Bob,
Yes, the AO-10/AO-13/AO-40 days "were the days" for DX. But so were the 1970s and pre-AO-10 1980s, when a lot of us were working DX on AO-6, AO-7, FO-12 and the RS birds. It was more challenging than HEO operating, but IMHO it was a lot of fun, and about a dozen of us made WAC and DXCC, all-LEO.
There was some SSB, but most LEO DXing was on CW. We used all satellite modes, of course, but more DX was worked on Mode A than B or J. Mode A had a slightly better downlink range than B or J, if you had a good 10m beam and a low-noise QTH. For a discussion of that, see my QST article on the AO-5 propagation test results.
The good news is that AO-7 and FO-29 (successor to FO-12) are still with us, so we can still do it. Let the good times roll!
73 Ray W2RS
Ray,
It would be great to see more DX activity on the satellites.
DXCC and WAC is certainly possible from the East Coast and Midwest, but you can sit through passes with 40+ DXCCs in the footprint and not hear a peep from any of them!
The question is - how do we get more people on from more places?
73,
Paul, N8HM
On Thu, Feb 12, 2015 at 8:28 AM, RSoifer1@aol.com wrote:
Bob,
Yes, the AO-10/AO-13/AO-40 days "were the days" for DX. But so were the 1970s and pre-AO-10 1980s, when a lot of us were working DX on AO-6, AO-7, FO-12 and the RS birds. It was more challenging than HEO operating, but IMHO it was a lot of fun, and about a dozen of us made WAC and DXCC, all-LEO.
There was some SSB, but most LEO DXing was on CW. We used all satellite modes, of course, but more DX was worked on Mode A than B or J. Mode A had a slightly better downlink range than B or J, if you had a good 10m beam and a low-noise QTH. For a discussion of that, see my QST article on the AO-5 propagation test results.
The good news is that AO-7 and FO-29 (successor to FO-12) are still with us, so we can still do it. Let the good times roll!
73 Ray W2RS _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
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Paul Stoetzer -
RSoifer1＠aol.com