sharpcap, qgvideo, alignmaster and eqmod

[andyhicks]

Im having an information overload today and as simple as these questions might be i just need to ask someone!

Ive just started autoguiding and its apparent my PA is off no matter how hard I try so im looking into software like alignmaster.

My questions are:

Which software should I use alignmaster with? I've got PHD and qgvideo but I cant find a cross reticle for the align so I've just downloaded sharpcap which has a good one.

Can I use alignmaster without EQMOD? I understand eqmod is for computer controlling the mount but for a PA do I really need to do this? ill be adjusting the mount in alt and az right?

thanks

[chrisshillito]

Given Alignmaster runs on a computer, and it needs to control the mount to read how much you've moved it, you will inevitably need to couple it to a pc based mount control program. EQMOD will do that job for you and comes with it's own polar scope based alignment method which will get you pretty close without even using alignmaster.

Any reason why you think using EQMOD would be a problem?

Chris.