Attempted to use this mode on 2 passes but was not successful. Several stations tried to work on the first pass over Australia (07:51 UTC 29 Dec) but audio was very weak and there was a lot of interference on the signal. Some stations had difficulty netting onto frequency, probably because they could not hear themselves clearly. On the second pass I could hear no other stations attempting to access and while the downlink signal was strong there were all manner of noises present and only once or twice could I actually hear my voice among the noises. I'm sure that last time AO-51 was in this mode it worked reasonably well. Will be interested to hear reports from other continents to see if the interference was specific to this region.
73 Alex / VK5ALX
Hallo
I tried at today morning and at the noon. At the morning i heard SQ1 station but I did not finish qso. At the noon I was copied by UA9UIZ and OZ1MY but I am not sure raport from Ib (57 I can hear on record) and locator given by UA9UIZ is not NO46 but NV46 (distortion?). Signal is realy week from USB/FM transponder probably due to latest magnetic torque experiment and changed antenna orientation on norhern hemisphere. It sounds like fraction of one watt, not like almost 2W transmitter.
Here is a record (cut, too much noise):
http://www.enduro.idl.pl/audio_sat/ao51_ssb_fm.mp3 and sorry for too low quality of sound.
Signal is low (I know, 53 is a little too optimistic) but I did it :)
Matt SQ7DQX