re: Voyager I at APOD
Looks like they still have a long way to go to get past the influence of the sun's magnetic field.
It would be an interesting mission to launch a relatively small spacecraft with big RTG, transmitter, appropriate instruments, and an ion engine, and with a big enough booster to get it out there in a very short time, 5 years or so. Get that sucker going 2 or 3 hundred thousand mile an hour at the beginning and let the ion engine push it even faster. See how far it can go and still stay in contact.