Assistance please with EQ6

[Stridor]

Well, I now have my new SCT and EQ6 mount and am just having a go at setting it up in the house (miserable day outside and wife and son not back from Xmas festivities till tomorrow; so I am undisturbed  )

Generally a bit of head scratching going on at the moment!?  Firstly, `Polar alignment` and am I reading it right? Eg if the Synscan says position is 13`.20, am I right that when viewing through the polar scope with the RA clutch loosened I simply position Polaris at what appears visually to be  just after 13.00hrs.  Secondly, when doing the Alignment procedure and the Star is located; it says in the details,`.....the hand control will give a long beep and display  "Use direction keys to centre object" , but at this point when I use the direction keys nothing happens other that a faint sounding whine from the mount!  Is this right or am I doing something wrong?

I`m sure this will be the first of several calls for help!!?

[steppenwolf]

the hand control will give a long beep and display  "Use direction keys to centre object" , but at this point when I use the direction keys nothing happens other that a faint sounding whine from the mount!  Is this right or am I doing something wrong?

This sounds about right - remember that the movements required are very, very small so I doubt you'd notice them unless, of course, you were looking at a distant object through the eyepiece.

[Mr Spock]

I don't know what you mean with what you say about polar aligning. What you should do it point the mount roughly towards polaris. When you look through the polar finder (remembering you have to rotate the dec axis to look thought it) you'll see constellations - rotate the scope until they line up. You can then use the attitude adjustment bolts to put polaris in the the circle.

[Stridor]

I don't know what you mean with what you say about polar aligning. What you should do it point the mount roughly towards polaris. When you look through the polar finder (remembering you have to rotate the dec axis to look thought it) you'll see constellations - rotate the scope until they line up. You can then use the attitude adjustment bolts to put polaris in the the circle.

Hi, Yes I have the mount set up in the direction of Polaris. When looking through the polar scope the constellations of `Big Dipper`, `Cassiopeia` and `Octans` all pre set with Polaris on an inner circle; as I say, do I simply rotate the image until Polaris rotates on its inner circle to match for example a Synscan coordinate of 13`20 ; so I am seeing Polaris through the polar scope at what appears to be a little after 13.00hrs?

Martin

[brantuk]

This is about the most straightforward and clear guide I've seen on setup and polar alignment of the NEQ6 - makes it all very simple and is well worth a read:

http://stevebb.com/polar_alignment.html

[Mr Spock]

Rotate the scope until the constellations line up, I usually find Cassiopeia is the easiest, then move the bolts until polaris is in the circle. The co-ordinates aren't needed.

[dmahon]

Or just put Polaris somewhere inside the big circle and then use the electronic method of polar alignment.

[Cornelius Varley]

"Secondly, when doing the Alignment procedure and the Star is located; it says in the details,`.....the hand control will give a long beep and display "Use direction keys to centre object" , but at this point when I use the direction keys nothing happens other that a faint sounding whine from the mount! Is this right or am I doing something wrong"

You will need to increase the slewing speed of the mount. Press button 2 on the keypad and then button 9, this will increase the slew rate to maximum. The reduce the slew rate again press button 2 and then one of the other numbered buttons 0 = slowest , 9 = fastest.

[matsey]

Hi Martin - I'd also recommend giving the Astroshed videos a watch, I found them incredibly helpful when I first got my mount.There are five of them and they specifically cover neq6 setup. The second vid covers polar alignment, but I would recommend watching from the first video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fO6hyYtPwM).  Lots of it you can do indoors while it's raining, so plenty to play with until the skies clear !  

[CodnorPaul]

Seconded for the Astroshed mount set up videos - that's all I used when I got my NEQ6 and it made it really simple to set up and use