THE GND. THE CAPT CALLED ATC; AND WAS INFORMED THAT WE HAD BEEN OUT OF RADIO CONTACT FOR 600 MI. OUR RTE TOOK US N OF LAX; OVER LAS; AND THEN TO HBU VOR FOR THE ARR INTO DENVER. THE DISTANCE OF 600 FT THE ATC CTLR CLAIMS WE WERE OUT OF RADIO CONTACT IS NOT REASONABLE; AND ACTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE. THE DISTANCE FROM LAX TO HBU VOR IS APPROX 600 MI. THE ENTIRE TRIP IS 851 MI. ZLA GAVE US DIRECT TO LAS; SO I KNOW WE WERE IN CONTACT WITH THEM. IN THE VICINITY OF LAS; WE WERE ADVISED OF TFC AT OUR 12 O'CLOCK POS; AN MD80; WHICH WE SIGHTED. IT WAS AN MD80. WE WERE AT FL330 AND THE MD80 WAS AT FL310. WE WERE IN RADIO CONTACT AT THAT POINT. PAST LAS; THE FLT ATTENDANT CALLED US AND THE CAPT REPLIED TO THE FLT ATTENDANT. WHILE THE CAPT TOOK THE CALL FROM THE FLT ATTENDANT; ATC CALLED US FOR A FREQ HDOF. I KNOW THIS WAS A HDOF TO ZDV BECAUSE I REMEMBER THINKING; 'IT'S NICE TO BE TALKING TO DENVER AGAIN.' IN FACT; I THOUGHT ABOUT TELLING THE CTLR THAT; BUT DECIDED AGAINST IT. I RECEIVED A NORMAL REPLY FROM ZDV; A MALE VOICE. IN THE VICINITY OF HBU WE BEGAN TO WONDER WHY WE HAD NOT BEEN CLRED FOR DSCNT. I CALLED DENVER AND ASKED THEM FOR A LOWER ALT. A FEMALE VOICE SAID; 'OH MY GOD!' I REMEMBER THINKING; 'THIS IS NOT THE SAME CTLR.' SHE HANDED US OFF TO ANOTHER CTLR. WE RECEIVED VECTORS FOR THE POWDER ARR INTO DENVER. THIS IS A CLUE AS TO WHAT MIGHT HAVE STARTED THE CONFUSION. WAS THERE A CTLR CHANGE? OR; DID WE GET HANDED OFF TO THE WRONG CTLR AND LATER HANDED BACK; BUT NO ONE CONTACTED US? IF ATC WAS TRYING TO CONTACT US; ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS CALL US. WE WERE ON THE LAST ASSIGNED FREQ -- THE ONE WE CHKED IN ON. IF WE HAD BEEN OUT OF CONTACT AS LONG AS THEY CLAIM; THEN HOW DID WE GET TO THE PROPER ZDV FREQ? IN ADDITION; WE WERE MONITORING COMRDO ON THE PROPER FREQ; ACCORDING TO OUR RELEASE; FOR THE ENTIRE FLT. WE DID NOT RECEIVE A RADIO CALL FROM COMRDO. THE LONGEST POSSIBLE TIME BTWN OUR XMISSIONS WAS 20-30 MINS; AND ABOUT 240 NM; THE APPROX DISTANCE FROM THE WESTERN BOUNDARY OF ZDV'S AIRSPACE ON THE HIGH ALT CHART (AROUND PAGE; AZ) TO BLUE MESA VOR (HBU) WHERE WE QUERIED ATC ABOUT THE DSCNT. WE DID NOT DEVIATE FROM ANY ASSIGNED RTE; ALT; OR FREQ. FURTHERMORE; WE TOOK THE INITIATIVE OF QUERYING ATC ABOUT A DSCNT AND RECEIVED AN IMMEDIATE; CLR RESPONSE ON OUR LAST ASSIGNED FREQ FROM A CTLR WHO DID NOT KNOW OUR LOCATION. ACARS WOULD HAVE RESOLVED THIS. IF WE HAD IT; ATC COULD HAVE USED COMRDO TO CONTACT US.