The recent time change from daylight savings to standard time, coupled with the shifting of AO-51 passes over North America to much earlier morning times, makes it possible to actually have a QSO on AO-51 that lasts longer than a few seconds.
All three morning AO-51 passes had only a few stations calling in today. It is possible to have a 10 minute qso or roundtable that is normally only appropriate on a linear bird. Most of the morning AO-51 passes for the last few days have been just noise. I look at the recordings and not seeing much voice audio, I don't put them on the website. This morning's passes are on the website and you can tell it's very early. Even KJ4CBC, who is a morning regular, seemed a bit drousy. http://www.papays.com/sat/general.html
Of course, morning is really the middle of the night for most of us. The passes today were at 0950z, 1129z and 1311z. There was an Atlantic pass at 0814z where there were no stations heard.
Daytime passes, of course, are a different story with 20 plus stations trying to make contacts. But you can take advantage of those early morning passes and have some good conversation on FM. Activity could pick up to the point where longer qso's are not appropriate, but considering these early pass times, that shouldn't be a problem anytime soon. Set your alarm and the coffee pot timer. Let's use AO-51 while we still have her.
73, John K8YSE