fifeskies

It has to be said the ST4 method camera to mount is probably simpler. It in part depends on what you are trying to image and how much tinkering you want to do with the software. (and if you are a computer familiar person or just looking for something that works) As Olly says it works fine.

Better to use Ascom . Eqmod and APT with PHD2 for mount control, will give better results than the ST4 method. The camera to mount ST4 method loses a lot of accuracy (but does work after a fashion) there are several good uTube videos on Ascom / APT for NEQ6 with either Stellarium or Carte du Ciel (CDC). for example

A chunky (high current) Zener diode with a suitable series resistor across the output can set an upper limit to the supply line. Something like a 50watt , or even better a 100w rated device is best. (or use a big transistor as a current bypass with the zener) You want at least a 14v zener , so that no current will flow through it under normal use. An inline slow blow fuse from the psu output is also a good idea with the zener so that if it does start shunting a lot of current (if the supply goes over voltage) then the fuse will pop before the zener gets too hot.

This is the handwheel I bought for fixing the mount to the Altair CNC adapter from below.

A variation on the flat CNC plate is the spider cage type of adapter, this could match your plate holes and also mate up with your mount requirements at the top connection

I think you are probably right about the centre hole needing to be 12mm for the AZ EQ6 , but its not a big problem as drilling up from 10 to 12mm is fairly easy. (it is def 12mm for the NEQ6 ). It looks like the pier has been drilled for another mount. The bolt usually goes up through the pier head and adapter from below, you have only shown the top view but I assume there is a space under the top plate. The original bolt from the Skywatcher tripod will not be suitable, I got a 12mm handwheel bolt for my NEQ6pro after measuring the length required. Drilling fixing holes new to suit an adapter is rather more difficult so try to find the right adapter that fits the hole spacing you already have, there are places that can machine you a CNC adapter to your specifications if it is not an off the shelf match, so measure the hole pattern carefully. Getting the CNC adapter for the pier is worth the cost as it makes the whole setup much more stable and polar aligning is far smoother.

I went for the USB over ethernet solution even thought its only a 5m link to my warm room desk. Works flawlessly , and very easy to extend the extra 20m to operate from beside the woodstove in the main living area once everything is set for a long run. (on those mythical long clear nights you hear about in fairy tales). Just needs a wall patch down the longer cable to the even more remote position.

This is possibly the lens clips intruding into the light path. It is usually only a problem with the very brightest of stars. Are you using any field flattener or reducer with your scope , these can sometimes help. Sadly it's not uncommon even on fairly expensive scopes. It tends to become more of an issue the longer you expose the single sub for. Post processing can help to reduce these effects but it takes a bit of effort.

I bought a few patio furniture covers for my gear very cheaply and they work fine , (inside my ROR shed that is). The patio umbrella type are good for long OTA mounted on a stand or pier. When I had my 200p this was a very good fit.

I have the ZWO ASI 290mm Mini for guiding , and it makes a fine little planetary camera as well , 2 for the price of 1

It looks like your ROR walls will be blocking most of the lights around you as well which is a bonus. I actually made my walls high enough to block most of the distractions around me and made a fold down flap to the south where I could catch the few objects at low altitude I wanted to see sometimes. Also helps to keep the breeze away from the telescope. I made a custom horizon too when I was planning my ROR position , it helps a lot to visualise what you are going to get once it is finished.

Just a copy from a technical site about USB 3 as a reminder USB 3 is much more intolerant of lower quality cable due the the much higher transmission frequency Maximum length of USB 3.0 / USB 3.1 cable: The 3.0/3.1 specification does not specify a maximum cable length between USB 3.0/3.1 devices (SuperSpeed or SuperSpeed+), but there is a recommended length of 3 meters (or about 9 feet and 10 inches). However, the biggest limitation to the length of the cable is the quality of the cable. Results may vary, but with a high quality cable you should be able to go beyond 3 meters. However, to ensure you achieve the best results possible, use an active cable when going more than 10 feet (3 meters).

I recently bought some "Lindy" USB cables and they seem to be good quality and work well. I also use "etguuds" nylon braided cables. (a mix of a type b type c type and mini usb for canon camera) Do remember that USB2 is not recommended to exceed 5metres and USB3 is only 3m limit before you risk problems. (I recently went down the USB over cat5/6 cable route for remote operation and it works very well).

Stepe I will try to illustrate Taking the UK as an example , the Greenwich meridian passes through , you guessed it Greenwich. In a much simplified view , the sun will be overhead at Greenwich at noon GMT. (edit: I should really say due South not overhead, but it will be as near overhead as its going to get 🧐 ) I live just over 3 degrees West, when my UK clock tells me its midday noon MY sun is not overhead yet , it will not be overhead for another 13 minutes. (and not overhead in East coast USA for another 5 hours). Because the world only has 24 time zones , the actual sidereal time anywhere will be ahead or behind the time zone depending if it is East or West of the local meridian. If my mount used just GMT to aim it would be aiming in the wrong place (trying overhead for the sun in the above example when it is still off to the East of overhead from where I am, so the system needs to use the local sidereal time to find objects) (Do NOT look at or aim at the Sun though a telescope of course unless it is designed for solar). Hope that helps

It was me that bought Omo's SD103S and I am very happy with it (thanks Omo) I was using it on Mars just the other night and was getting very nice detail out of it with a 10mm Delos and TV 2 x Barlow. Currently searching in vain for somewhere that has the matched reducer in stock, no-one can give me a firm timescale for when these will be available again (much like a lot of astro gear at the moment) , keen to try some AP with it at the reduced f stop. Using it in Bortle 4 skies and it gives lovely high contrast views, will have to get it out to a dark site sometime (thinking Scottish North West Coast) , but no plans for a while at attempting to go anywhere till the world get back to normal.

Yes , true time will be 4 mins per degree different from your time zone prime meridian. My location being just over 3 degrees West of the meridian I am about 13 mins different time from the zone clocks as far as the stars are concerned. When you enter your co-ordinates into a hand controller it internally compensates the mount for the correction for zone time, allowing you to use the time from clocks watches etc to enter time data as this is far easier. The hand controller simply asks for the time zone the entered time refers to (and for daylight saving confirmation when the 1 hour change is active).

I needed some extra counterweight and managed to pick up 2 x 2kg and 4 x 1kg weights for £10 , the dumbell bar type. Now , these have a large 1 1/4 hole in them (some are only 1 inch , so check if you buy some) and I came up with a quick easy solution for using them. Standard electrical wiring box large grommets fit exactly in the hole (not the 20mm grommets), and also the centre hole of the grommet is a push fit onto the standard 18mm NEQ6 bar. A stack of 3 are the same thickness as the weight. so:- place 3 on the bar , and tape them together with some PVC insulation tape, just enough so they are a friction push fit with the weight centre hole, I used about 40cm of tape. slide the weight onto the stack of grommets, when moving the weight up and down the bar hold the middle so the weight doesn't pop off the grommet spacer. bookend the new weight with the normal Skywatcher clamping weights so the entire stack doesn't move. The 2kg weights I found are a good match to the 5kg Skywatcher weights diameter wise. I can also swap the 2kg and 1 kg weights easily , very handy for smaller rigs where being able to adjust by 1kg rather than a 5kg step size using the standard Skywatcher weights comes in very handy. Photos show the sequence , I basically got myself 2 x 2kg weights for a £5 , (still have the 4 x 1kg for further use). The rubber grommets protect the bar and prevent any problems due to offcentre weights , there is enough "stiction" to prevent the weights spinning around , but can still be moved up and down for balancing. I my case I actually use the end weight to balance out eyepiece and camera changes leaving the main section in place. A little rainy day project.

These are very good connectors , just be very careful to establish the system polarity as there are examples around of both options , even within one manufacturer who uses them as original power connectors. The EQ8 and the newer EQ8R have opposite conventions. But given that caveat , they are very reliable and I can recommend them , they will never disconnect by accident.

I have noticed a slight improvement in that the few hot spots in the distance (direct view of lamp post head) have almost gone now, but my ROR was already way up the top of a long garden away from the streetlights and so it is largely the same when looking up. Bortle 4. Helps to keep night vision to not have the bright spots that catch your eye when you forget not to look over in the road direction. The entire garden now seems darker as there is no "glow" from the road however. Its the huge glow from the big town other side of the hill (low to south) that needs new LED lighting, now that would improve things.

another before and after set bear in mind the camera does make it look brighter than it actually is. Even the before lighting wasn't exactly floodlight levels, though it does look bright in the photos, but a lot darker now. The light is concentrated onto the actual road and not allowed to spill off to the side onto the buildings.

Just had our old fluorescent street lights changed in our village to new LED that are much more directed down just onto the road. Much less upward and sideways light spill. Compare in particular the spill onto the 2 storey house on the left in the 2 photos. On the right , the houses are now in shadow. From my garden the village is a much darker place, though some directly under the new lights now have floodlit gardens. Fortunately my garden is not one of them, and my observing spot is up a long garden away from the road. (I do have a lamp out the front of my house, but the house blocks it from the garden). Previously I could see a few street lights from my garden as bright hotspots in the distance due to side leak, the same lamp-posts are almost invisible now. Top photo is before , bottom one after

If I need to remove the Losmandy and Rings (to put my ED80 on instead for example) , I actually remove the anti slide out safety bolt at top or bottom of my Losmandy and just slide the Losmandy out, having already demounted the OTA. That way you only need to loosen the clamp by a small amount, not fully unwind the star knobs, reduces puck thread wear.

A 6mm eyepiece will give you x200 with your 300mm scope , this is a high magnification for most days given the turbulent atmosphere on this planet. Your in Finland I see so probably have superior air quality, you may be able to push to x300 on a good night. This would equate to a 4mm eyepiece. Decent eye relief is important and many sub 10mm eyepieces begin to struggle in that respect. for 200euros you can pick up a very good quality eyepiece 2nd hand. Delos eyepieces have 20mm eye relief even at the sub 10mm range, and I use these with my 254mm scope, quality is excellent , clear over the whole view and high contrast. I bought mine 2nd hand for around the 200euro mark. I have a 10mm for planets (which gives me x158 in my long tube scope). Jupiter and Saturn very clear at this magnification. When 2x barlowed to x316 the view if often mushier as the atmosphere in UK is just too erratic at that magnification 95% of the time in UK. They look far better at x158. With conditions for very high magnification being rare I would suggest you go for something around a very usable 8mm giving x150 which will be fine in most viewing conditions and not only on planets. You can 2x barlow it to x300 when atmospheric conditions permit. Or a 6mm for x200 , (which x2 barlows to an unlikely x 400)

That would work fine as a guidescope in the majority of setups. Unless you use the diagonal it will probably need some extension tubes to reach focus. (in this scope the guiding field is around 1/2 a degree, or diameter of full moon) Here are a couple of simulations of the performance.

A small simple safety feature if you are worried you might forget to close the trapdoor. Mount a battery powered automatic light on the underside. The type activated by movement. With the door open the light shines everywhere to remind you the door is open as you will be triggering it as you move around (make sure the trapdoor opens so that the underside faces the mount) You will never forget to close the trapdoor before starting your observing, and a bonus is that after you close the trapdoor the light goes out after a short while so doesn't even leak through the gaps. Handy to see where the steps are too when ascending/descending.