or LEO's as they are affectionately known, and generally are at about 450 miles (700 km) altitude. At that height, amateurs can expect reception distances of up to around . A few amateur satellites have very high elliptical orbits. These satellites can reach altitudes of 30,000 miles (50,000 km) above the earth where an entire hemisphere is visible providing outstanding communications capabilities from any two points on the earth within line of sight of the satellite; distances that are far beyond the reach of the LEOs. Transequatorial propagation Transequatorial propagation, also known as (TEP), is a regular daytime occurrence on the 2 meter band over the equatorial regions and is common in the temperate latitudes in late spring, early summer and, to a lesser degree, in early winter. For receiving stations located within ± 10 degrees of the geomagnetic equator, equatorial E-skip can be expected on most days throughout the year, peaking around midday local time. Meteor burst By speeding up Morse code using analog tape or digital modes such as JT6M or FSK441, very short high-speed bursts of digital data can be bounced off the ionized gas trail of meteor showers. The speed required to confirm a two way contact via a short lived ionized meteor trail can only be performed by fast computers on both ends with very little human interaction. One computer will send a request for contact and if successfully received by a distant station, a reply will be sent by the receiving stations computer usually via the same ionized meteor trail to confirm the contact. If nothing is received after the request, a new request is transmitted. This continues until a reply is received to confirm the contact or until no contact can be made and no new requests are sent. Using this high speed digital mode, a full two way contact, can be completed in one second or less and can only be validated using a computer. Depending on the intensity of the ionized meteor trail, multiple contacts from multiple stations can be made off the same trail until it dissipates and can no longer reflect VHF signals with sufficient strength. This mode is often called burst transmission and can yield communication distances similar to sporadic E as described above. Auroral propagation Another phenomenon that produces upper atmosphere ionization suitable for 2-meter DXing are the auroras. Since the ionization persists much longer than meteor