Question on operational methods as I am a new to Linear Satellite QSO's.
I have an IC-9700 with a tracking antenna using SATpc32. All work just fine.
As soon as I am able to access the bird, I 'net' my frequency so I can hear myself naturally by tuning in the SATpc32 CAT menu as outlined in the manual.
I have made a number of qso's and some it is clear they are SATpc32 to adjust both the the both VFO's so that the frequency at the satellite remains the same.
However, in other QSO's I have let SATpc32 do its thing, adjusting the VFO's while using the RIT of the radio to chase the other station. That results in our QSO taking up more and more of the bird's bandwidth.
My ask to the seasoned group here is am I doing it the right way or is there different schools of thought on this? It seems like you'd want both parties on the same frequency at the satellite at the same time.
Thanks in advance and I appreciate any Elmering
Mike va3mw
Mike,
Glad you are having fun on the birds. Your intuition about using too much bandwidth is correct. There is "One True Rule" to follow, in essence:
" each operator tunes his transmit frequency, corrected for Doppler, so that it arrives at the same frequency at the spacecraft as every other operator"
see: https://www.amsat.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/FDT-WA4SCA.pdf
de KM1P Joe.
-
Joseph B. Fitzgerald -
Michael Walker