Entering A Minus Value On Synscan

[TheMarsman]

Hi all,

This is my first post on here and need some help. I have a skywatcher skymax 127 synscan az goto scope but have trouble with entering the GPS coordinates. Mine are 57.66 and -4.34 the problem is the minus value I'm not sure how to enter this on the keypad. Any help would be great.

Thanks

[Staffs Oatcake]

Minus us west. Plus is. east. You're 4.34 degrees west

[Staffs Oatcake]

Minus us west. Plus is. east. You're 4.34 degrees west

You'll need to convert that into degrees, hours and minutes to be able to enter it. So it 4 degrees. 20 minutes and 24 seconds West

57 degrees 39 minutes 36 seconds north.

Hope this helps

[Cornelius Varley]

You'll need to convert that into degrees, hours and minutes to be able to enter it. So it 4 degrees. 20 minutes and 24 seconds West

57 degrees 39 minutes 36 seconds north.

Hope this helps

With the Synscan handset you drop the seconds component so the coordinates become 004 20 W , 57 40 N

[TheMarsman]

Perfect, thanks for the replies.

[brantuk]

Great advice above - Welcome to SGL Marsman.

[Staffs Oatcake]

Perfect, thanks for the replies.

Your welcome. If I hadn't been a hill walker I too would have struggling with the minus number. But I still navigate with a map and compass, not a GPS unit. I'll leave that to my friends to guide us into the bogs. Lol.

[Newbee]

Hi, another beginner here. I was trying to do exactly the same as the initial question regarding the minus value. I now understand that the minus value equates to West, thanks for that. What I don't quite understand is how 57.66 N & 4.34 W finishes up as being 

On 16/01/2016 at 19:59, Staffs Oatcake said:

57 degrees 39 minutes 36 seconds north

& 

On 16/01/2016 at 19:59, Staffs Oatcake said:

4 degrees. 20 minutes and 24 seconds West

Sorry, still learning. 

[AKB]

There are 60 arc minutes in a degree (and 60 arc seconds in an arc minute) so...

57.66 N = 57 degrees, 0.66*60 minutes = 40 minutes
 4.34 W =  4 degrees, 0.34*60 minutes = 20 minutes

...forgetting the fractional minutes (which could be converted to seconds in the same way.)

[rasper]

Hi I have a skywatcher skymax 127 synscan az goto scope and am having difficulty entering coordinates which are  Lat: 55.23,1720  Long: -1.566570 attached is a pic of what I have entered, is it correct please?

[Merlin66]

Hmmmm, doesn't look correct to me.

Your -1.566 longitude should be showing as 1 deg 34 min E

At the moment it's set for somewhere in the USA!!

 

[Seelive]

Those coordinates would put you in the North Pacific Ocean just off the southern coast of Alaska. The correct longitude should be 001° 34' W (E would put you in the North Sea!)

[rasper]

thank you

 

[StevieDvd]

For anyone else reading this needing for location input help.

If you find your location on googlemaps and right-click on it your long/lat co-ordinates will be shown, copy those and paste it back in the google maps search location box and it will show you the long/lat co-ordinates in both formats.  And for those who don't read manuals you swithc between W & E using the scroll up/down keys next to the numbers.

 

[Merlin66]

Rasper,

Did you solve your problem?

[rasper]

I think so, just waiting for a clear sky to try it out

[Cornelius Varley]

If you have an Android phone then download Synscaninit2. This will give you your coordinates, date and time in the correct format for Synscan handsets.

[rasper]

ok thanks for that

 

[rasper]

sorted now, thank you all for the help 😀