HailVectron

I might start a thread elsewhere - but I've had a positive beginning. I pulled out my box-o-gubbins last night, along with the EQ6, plugged in power, SynScan handset and it all turns on, tracks, and slews! A small victory I know, but I remember I did a lot of DIY electrical and electronics bits when I was imaging - to keep costs down, so I had no idea what might have corroded to bits! I did find out I needed to update my handset firmware, so that's now done, and my mount stickers which I used for my patented super-fast polar alignment method (*not really patented) are all still on, and do the job. I confirmed with the SynsScanInit app, and my little Polaris circle was exactly where it was mean to be! That should save some time. *If anyone wants to know what it is - just ask. All my pre-tied looms of cables are all in the right places, one for mount, one for camera and on for the laptop too. I need to test my dew heater strips, but I don't foresee any issues with those. One thing that didn't survive their extended period of shedogenic suspension was my self-printed and laminated Hartman masks. I think I might have to buy a couple of those this time - I remember it was a real bind doing them myself. Oh, and I have a new work laptop coming soon, so I'll be able to use my current one, wiped, with a fresh Windows 10 install on it, to add my various bits of software. Just the basics to start off with, but I've already pre-downloaded them all I think. So - baby steps - but in all, it's looking good. This is the plan going forward : 1. Laptop reinstall & Hartmann Mask purchases 2. Auto-tracking test nights with the QHY5 - might need a few of these 3. QHY8 focussing and test imaging nights Oh, and by way of a question - with the autoguiding and QHY5. Is it possible/desirable/necessary to use both the ST4 connection to the mount AND the EQMOD serial connection? What will PHD2 use? And why would you use one over the other, if you choose one? ...and a 2nd question - it's been a while since I've been on an Astro forum, but is the above appropriate content? I mean, is this the type of stuff you lot will happily read !! 😀

Here are a few of my attempts back then - something to aim for at least. Cheers all for your welcomes and welcome advice!

Cheers Russ, it might have been you that laughed at my tent putting up skills at that place near Derby, didn't we have a UKAI weekend thing there? 🤪 Thanks for all the replies actually, looking forward to starting again, maybe I'll even remember some bits!

Hi Russ, was that your moniker there too, it rings a bell?

Well - where to begin? I'm an astrophotographer, and its been 13 years since my last image... I used to frequent ye olde UKAstroimaging Forum regularly, where I was AndrewG, but that name was in use on here, hence the name change. It's the usual story, work, new baby, time, weather, all conspired to make taking pics a chore, and the pastime I loved went the same way as my golfing 😂 But now, my daughter is the same height as her mum, my garden is cleared of a few more trees, my mirrors and lenses are cleaned, and it all has a new shed to live in, and... I have no idea where to start 😀 I suppose that isn't strictly true, I know I have to get everything tested, my power setup - a 12V desk power supply, my mount, a 1st gen EQ6, which has had a SynScan upgrade, my cameras, QHY5 for guiding and QHY8 (original) for pics, and a new laptop needs to be set up - the old one still has XP on it!! So there is a lot to do while the nights are lighter. I really want to do it in stages, but looking at what software I had installed on XP, is PHD Guiding and Nebulosity still a solid performer for guiding and shooting? I'm not really looking at the processing side of things yet - but I used to use ImagesPlus and Photoshop CS5, but the former is v3, and is quite expensive to upgrade, and I don't have a CS5 license any more (it was through work). I know for a fact that I used to have a column defect on the QHY8, it was recording signal, but at a lower level than the surrounding ones, so I need something that can fix that in post-processing... But I'm getting ahead of myself. I guess I just need to be brought back up to speed on what's new - I mean, I know my equipment is out of date, but generally, software-wise, is ASCOM still a thing, Carte du Ceil (sp?), SkyMap Pro, Starry Night Pro, etc - or are there brand new modern packages that wrap it all up into a nice package for us now? So to those that I might have chatted to on UKAI a decade ago, hello again, and to everyone else, hello, nice to meet you. Andrew