At 07:13 AM 3/13/2011 -0700, na2x@yahoo.com wrote:
I seriously doubt that satellites using 2 meters and higher frequencies for uplink/downlink would show much (if any) below the horizon capability.
Bob NA2X
It's possible to happen on 2 meters via satellite too.
In the early 90's I submitted proposals for Sarex contacts to NASA and was selected for two schools in the area, STS-56. The day before I set up my oscar station at the high school where the contacts would take place. Antenna was a ten element RCHP cross yagi steerable on the school roof. The morning contacts were to happen the weather was really weird, we had a spring snow storm go through, and I'm sure there must have been ducts of cold and warm air and inversions. Another Amsat member Chris, KF7KN helped and we double checked each other work, we didn't want any mistakes. During the sarex pass for the first school, we were still communicating with the astronauts for about 25 seconds after LOS. I have the whole thing on video.
It didn't happen again the second pass, the weather was more normal.
Back in those days, when you were scheduled for a contact, NASA faxed the latest keps for the shuttle. The element set we got faxed was less than an hour old, and they even faxed us a new set for the next pass. Hee Hee, freshest set of keps I ever got.
KB7ADL