No other Amateur communications satellite had used 15-Meters for an uplink before. All four Radio Sputniks are alive and well and in operation at the present time. Satellite Operation Made Easy RS satellite operation is simple. For Mode A operations, just a few watts of transmitter power and a small 2-Meter antenna are all that are required for the uplink. A dipole antenna and a receiver capable of tuning the 10-Meter Amateur band are all that are needed for the downlink.
Most operators use their existing HF station equipment for copying Mode A downlink signals.
Converted CB rigs and portable 10-Meter transceivers lend themselves very nicely to portable Mode A operation. Uplink signals should be CW or USB voice. With a transponder bandwidth of only 40 kHz, there's not much room for FM signals on the satellite, so those operations are very much discouraged. Many 2-Meter FM rigs can be keyed for CW operation if appropriate connections are made within the transceiver. For Modes K and T, usually less than 100-watts of transmitter power and a dipole antenna are needed for the uplink.