Key words Stationary afterglow plasma, microwave diagnostics of plasma, electron heating with microwaves, dissociative recombination, electron temperature dependence of recombination, molecular argon ions.A dual mode (T M 010 cylindrical cavity/cylindrical waveguide) microwave apparatus is used to study the ion mobility and dissociative recombination of molecular argon ions with electrons in the afterglow period of a d.c. glow discharge as a function of electron temperature when electrons were heated by microwaves up to Te ≤ 10300 K, with T+ = Tgas = 300 K. The electron temperature dependence of the total rate coefficient of dissociative recombination may be represented by α(Arwhich is in very good agreement with most previous experimental results but not with the recent theoretical calculations.