On Tue, 2010-05-04 at 07:20 -0500, Alan P. Biddle wrote:
Peter,
From past studies, mode L/U is the place to be if you want to work someone
on AO-51 without an EME station. ;) While the V/U FM repeater was choked on every pass, there were very few stations on L/U. In the four passes I monitored last year, totaling 46 minutes, there were only 21 station heard. Half of those were on the first pass, and by the last pass on Sunday, only one plaintive station calling.
Alan WA4SCA
Presumably that's because very few people have L- and S-band equipment. I'm guessing that many people are - like me - put off by the prohibitive cost and requirement for overcomplicated tracking systems.
Working V/U with a handheld antenna is much more fun than sitting watching a computer twiddle servos and tune the radio for you.
Gordon MM0YEQ