Hi!
I made it home an hour ago, after a great week in Florida. The AMSAT Symposium was great, and thanks to all of those who worked to put on this event. And, of course, having Hector CO6CBF at the Symposium made this even better.
On my way home from the Phoenix airport, I stopped at my mailbox. I had more checks and money orders sitting in their for the so- called "Hector fund" that arrived in the past week. Again, many thanks to everyone who has sent or given me contributions to help with the expenses for this trip. It is obvious that this was extremely successful - just watch the video from Hector's presentation on Saturday to see that.
I have incurred expenses related to bringing Hector to the Symposium totaling $2413.30, and received contributions totaling $1960.00! The expenses totaled a little more than I had originally estimated (I was working with an estimate of $2000 in the beginning), but I never thought I would have received almost $2000 in contributions!! If there are other contributions in the mail, I will add that to my spreadsheet and post an update later. I don't think I will need any other contributions toward this effort. THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!!
On my way home from the airport, I called Hector. He made it home OK, and is now in the process of clearing the gear he brought back from Florida through the processes of Cuban Customs and the Cuban communications ministry. This is normal, and he was confident he could get everything cleared without incident. Hector also said he hopes to be able to post a message here on the -BB tomorrow, in part to thank everyone that helped make his trip to Florida possible.
Back to pulling more photos from my camera and mobile phone, and getting caught up on things before going back to work tomorrow. 73!
Patrick WD9EWK/VA7EWK http://www.wd9ewk.net/