[amsat-bb] Those were the days

[RSoifer1 at aol.com]

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