I have two questions that I have wondered about for quite a while.
There was a gap in my satellite activity of 20 years or so. AO-10 was the last satellite I used a lot. Not sure what sparked my interest again but I have been having a great time on the satellites. Right from the beginning I noticed that things have changed a lot. I have made about 70 contacts on CW, SSB and FM. Most of the contacts have been on FM.
Question 1 relates to activity levels. I have 270 something countries on HF so I have been in my share of DX pileups. What I find really strange is how there will be the usual horrific pile up on AO-51 and then when an FO-29 pass comes a short time later there will usually be no one on. I realize the emphasis is all on "keeping it simple" but wonder how this change occurred. Did it happen all at once - did it happen when the last HEO satellite died. Are the linear sats too complicated. Do people not have SSB and CW equipment or are they just not interested anymore.
Question 2 relates to the rest of the world. I notice that FO-29, which seems to be the best linear satellite, came from Japan. What is activity like in Japan/Europe and the rest of the world outside the US. Is it mostly just FM on V/U sats. I believe the current US effort is an FM only Fox with a linear sat in the "2015 time frame". Since the FO-29 activity is almost zero it would see strange to put up another US linear sat at any time. As old as I am the "2015 time frame" might be beyond my chicken little date so I wonder if there are there any LEO linear sats in the works in other parts of the world.
I am not complaining I just wonder what happened and what the future holds. Feel free to reply directly.
73 W9KE tom ... AMSAT LM 0875