Wasn't it Thomas Womack who wrote:

In article <3F29D0D5.21104BA7@alcyone.com>,
Erik Max Francis  <max@alcyone.com> wrote:

Logically, you should then broadcast constantly to all even remotely
promising stars nearby, just in case one even starts listening for a
moment.

I'm slightly surprised that people aren't doing that already; or is
it not reasonable to detect at a couple of parsecs out a signal beamed
with a three-kilowatt signal from an antenna costing $5000 (figures picked
to make it just about realistic as a hobby for a merely reasonably
wealthy radio amateur - 3kW is about $3000 a year at the price I pay for
electricity, and I thought radio transmitters were pretty efficient).

I can't figure out on the Net what kind of directional antenna you get
for $5000.

Or will the FCC shut you down if you try?

You can have your message broadcast to the stars through a 70 metre dish
for only $24.95. The "Call Your Star Online Gift Set" also includes the
naming of your own star. (Your message doesn't actually go to "your"
star, it just mentions your star in one of the next Cosmic Call
transmissions which are directed to a fairly small number of nearby
stars which already have names.)

<http://www.callyourstar.com/giftset_selection.asp>

The Cosmic Call 2003 transmissions were made on July 6th (Ukraine time -
July 5th for those of you in the USA) so I guess that "Call Your Star"
messages bought now go out on Cosmic Call 2004.

<http://www.teamencounter.com/missions/cosmic_call.asp>

-- 
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure