AO-40 is probably one of the greatest ham-sats ever. It could use 2.4ghz up and 1.2ghz down for a really compact antenna though I think the best economy/cheap-availability mode was 440mhz up and 1.2ghz down using a sat-TV LNB. It was in a molinya orbit withc simulated geostationary for a few hours, you could stick your antenna on a tripod and move it as required. Sadly the engine exploded and this failure weakened the battery.