John,

Sure, I'll "shoot the Atlantic" with you. I'm assuming you'll bring equipment to work the FM LEO(s). If so, I've worked several stations in various parts of England and one in Madrid, Spain on AO-51. AO-51 would be my FM LEO of choice for this.

I live near Binghamton, NY where I have a hillside location about 500 yards up behind my house with an excellent view. From this spot I can work AO-51, and other FM LEO(s), down to 1 degree above the northeastern horizon. In fact, anyone who can get to the seashore in the eastern U.S., from New Jersey to Maine, should be able to do this. Canada's Atlantic provinces and Newfoundland are even better. All you need is a clear shot across the Atlantic Ocean to the northeast to access AO-51 while its also in view of the extreme western edge of Europe.

To connect Europe to North America on AO-51 will, of course, require an AO-51 pass down the center of the Atlantic. This means you'll be working a pass with a maximum elevation of 1 or 2 degrees, as will I. My experience has been that such a pass will give us a 30 to 60 second time window during which we can exchange call signs. So when the time comes, you'll need to call me often for several minutes to hit the time window just right. I'll do the same. Perhaps if pass conditions are perfect, we may get a couple of minutes.

In addition, in light of the comments above, I recommend you try this from the west coast of Scotland with a solid view across the Atlantic to the southwest. Be advised, the west coast of Scotland can be extremely windy, so come prepared.

Also, I know you be operate QRP. But bring as much transmit power as you can. With a pass down the center of the Atlantic, AO-51 will be approximately 2000 miles away from both of us. My experience is that 5 watts to AO-51 at this distance is "iffy". I'll be running 50 watts, so I'm pretty sure you'll hear me as others have before.

Since I'll have to drag my portable station into position, we'll have to pick out an AO-51 pass and set up a schedule, or two (back-up), off-line. Good Luck!

-Richard, N2SPI