It's very common to use commercial vsat antennas flat on the horizon at ground level, and even negative inclination to carry comms traffic with GEO birds, if need be. Typically if the main satellite has issues, other satellites can be used in
this manner while new contracts are sorted out. Example from my work years ago. Agila-2 146E from India, which was almost horizon skipping.
What's the theory behind microwaves working so look angle.?
From: M5AKA via AMSAT-BB <amsat-bb@amsat.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 4:25:51 PM
To: AMSAT BB <amsat-bb@amsat.org>
Subject: [AMSAT-BB] The QO-100 Challenge for North America
It is understandable that amateur radio operators in North America are disappointed that they cannot experience the fun of using QO100. However, although the footprint charts that have been published show that it is
not possible, there have been good reports recently about the successful QO-100 expedition in Indonesia. In particular YC1HVZ/P successfully operated through the QO100 narrow band transponder from OI42DE at -1.2 degrees elevation!
73 Trevor M5AKA
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