I've heard them both ways. Some passes I've heard no one but myself coming through, not very often on AO-51, sometimes on AO-27 on those passes that just cover the easternmost states, the maritimes, the ocean and myself, and on SO-50 a bit more often. A couple days ago SO-50 was so busy that everyone doubled with each other trying to get in and the resulting interference was enough to block out the PL tone from the audio on the uplink, resulting in silence. AO-27 can get quite busy as well but without the PL tone its easier to tell when you're doubling with someone, however the Mexican pirates and cordless phones or the taxicabs in Spain come through loud and clear without the tone guard. AO-51 has a tendency of being hectic during peak times and passes where there's a lot of the continent in the footprint, but when it is in high power mode it's that much worse. All three of those satellites I typically run between 1 watt and 2.5 watts into a 3 element beam and that works FB. But when AO-51 is in high power mode, us QRP guys have a hard time. The ISS crossband repeater is even worse. Since it is so strong and given the very short periods of time it operates, even though the footprint is considerably smaller, it is still VERY congested. I was only able to make contacts on that when there wasn't quite so many people in the footprint. The ocean certainly helped me out a lot on that one. Still, I'd like to give it a go again. Between the last two times it was about 6 months so who knows when it (the ISS repeater) will come on again. Perhaps when PCSAT2's mission ends we will see it on more often.
I wasn't on very much this weekend due to the rain. Let me know if you heard any of the sats and made any QSOs.
73,
Mark VO1ONE