The 2008 installment of the ARRL and TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) will take place in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, six miles from O'Hare International Airport (ORD). The dates of this event are September 26-28, so mark your calendar and start making plans for the "premier technical conference of the year."

The schedule of the three-day conference calls for technical and introductory sessions all day Friday and Saturday, a Friday evening social, a Saturday evening banquet with an invited speaker that concludes with award presentations and prize drawing, as well as a Sunday seminar titled "Software Radio Through the Looking-Glass" by Phil Harman, VK6APH, who is one of the brains behind High Performance Software Defined Radio (HPSDR).

You can find everything you need to know about DCC at the ARRL and TAPR DCC Web page.

Over the years, I have attended DCCs in various locations on the East and West Coasts, and have always been impressed by the quality of the conference in terms of the people I met and what they had to say. The nearly central US location (population-wise) of this year's conference assures more of the same, so if you can make it to the DCC, you will not be disappointed.

Until next time, keep on surfin'!

Editor's note: Laurie and Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, celebrate 25 years of marriage during DCC weekend. To communicate with Stan, send him e-mail or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up.

Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor