Along the lines of getting to know some local radio folks... Coming up June 27-28 is the annual ARRL Field Day weekend for amateur radio. If you have a local ham radio club, they may be participating. There will be folks setting up field stations for both voice and digital ops all over the country, often in some pretty out of the way places. In the past, we have bundled it into a camping trip near a peak that would have good coverage with limited power.

You can find stations that have registered to participate in the 2009 Field Day at:

http://www.arrl.org/contests/announcements/fd/locator.php

You can enter your location, and see what might be going on in your area.