Hi,
Worked the first two passes today from EM65. Nobody on the first, so it was a good chance to net the uplink frequency. There were 4-5 people on the second pass.
A few observations. It is very obvious who has computer control of the radio. Intelligibility is as with any of the passband birds, except on AO-51 you fall completely out of the passband quickly, rather than just slide up it, and of course you can't compensate on the downlink. Folks using manual frequency control had little luck with a QSO. Those with SATPC32 or equivalent could work similar to the FM/FM mode.
In this mode the RX is relatively sensitive, but I did need a beam to get a good uplink, though the output was only 1-2 watts. In FM mode, I frequently work a pass using my Arrow J-Pole with 5-10 watts due to operator error, but that was obviously not enough with SSB uplink except around TCA.
So come on out and join the fun. Last time, I recall several passes where both voice and CW QSOs were accomplished at the same time.
Alan WA4SCA