On 8/19/2018 1:42 PM, Ron VE8RT wrote:
Fortunately I'm far enough north that I can work at, and mess up a bit, getting into the analog sats while I have the footprint all to myself for part of some passes.
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Welcome to the analog sats world. Here's my opinion. With a little practice, you will find that you can manually deal with the doppler quite easily. In my couple thousand contacts on analog satellites, I almost never let the computer control the frequencies. I was running one step above you with an early Yaesu FT-736, so one way only CAT control. I found that controlling the frequency from the keyboard to be a royal pain in the ass. I did however have the computer control the antenna pointing. I was running 22 elements of crossed yagi on 2M, 40 elements of crossed yagi on 430, and a 2 x 3 foot offset dish for 2.4 GHz, so elevation and azimuth control were a requirement. Having the computer take card of that task simplified things for me.