Ian McCallum

22 hours ago, malc-c said:

I remember the discussions had when you were considering your options, and mentioning the impact on your wallet should you choose to upgrade in stages rather than jumping straight in to a pro goto set up.  I'm sure you'll have no problem selling your enhanced motor kit on the classified section, mainly as there are people like you who want to upgrade their mount but can't justify the initial outlay for the synscan option, and are in that same dilemma as you were at the time. As your kit is just months old and like new you could get upwards of 75% of the amount you paid, especially if it is still with the original packaging.

The pro goto does, IMO offer a lot more options.  Check with the supplier (FLO ?) that the upgrade is one of the new generation with a USB-B port on the sysnscan controller.  This gives you the option of a direct PC connection without the need to purchase an optional EQDIR cable.  You can then use EQMOD or GSServer  and ASCOM (windows) or INDI (Linux) to control and pulse guide the mount through PHD2, which is a lot more refined than ST4 (IMO).

It was a false economy, for me.  I didn't think I would need to upgrade, at the time. I'm not saying it will cure any mount alignment problems, etc, but it should make things a bit easier.  I'm still perfecting polar alignment, etc.  I'm actually getting faster putting the set up together - it's like doing repetitive drills, to become better.😉

20 hours ago, michael8554 said:

Hi Ian

Not sure what this is you've posted ?

I'm guessing these are switches to change the direction of slews.

An intuitive thing:

 When I press the UP button I want the OTA to move up.

OR 

When I press the UP button I want the stars to move UP in the eyepiece/finder ie the OTA moves down.

(All depending on any flips due to the optics)

Shouldn't have any affect on guiding, PHD2 will work out which way the mount is moving by the Calibration results.

Michael

You're correct. I did a bit of experimentation with PHD2 and some other software, which showed that the slide switches on the side of the hand controller, only affect the buttons and nothing else.

I'm actually thinking of upgrading to the SW Synscan PRO goto option, for my EQ5 Deluxe mount.  That being said, is there a market for slightly used EQ5 Enhanced dual axis motors kit?🤔

I'm wondering if this may be responsible for some of the Dec backlash problems I've been having? 🤔

If so, it's rather embarrassing that I didn't spot it earlier. 😳🙄

22 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

https://www.indilib.org/forum/astroberry/10519-oacapture-does-not-work-since-daily-upgrade.html

where i found the info for reference if you are interested

Many thanks, once again.👍

10 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

run this command and let me know as worked for me

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libqhyccd.so.22.1.2 /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libqhyccd.so.21

Brilliant, many thanks. 👍 I spent a wee while looking for solutions, but obviously in the wrong place. 🙄

Linux and RPi programming are still a black art to me. 😳

I did a fresh install of Astroberry on the RPi and before doing an update, I discovered that OACapture and OALive worked.  After doing the usual "sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade && sudo apt dist-upgrade", the icons are still there, but the programmes don't run.  Any one else came across this at all?

Last night, doing some lunar imaging... 

2 minutes ago, Chris said:

Very nice Ian, especially the last shot with the full solar disk - good Sun spot detail and you can even make out some faculae! 

I had to Google that last word!😂  The granularity is noticeable, I guess my focusing was good.😉 

39 minutes ago, Chris said:

Lovely Stu! I wish you could still get hold of the OMNI range of scopes new, in which case I would have had real trouble choosing the EVo120 EQ5 over the OMNI 120mm CG4 package! 

I've just remembered I have some spare solar film, hopefully there's enough to make a filter for the Evo 

I got a freebie solar filter, when I bought my SW EV120 from a fellow member of SGL.  You can see the results below...  You can also see some CA on the edge of the lunar disk, there's also some of the solar disk (less noticeable).  I ended up buying a Wratten #8 filter from Auntie @FLO, as some of the other choices were quite expensive.  I see that the Baader 495 filters are still out-of-stock though.☹️

Edit: All of these images were captured using a Samsung A20e, attached to a smartphone holder clamped around the eyepiece.. 

1 minute ago, Chris said:

Looks the business Ian! and I see you're using the enhanced motor drive kit for guiding too! 

I was using my Raspberry Pi during previous sessions, then I discovered by chance that my laptop had a USB 3 port on it.  That's the whole reason I bought the RPi, because of the USB 3 ports, plus I could do things remotely...  I use the SW9x50 finderscope as a guidescope, using a ZWO ASI120MM mini and the imaging camera is a ZWO ASI224MC.

I'm looking forward to seeing your results, but also how you go through the whole process including the settings that you use  - obviously condensed down for YouTube.😉

5 hours ago, Chris said:

Hands up if you have a soft spot for the good old affordable classic achromat refractor!? Well I do, so after some time without one I decided to rectify the situation. 

I'm unable to access the planets and Moon from my obsy, so this classic refractor on a motor driven EQ5 will be used to access these to the south (if my neighbour turns his security lights off! Pleural).

Looking forward to showing the kids the planets and Moon through this beast, plus some out reach! One or two of the locals have become curious about Astronomy so why not get them hooked by showing then the rings of Saturn...the gateway drug to Astronomy 🤪  (I've also picked up a Semi Apo filter) 

 

You've got the same setup as me. I replied to you on YouTube. 👍

6 hours ago, michael8554 said:

If your mount driver supplies PHD2 with the mount's RA and Dec, you should Calibrate near Dec = 0 and near south.

Because the amount of RA guiding is dependant on the Dec position of the target, and PHD2 will compensate if it knows the Dec of the target.

If not, typically with ST-4 guiding, or a poorly written driver, you should Calibrate on target, Ian has this setup.

This is what the PHD2 developers stipulate.

Michael

 

It's ST-4 guiding, so I do the calibration on target.

12 hours ago, malc-c said:

I'm not saying you have to strip down an EQ5.... 🙄

I know, but it's not as smooth as it could be. Perhaps long term I can send it off to get tuned. 🤔

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

That's entirely at your discretion, but at least at the end of the session if you imaged you would be able to see what results you are likely to get.  

I don't think there's issues with the clutches, but the usual toffee grease that the manufacturers use. 🙄

I've stripped down an old EQ-1B mount before and degrease/regreased it. I'm not looking forward to doing it on a relatively new mount, that I believe is more complicated than the previous mount I worked on. 

I'm actually thinking of having everything set up, but not to do any active imaging - just concentrate of the guiding aspect for the whole session.

As the larger 3D printed Bahtinov mask split, as I had measured it slightly too small, the adjustable one arrived this morning. 

2 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

Where are you? You never know you may have a friendly SGLer nearby....

North Ayrshire, in SW Scotland.

I can only but hope that astro clubs and organisations start meeting again.

Last night, I targeted the Orion Nebula.  I used the laptop, after discovering it had a USB 3 port on it.  I had the ZWO ASI120MM mini in the 9x50 guidescope and the ZWO ASI224MC in the main telescope. I left the 120MM mini guiding under PHD2 on and off, for a while.  There were some small clouds passing by, during the process.  I tried multi star guiding and did use the Guiding Assistant for a little time.  I also had to move the main telescope, as the guidescope wasn't aligned with the main OTA.🙄

I also did some imaging of the moon, but found that the guidescope was able to give me good as focus as it could have. 😡 I'm going to have to investigate that, as I feel that may have caused some star bloat issues during previous guiding sessions.🤔

Here's the guiding log from PHD2, if anyone fancies a wee look.😉

PHD2_GuideLog_2022-02-10_185613.txt

3 hours ago, savcom said:

If you can, increasing your RAM will help.  Windows 10 itself struggles to be comfortable in 2GB, preferring 4GB.  Even then you can often end up with only around 1.25GB left for programs once everything is loaded.

Pricing Samsung DDR3 Ram, I have just increased my laptop capacity from 4GB to 8GB for £20 (Amazon).

It's Windows 8.1 64 bit that's running on it. 

7 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

I'm trying to find somewhere online that sells eyepiece caps.

I don't mean the 1.25" diameter ones for the barrel, I mean caps for the eye lens end. As I have been acquiring some eyepieces second hand, they don't always have caps. I've fallen back on the old green milk carton top trick, but I'd like to get some proper ones.
Of course the diameter varies, but I need some around 35mm to 40mm, ideally in soft silicone.
Eyepiece manufacturers seem to have no trouble sourcing them, but I've drawn a complete blank.
Does anyone know any outlets for these?

Is this of any use?🤔

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194422799433

10 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Arrived today My Optolong Venus Filter. Good price from Flo. Now just need Venus to get a larger phase for some cloud imaging. 

There's plenty cloud imaging to be had up in Scotland, at the moment.🙄

I got these 3D printed Bahtinov masks from eBay. Unfortunately, the larger one is a little bit small for my Sky-Watcher Evostar 120. It split when I tried to fit it over the dew shield. 

My own fault for measuring it slightly too small, it should be been 144mm instead of 143mm. 🙄

Lesson learnt, so I've ordered an adjustable one that big enough and some... 

So after buying a Raspberry Pi 4 with Astroberry, I've just discovered that my old laptop already has a USB 3 port on it! 🙄

With only 2Gb of Ram, it's still slow. I'm wondering if it's worth getting more Ram for it, even if I don't use it for Astrophotography? 🤔