StarGazingSiouxsie

That's where you have to get SkyPortal to join your home wireless internet network, correct? How braincell taxing is that to do? Fairly straightforward, or? Thanks

@Shimrod Thank you

On a general not in relation to wifi telescope control, I found this article by Michael Swanson and thought it was very informative so I thought I'd share it here. His whole site has been a source of a lot of great information for me in general. https://www.nexstarsite.com/PCControl.htm

@shimrod Hi again. Can I ask what sort of distance you are able to connect to your telescope with the SkyPortal, please? And are you using Direct Connect or Access Point mode? I am hoping to connect from about 30 feet away, with a glass patio door the only barrier between telescope and laptop (aside from my ineexperience) Does this sound doable? Thanks

@shimrod @Mick H Helllo My cyncism - perahps, I admit, a bit hasty as I am a relative newcomer to telescope equipment with an inherent steep learning curve- is based on several things. When I purchased this item it did look like a toy!!! But seriously, I think it is way over priced for what it is. Supply & demand, supply & demand. So many people I have spoken to have expressed real disappointment with the SkyPortal, reporting issues such as the inability to workl even a few feet away from the telescope. But - and it's a big butt, like mine - they could have, and probably were, referring to the SkyPortal's previous incarnation, the SkyQ Link. I understand it was this product's poor field performance that led to the new & improved - hoepfully - Sky Portal; essentiallyt the same items, with a few technicAl tweaks and a new name. I have purchased the newer version, without the reset button, and I'll be testing it soon. Hopefully, everything crossed, it works and will part of my plan to have a completely cable-less and wireless set up. I will endevour to reign in my assessment of items that I have yet to actuallyt test - even though my cat did run off with it thinking he had a new toy

Thanks Richoet

Hi, I bought some Williams Optics Binoviewers. They appear very nice quality but I cannot achieve foucus with them on a 5" Celestron Newtonian, FL = 650MM fr = f5. I have not used binoviwers before today and I bought them primarily for my new telescope which hasn't arrived yet, a Celestron 9.25 CST. I wanted to try the binoviwers out on the 5" today but could not achieve focus. I also tried using the 1.5 x Barlow that came with them. Is there a reason they won't focus? Do you think they will be OK on my bigger scope? Thanks.

Although I am an astronomy beginner I do have goals!!! One of them is to convert my living space into a Mission Control theat even Davros would be proud of. I am looking eventuially to have a totally witeless and cable-less set up. So I've been doing a lot of research and during the course of that I have bookmarked numerous articles. I link below to a therad where someone shares their experience of trying to achive 100% wireless an d the things they did along the way. A long read but interesting, I thought. FWIW, i.e. although I'm a newbie to all this kit, my curret plan is to go with the Sky-Fi adapter. Although expensive, it seems that is not a toy, unlike Celestron's stocking stuffer wifi effort. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/650258-wireless-remote-control-of-cpwi/ (I hope this is OK to link to other astronomy sites - I had a look at the rules here and couldn't see that it wasn't allowed. If it isn't allowed, then my apologies.)

Hi & thank you for taking the time to help me. I didn't try your suggestion - I tried 'Jarfix' first - but I suspect that your method would have achieved the same success. I had tried right clicking and doing 'open with' but it seems unless one has the fix provided by Jarfix, the option to open with Java is never there. The best option Windows 10 gave me was to try Firefox....................... Thank again.

Thank you!! Thank you!!! THANKI YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!! KISSES 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 IT WORKED!! 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 I am now going to spend MY WHOLE AFTERNOON blissfully opeing the 3,543 jar files that I willed to open but could not and seeing that beautiful Celestron Firmware Manager in his shiny suit of orange armour sitting on my page!!! I'm ecstatic!!!! Thank you xxx

Just wanted to reach out and say how warm and fuzzy you all made me feel with your very thoughtful welcome messages. I think touches like that really make a difference between someone staying on a forum or not. Maybe because I'm a girl that it means more to me; not so much emotionally but from a viewpoint of acceptance within a field of enjoyment that has been largely male dominated over the latter few decades. So thank you to so many seemingly enlightened and empathic males here. My experience on another popular astronomy forum was very different. I am very proud of fellow females such as Natalie Batalha (NASA Kepler) and Sara Seager (Professor MIT- specilaises in exoplanet spectral / atmosphere analysis). I predict that the first declaration of "we're as sure as we can be that we have found extrasolar life without actually being able to physically show you" will be made from one or both of these women within the next 15 years or so, once James Webb starts doing his stuff Clear skies & open minds 😍

hAHAha of course I really think that by now there should have been a binary system of suitable individual masses called Laurel & Hardy

What a great thread. I love stuff like this. I just wish my brain could understand more about it. But I'll get there

Thanks. The tube and mount are brand new, so odds are they won't need an update. But I was so looking forward to plugging it all in and checking for updates. I love stuff like that WHEN IT WORKS but get very irritated and sad when it doesn't. It just drives me nuts not knowing why I (and others) can't make jar files executable. My instinct is is it may be something to do a matrix between the security software and Java. Security software / anti vrus issues might accaount for why some Windows 10 peeps have this problem and others don't.

Thanks. I reinstalled Java but no luck. Strang thing is, some peeps using Windows 10 have no issue opening Jar files, some, like me, do. And that seemingly random variability is extremely annoying.

Hello there, I told you it wouldn't be long before I started asking for help! I can download CFM from Celestron's support page. I download the zipped file, extract the contents but that's as far as I can get. The file in the unzipped file shows as a 'Jar' file instead of an exe. That naugghty little jar justs sits there and will not dance for me. I am running Windows 10. I have latest version of Java installed. I have tried turning around 3 times with one hand on my head and one on my tummy. No luck. I am neuro A typical, for the record, so that accounts for why I absolutely MUST know how to (please) open this file even though the odds are my kit is up to date. Seriously, this is driving me nuts. I found stargazerslounge via my searches in trying to solve this problem and I thought to myself what a nice vibe this ite has. so I joined. Any help / advice / chocolate (milk or dark) , money (PP or cash ) all very gratfefully and cheek kissingly received.

Hello, A Brit currently living in Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. Been into astronomy & cosmology my whole life (probably on account of me having always felt this particular planet is not my home) but have only very recently decided to purchase a telescope. I've been using 10x50 bins up until now, because Sir Patrcik Moore RIP told me to!! Met him once and he said to me "If you can only currently affortd the rubbish in Woolworths, use binoculars instead until you can afford something over 4" (Newtonian) I currently have a Celestron AVX Mount with a Celestron 9.25 (non Edge) CST. I am on an extremely steep learning curve but loving every minute of it. Please forgive me in advance for driving you all nuts with naive questions. My first thread with a plea for help in trying to open Celestron's CFM on my laptop will follow this post! I did join another online astronomy forum but I found them a bit........serious......a bit.....precious......and very critical of my current set up. Most of them told me I should have started off with a much smaller scope - BUT I HAVE APERTURE FEVER & IT AIN'T GOIN' AWAY ANYTIME SOON!! I JUST KNOW IT!!!! I did start off with a ( Celestron ) CGEM II mount but it was far too heavy for me to lift. The AVX is lighter and has a payload suited to my set up. Please stay healthy & happy. Nice to meet you