Hi!
I will attend next week's AMSAT Symposium in Chicago, and will have my portable satellite station (IC-2820H for FM, two FT-817NDs for SSB, Elk Antennas 2m/70cm log periodic) along for the trip. As I did on my trip to Dayton earlier this year, I am hoping to have an opportunity to work stations in western Europe while I am in the Chicago area. I have made some preliminary pass predictions for those days, using the Symposium site as my starting point (grid EN62aa), and there appear to be some passes on AO-7, FO-29, and even HO-68 that cover both the Chicago area and parts of western Europe. I am prepared to get up a little early, or make time in the late afternoons or early evenings, for this effort.
I arrive in Chicago on Thursday (7 October) afternoon, and will be there through Sunday (10 October) for the Symposium. After the Symposium concludes on that Sunday morning, I will go sightseeing around Chicago and possibly drive into Wisconsin and/or Indiana. My rental car has no mileage limit, so I hope to take full advantage of that. Sorry, no road trip to Delaware this year. There will be satellite operating from wherever I end up, although I do not know what grids besides EN62 I will operate from. I will have APRS capabilities as I drive around that area, so my location will be visible for anyone to see online. I will return to Chicago by Monday (11 October) in the late afternoon, so I can catch my flight home that evening.
If anyone across the pond is interested in making an attempt at a satellite QSO with WD9EWK while I am in the Chicago area, please e-mail me directly. We can start identifying passes that would support this effort.
Thanks in advance, and 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/