Wouldn't it be fair to say that while the commercial footprint maps are based on "5 nines" reliability, line of sight links and tightly focused microwave beams, Amateur operations in U/V bands will be useable over a wider footprint, albeit to 50% reliability to a surprizing extent?
From: w7lrd@comcast.net Subject: [amsat-bb] geo stationary bird To: amsat-bb@amsat.org Message-ID: 103120070250.13572.4727ED740001D5230000350422165279660B9D04C999@comcast.net
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Hello To play the devils advocate for a moment. With a geo (stuck) sattelite we are pretty much stuck with the same foot print forever. Unless of course there is some sort of cross linking in the future. I very fondly recall AO-40 and bringing it up on my computer and seeing where the foot print was today. Maybe it's the Europeans or perhaps the VK's, ZL's (love their accent), or maybe some JA's, (practice my Japanese). At some time, I knew I could cover the whole planet. I do of course believe this is an excellent opportunity, though there are a some limitations.
-- 73 Bob W7LRD