Synscan 3.28 Beta Polar Re-Alignment Feature

[The Sailor]

I have downloaded it but will have to install it later, was not happy with the last upgrade as previous repliers have stated, but again this is a beta so hazzards again .

Jim

[Jiggy 67]

Yeh, I was reading the previous posts after downloading the update today.....got me a bit worried, hope the latest version is better, any reports from anyone??

[Cornelius Varley]

I don't think there are any bug fixes with v3.30. What they have done is combined the EQ and AZ firmwares into one package (presumably for the new AZ-EQ6 mount). The firmware works on both EQ and az-goto mounts so you can now use the same handset for both types.

Peter

[Chris Rowland]

This all seems very similar to the Celestron All Star Polar Align feature and I guess there's been some collaboration going on behind the scenes.

The issue with some people saying it works perfectly and so saying it doesn't seems pretty familiar.

This is what I suggest:

• Use a reticle EP, both when doing the three star alignment and the polar alignment process. I don't think that a star can be centred in the EP sufficiently accurately without this.
  
• Choose a polar align star that's close to the meridian and the celestial equator. Stars near the zenith, pole or well to the East or West do not work well because of the geometry of the adjustment process in altitude and azimuth.
  
• Make sure that your date, time and position are set correctly. Within an arc minute for position and a minute for time should be good enough.
  
• If you have problems REPORT WHAT HAPPENED to Synta. If you don't they don't know there is a problem. They will need to know:
  
  • Your position and time.
    
  • The stars you used for the alignment
    
  • The star you used for the polar alignment.
    
  • A clear description of what happened with as much detail as you can manage, ideally with numeric values of the errors. (I slewed to Vega and it was off, I centred it and the Ra and Dec was ...).
    
  • If you do this the developers will have a chance of finding out what happened, they may be able to reproduce what you did and identify the source of the problem. At least say what stars you used and the time and position.
    
  • Reports of the "I tried it, it didn't work" type are useless. They provide no information that will help to work out why it didn't work.
    

There's another point, the adjustments must be in altitude and azimuth, adjustments in other directions will not work. i caused some confusion when we were beta testing the Celestron version because I was adjusting the tripod legs.

Hope this helps,

Chris

[Black Knight]

Good advice Chris. Do you know of an email for Synta where bug reports should be sent?

Edit: rubbish grammar!

[Chris Rowland]

Good question, I'd assumed that there was some way for beta testers to report back. I'd email to the standard support email address with a suggestion to pass the data along to the developers.

It may be useful to post the full results here, we may be able to come up with an explanation of why alignment attempts are not working.

At work I'm often the developer whom the support people contact when they don't know what to make of a report, so I have strong opinions about people giving good information!

Chris

[Black Knight]

I know exactly what you mean. It would be helpful if Synta's developers published a bug report form in with the beta prompting for all the info they may require. Without that it's very likely we'll miss a key piece of information that would have been very helpful to them in reproducing/testing the issue!

[Gomtuu]

So 3.30 doesn't fix the issues with 3.28? Pity.

I've just reverted 3.28 to 3.27. I didn't have any problems - the weather and circumstances have prevented me using my scope for several months, so I haven't even tried 3.28!

[philming]

Hi all !

Has anyone noticed the "Camera control" setting on the new FW ?

Anyone knows what it's all about ?

Regards !

[Cornelius Varley]

The new az goto mount has camera control as does the merlin multifunction mount.

[Aenima]

....soooooo, um, can anyone confirm this feature works well enough to be consistent and as good as it should be?

And for any kind soul who has time, can I ask for a dummy proof step by step for those who either cant or wont use both the RA setting circle and/or know about ~RA and dec co-ordinates?

Thank you v muchly....

Yes I know my dumb is chronic and irreversible . . .

Regards

Aenima