Gina

Here's the result from stacking 198 60s Ha subs using BPP in PixInsight.

Decided to get the 20m version of yours Chris as I want to make sure it reaches - be a bit daft if a couple of feet short.

Yes, I have crimper etc. so could indeed try it - thanks Or just get a 20m outdoor grade cable as mine is only indoor rated.

Looks like it doesn't cost much eg. 30m waterproof outdoor cable

Ah - is it... I have a gert big reel of CAT5 but could buy CAT6 if it's faster and would make a difference. Thanks Hugh

Used Blink in PI to look through my data and discarded duff frames. I'm left with 199 Ha subs of the Heart and Soul and now running BPP in PI. Following advice in the PI book, I looked at the bias and dark frames too. The bias frames look fine but the darks appear to saturate. Anyway, I'll see what BPP produces. Another puzzling thing was that PI objected to using a master flat created with the OIII filter for the Ha lights so I might have to produce flats for each filter if it looks as if the master flat hasn't been used. Job for tomorrow or whenever the rain stops!

I see. Thank you Chris Since I shall be digging up the grass between house and observatory, I could lay CAT5E cable in MDPE water pipe in the ground under the weed membrane and gravel. What bit rate do you think I could get out of that? It would be about 15m long.

19m left transferring files from laptop HD to SD card - it's a slow job with just USB2.

Another problem with the WiFi is that it has a habit of dropping off - I'm at the range limit even with a laptop.

Looking at figures :- The session last night produced 18GB of data which I'm now moving to SD card taking an estimated 26m then I will have to go back out and bring the card indoors and move the files onto the HD of the desktop. Using Gigabit LAN I should be able to transfer about 120MB/s = 2GB/m so 18GB should take 9m to transfer across. Or is getting a real 1 Gigabit data transfer with gigabit LAN being optimistic?

ATM my working method is the move data from the HD on my astro laptop onto a 64GB SD card and then move the data from there to my Linux Mint desktop for processing with PI. Transferring files over WiFi would take ages, one reason I'm thinking of using a 1 Gigabit HomePlug LAN - I'm hoping data transfer that way will be much quicker than WiFi. Anyway, I'm currently moving files and when done I'll process in PI.

Moving files around to make room for the latest data. I want to see if I can at least get something to post - I'll be gradually working backwards in capture time and seeing what data is any good.

Darks capturing proceeding I'm hoping that if I can sort out PixInsight, I can post an image of the Heart and Soul in Ha in the DSO imaging forum. It's about time I posted something again!

Next I'll put the lens cap on and collect some darks and biases for -30°C as I haven't got these at this temperature.

On checking the subs I seem to have 211 reasonable Ha subs of the Heart and Soul Nebulae from last night. 60s, gain 500, temperature -30°C.

Cygnus Loop has now gone out of sight so I've swapped over the the Heart and Soul and taking 60s Ha subs.

Beautiful

Now capturing Ha subs with same parameters. Image is rather weak - I think the sky is failing.

... and waiting ......

Clear tonight so I've decided to image the Cygnus Loop again as the earlier data was poor. Run of 200 30s OIII subs to start with as the system was set up for OIII. Quite cold tonight so -30°C set-point is no problem. I did some tests at longer exposures and these caused white-out of parts of the nebula. Using a gain setting of 500 (50dB) but wondering if a lower gain and longer exposure would be better - still experimenting with best settings for this new camera.

I have a NETGEAR PLW1000-100UKS 1000 Mbps Powerline Ethernet WiFi Adapter (1 Gigabit Ethernet Port) so I might go for wired with super-fast gigabit Ethernet for data transfer.

Found a Win 64bit one costs a bit more but does a lot more. Faster processor, 4GB RAM rather than 2 and a 64GB SSD, looks like 3 USB3 ports. Dual band WiFi - Gigabit Ethernet.

Hmmm... This one is apparently a full 64bit, more recent, processor but is still supplied with 32bit Windows 10 - wonder why. I wonder if there are any reasonably prices mini PCs that have the full 64bit Windows OS installed.

OIC Thanks

This one looks like a much better bet. 64bit CPU and no less than 4 USB ports one of which is USB3 and the rest USB2. Micro SD card slot supporting up to 128GB. SSD for main storage and an extra SATA bay for another or an HD.