so i've been meaning to try satellite work for probably two years now and yesterday i finally just did it. used my handheld and a cheap arrow antenna, az/el from heavens-above which i know isnt the best but it was what i had on my phone. managed to hear a bunch of stations on the downlink pretty clearly but i dont think anyone heard me, or at least no one came back to me.

anyway my main question is about the doppler shift stuff. i was manually adjusting my VFO during the pass but i honestly wasnt sure if i was doing it right or fast enough near AOS and LOS. like do you really need to be hitting it constantly or is there a range where it kind of plateaus in the middle of the pass where you can leave it alone for a bit

also i noticed what sounded like a really loud buzzing carrier kind of sitting on the downlink frequency the whole time, was that someone kerchunking or is that just something that happens. pass was maybe 8 degrees max elevation so maybe that had something to do with it

the doppler thing -- yeah there's definitely a sweet spot near maximum elevation where the rate of change slows down a lot. you'll be cranking the dial like crazy near AOS and LOS especially on a high elevation pass, but mid-pass on something like SO-50 at 70cm you can sometimes go 30 seconds without touching it and still be close enough. on a low pass like you described (8 deg is rough btw, i wouldnt sweat not getting through) the geometry is different and the rate stays pretty compressed the whole time since you never really get that overhead geometry. honestly just keep at it with heavens-above or grab gpredict if you want something more dedicated, it'll show you the doppler curve visually and it kinda clicks after you see it a few times

the buzzing carrier is almost certainly someone with their squelch open keying their radio without realizing it, or a poorly programmed HT that fires the PL tone constantly. happens on every SO-50 pass it seems like. some people just have no idea their radio is even doing it

8 degrees is rough, i wont lie. i dont usually even bother setting up for anything under like 15 honestly. you'll hear the bird fine but getting your signal in there when you're that far on the horizon is tough even with an arrow. keep trying, the higher passes are way more satisfying and you'll actually make contacts. also gpredict is free and way better than heavens-above for real time tracking once youre doing it more regularly