Hello Kev,

AO-51 is, for the most part, needing to be turned ON by a command station every orbit after an eclipse. There have been a couple of exceptions where it has lasted a couple or several orbits without needing to be turned back on by a command station. We saw it operational for almost 24 hours a few days ago. We don't really understand why...so it isn't something we can reproduce at will.

So--operators outside of the US are at a great disadvantage, with the exception of part of southeast Asia--which is where the bird goes in sunlight after a US pass. Once it goes into eclipse, it's likely to be off.

We're doing what we can. Maybe in time we'll better characterize exactly what is going on, but at best it's not going to be easy.

We wish the news was better!

73,

Mark N8MH

At 03:35 PM 6/5/2011 +0100, mm0kjg wrote:

Hello there.

Is Ao51 of air again have been listenig for the passes and hear nothing. Last conatct was on Friday afternoon Uk.

Cheers Kev MM0KJG

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