Dayton approaches

It's time again for the Dayton Hamvention; once again, I will not be going. I don't have the funds this year to spare for the trip and admission. And the main point of going to Hamvention (as far as I can tell) is to buy stuff, another thing I can't readily do with limited funds.

For those who will be passing through the Chicago area on the way to Hamvention, some driving advice: Do not follow I-90 all the way through Chicago. You will run into the badly congested O'Hare Toll Plaza at the end of the Jane Addams if you do this, not to mention I've heard that the west end of the Indiana Toll Road is a mess as well. You'll be better off bypassing around the city with a combination of I-290, I-294, and I-80. If you need help, there will be, no doubt, plenty of local hams monitoring on the local VHF and UHF repeaters; for example, I'm almost always monitoring the DuPage Amateur Radio Club's 2m repeater at 145.43(-) PL 107.2, and I'll be monitoring 146.52 as well starting tomorrow or so.