SkytechX

[bottletopburly]

Never heard of skytech X before but picked up on it on the sharpcap forum looks good ,bit like cdc ,just had a play and found you can see current sunspots with a bit of tweaking ,looks a promising piece of software ,worth a look http://www.skytechx.eu/?page=home Thoughts?

[bottletopburly]

Well i  have had a look around skytechX and must say i like it ,seems a bit more up to date than cdc , now to hook the mount up and see if it`s communicating ok 

[Dave In Vermont]

11 hours ago, bottletopburly said:

Well i  have had a look around skytechX and must say i like it ,seems a bit more up to date than cdc , now to hook the mount up and see if it`s communicating ok 

I don't know if you're aware of CdC's having a new version (finally!) - 4.0 out now. It has many improvements from the 3.2. I recommend it. As for SkytechX, it's a very nice program. Had it since '14 when it's creator dropped by here to let us know about it. From the Czech Republic - written by one Pavel Mráz.

I've enjoyed using it since, along with many others.

Thanks for the 'heads' up' on it!

Dave

[bottletopburly]

1 hour ago, Dave In Vermont said:

I don't know if you're aware of CdC's having a new version (finally!) - 4.0 out now. It has many improvements from the 3.2. I recommend it. As for SkytechX, it's a very nice program. Had it since '14 when it's creator dropped by here to let us know about it. From the Czech Republic - written by one Pavel Mráz.

I've enjoyed using it since, along with many others.

Thanks for the 'heads' up' on it!

Dave

Cheers dave wasnt aware of that ,well will take a look  though  currently downloading 

[bottletopburly]

Well  i downloaded cdc v4 and to be honest doesnt look much different ,i will keep it on the pc but skytech looks better to be honest especially once you`ve tweaked it .

[gnomus]

I much prefer the Skytech interface, but for the life of me I cannot get telescope control to work.  I'm using a Mesu/Sitech.  When I click connect to scope, I get a dialogue box from which I can select Ascom v1.2 (the latest driver).  Then I am invited to select my Ascom scope (Sitech).  Then it says I am connected, but the RA and Dec show as 0.  Furthermore the Sitech virtual handpad, which always opens in CdC, does not open in Skytech.  Any ideas? 

[bottletopburly]

6 minutes ago, gnomus said:

I much prefer the Skytech interface, but for the life of me I cannot get telescope control to work.  I'm using a Mesu/Sitech.  When I click connect to scope, I get a dialogue box from which I can select Ascom v1.2 (the latest driver).  Then I am invited to select my Ascom scope (Sitech).  Then it says I am connected, but the RA and Dec show as 0.  Furthermore the Sitech virtual handpad, which always opens in CdC, does not open in Skytech.  Any ideas? 

Drop panel an email he got back super quick to me , probably quickest way to get an answer 

[bottletopburly]

One thing I did find when I copied files to telescope folder best navigate to the folder rather than copying files into target folder 

[gnomus]

I'm not sure I understand.

[bottletopburly]

right click on telescope zip file -extract all -select desination and extract files -use the browse button to navigate to the correct folder you want (as for some reason if i copy and paste files into folder they don`t work for some reason , had same thing happen using APT last week ) Program Files\SkytechX\data\plugins\telescope 

[gnomus]

I have done that.  On the Ascom Driver screen which of the three 'Observer Options' should I choose?

And under 'Time and Location', what is meant by, Location of Ascom Handpad?  And why does this keep returning to '0' even though I have set my home location repeatedly, I wonder?

 

[bottletopburly]

1 minute ago, gnomus said:

I have done that.  On the Ascom Driver screen which of the three 'Observer Options' should I choose?

And under 'Time and Location', what is meant by, Location of Ascom Handpad?

thats the default driver should look like this once updated  ,i left it on nothing 

[bottletopburly]

The path should look something like this ,i am on windows10

[gnomus]

OK.  Well if I choose POTH I can get it working.  I don't know why I need to do this since SiTech seems to work in all the other planetarium programs I have tried.  Also, to connect the telescope, I need to hit the connect telescope button, then I have to have the Screen shown above come up, asking me to Select the telescope driver.  And finally, I get the Ascom screen where I select POTH.  This seems unnecessarily cumbersome.  Is this how yours works, or am I experiencing something unusual?

[bottletopburly]

i select the heq5/ on the  ascom screen  selection box ,

[gnomus]

And you have to do this every time you want to connect to the scope?

[bottletopburly]

yes same as CDC when connecting 

[gnomus]

OK.  Thanks for helping me out with this.  In my version of CdC, I have to set it up first time, but on subsequent connects it remembers what mount I am using.

[Gasman]

Thanks for the reminder about Skytechx btb ?. I had no luck with it some time ago but it seems much more stable now and it can access my already downloaded UCAC4 files. Will try it at the scope next clear night!.

Cheers

Steve

[bottletopburly]

8 hours ago, Gasman said:

Thanks for the reminder about Skytechx btb ?. I had no luck with it some time ago but it seems much more stable now and it can access my already downloaded UCAC4 files. Will try it at the scope next clear night!.

Cheers

Steve

In all the time I have been messing about with it hasn't  crashed   Seems stable ?

[Dave In Vermont]

I hope some of you new users of SkytechX have written Pavel Mráz and thanked him personally. He's a very nice guy who has made this program. And I'm sure he'd love some feedback. Perhaps he'll tell you what's new on the horizon!

Enjoy!

Dave

 

 

[gnomus]

I intend to drop him a line this week.  The planetarium is excellent and (in my view) a significant improvement on CdC, both in its presentation and ease of use.  The telescope control is not quite there yet - for me that is, it seems to be working well for others.  But, as you say, hats off to the guy for doing this.  

[bottletopburly]

5 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

I hope some of you new users of SkytechX have written Pavel Mráz and thanked him personally. He's a very nice guy who has made this program. And I'm sure he'd love some feedback. Perhaps he'll tell you what's new on the horizon!

Enjoy!

Dave

 

 

Fdi think he may have a few emails from me saying how much I like it ?

[darknight]

you know I started using this about a week ago after more hassle with cdc, I know cdc is good and free but its not exactly friendly, this on the other hand is smooth, more configurable, and connects first time to my eq6, and has so much more info in it.

like it a lot!

[bottletopburly]

26 minutes ago, darknight said:

you know I started using this about a week ago after more hassle with cdc, I know cdc is good and free but its not exactly friendly, this on the other hand is smooth, more configurable, and connects first time to my eq6, and has so much more info in it.

like it a lot!

Yes me too , the only negative is you need to tweak it a little which I don't mind but some that aren't PC minded may struggle , though a few bits may be ironed out in the future with an update , I tried downloading the USNO A2 catalogue but getting an error have emailed panel , not heard anything yet though think it's to do with the server files are hosted on , will retry later in the week