System and method for determining an optimal transmission center frequency for a traffic station (30) in a satellite communication system (100) includes transmitting, by the traffic station (30) in a first uplink channel, a first burst of information in a first uplink TDMA frame to a satellite (10) and receiving, by the traffic station (30) in a first downlink channel, a downlink TDMA frame including a reference burst (210) and the first burst of information. A Doppler offset ratio is calculated based on a measured frequency shift of the received first burst of information. A local oscillator offset ratio is calculated based on a measured frequency shift of the reference burst and the Doppler offset ratio. An adjusted transmission frequency of a second uplink channel is calculated based on the Doppler offset ratio and the local oscillator offset ratio.