MikeP

IconRestorer will put it back to your last save. Mike

Hi Bottletopburly, My cable is quite old and has the blue bit on the RJ45(?) end that plugs into the mount. You will see from my post above that normal service has been resumed but I'm going to follow you lead (no pun intended) and buy a Lynx replacement. Windows updates mean I can't easily isolate my computers from potential harmful effects but a more modern cable / driver is a small price to pay for hopefully reducing the probability of future problems. Thanks for replying. Mike PS Don't suppose you'd care to explain your user name would you? 😀

Hi Atreta. I took your advice and tried the Toolbox. It gave a message indicating it could not find the port - at least that was consistent. I went back to the Device Manager and looked at the properties for the port and found an error code of 10 - that was not showing yesterday. Following HitecAstro's instructions, I uninstalled and deleted the driver and reinstalled. Error code went away but still with the same results in Toolbox. More out of hope than expectation, I uninstalled the driver in port properties and then click install driver. I expected a dialogue asking where to get the driver from but it just installed. Result - success in Toolbox. I restarted the laptop, started CduC, connected to the mount and happily slewed back and forth. I have no idea where Windows got the driver from or why the Hitecastro one worked then didn't work but all OK now. Thank you for taking the trouble to respond. Mike

Having bought a new portable imaging rig based around an ASIAir, I decided to revamp the wiring and software in my observatory. I now have a Raspberry Pi at the mount connected into my home network and connected to the mount via USB using a HitecAstro Eqdir. Using KStars on my obsy Windows 10 PC, I can control the mount via the RPI, so the Eqdir cable seems to be OK. When I bought the mobile rig, I bought a Polemaster so I thought while I was at it, I might as well polar align the obsy mount. It is awkward to see the monitor from the mount, so I used a Windows 10 laptop. I disconnected the Eqdir from the RPi and plugged it and the Polemaster into the laptop. I tried to connect to the mount using Cartes du Ciel but couldn't. The Eqmod interface (or something) flashes on and then immediately off. I tried using EQASCOM_Run, that does the same but does so continuously and has to be killed (Kill EQASCOM doesn't stop it). Eventually I gave up and connected to the mount via RPi and used that to do the slewing part of the Polemaster routine, which worked fine. While trying to get the laptop to connect to the mount, I checked the port to which the PL2303 HitecAstro was assigned and made sure it was correctly set in EQASCOM and I also replaced the driver. I couldn't think of anything else to try. The only other thing I noticed was that clicking on the Find button in the EQASCOM set up could not find a port. I'm pretty sure the laptop is the problem but I don't know where. I have the latest ASCOM, EQASCOM and CduC. Does anyone have any ideas? I've been using EQMOD for years so I am quite embarrassed to ask. Mike Mike

Hi Alan, Many years ago I had problems with an EQ6 with EQMOD. This was my solution: Slew to anything. Slew back to Polaris. Switch off the mount, disconnect / shut down the planetarium program. Undo the clutches and physically put the scope back to the home position - just eyeball it. Switch back on, reconnect etc and try again. Mike

Another vote for VSCode Mike

That sounds good value Michael. Mike

Are the bolts different lengths and you have the round the wrong way? Mike

I'll bring issues 12 to 133 of Sky At Night magazine (not including the CDs) if anyone wants them. They are just taking up space (no pun) and I never look at them. Free to a good home. PM me if you are interested, Mike

There is a big difference between bragging and just being proud of what you have built. I'm positive you are in the latter camp. I'm enjoying your build and I'm very impressed with your attention to detail. Good luck with the weather and your roof design. Mike

You naughty, naughty boy. :laugh:

ClearOutside said clear for me last night too. As I set up in the afternoon it was cloudy and I had to temporarily cover up when a shower passed through - Mrs MikeP thought I was nuts. By 9pm it was clear and stayed that way till I gave up at 1:30 when dew defeated me. Mike

I stuck a 5mm Pentax XW and a Tal 3x barlow into my FlexTube for a look at the Moon. Rubbish view really but it was 900x magnification.

Hi Rog, I'm hoping by now that you can see the funny side of what happened. Your description of the scope smacking you in the mouth certainly made me laugh - not unkindly, its just that it is exactly the sort of thing that happens to me. Hope we'll get a chance to meet up soon, if not, be sure to get that camp bed for Kelling. Mike

I thought an example of Steve's service would act as a nice counterbalance to some of the recent views expressed about other less satisfactory suppliers. I phoned him yesterday at around 4:30pm and ordered a red dot finder. The post lady delivered it this morning at 9:30am. How good a service is that!!!! Mike PS I originally typed "red light finder". Thought it didn't look right and changed it, thank goodness.