Good Morning All, I'd like to understand something that seems to be happening with SSB birds.
I realize that they are two kinds of operators - one that has a computer controlled station and one that tunes manually, and I respect both types. The following observation is about two computer controlled stations working via a SSB satellite - (a) My station is computer controlled (SatPC32 or HRD) and can hear myself on the downlink throughout the pass. I can also go up or down the pass band and still hear myself without needing to retune the uplink. It is pretty rock solid, almost like HF operation. (b) Sometimes I hear a station calling CQ and it remains on the same frequency during successive CQs, so I'm guessing their station is also computer controlled. I can tune in and stay on their calling frequency. (c) However, when I can respond, it seems they have to tune their downlink a bit to hear me well. So when they come back to my response, they are a bit off-frequency (about 300Hz) and sound like Mickey Mouse, until I retune the downlink to hear them well again. This keeps happening throughout the QSO. (d) This "drifting" happens only with some stations calling CQ and not everyone. Considering both stations are computer controlled at each end, I'm trying to understand if I'm doing anything wrong/incorrect. Learning to operate SSB sats has been humbling as well as exciting, I'd appreciate any pointers for this situation. Thanks in advance. 73! Umesh k6vug