Imaging just keeps getting more complicated!

[wimvb]

1 minute ago, andrew s said:

So you all guide by eye using the hand paddle ? 

Just checking?

Regards Andrew

You're faster at the keyboard than me. Was phrasing a reply along the same lines.

[Stub Mandrel]

The ONE gadget that is gloriously wonderful is a tiny bluetooth game controller that cost me £2.49.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bluetooth-Wireless-Remote-Gamepad-VR-Box-PC-Controller-Android-IOS-Phone-Tablet/182961290269?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Being able to control the scope without difficulty regardless of whether I'm looking at computer screen, camera live view, finder or just eyeballing the mount without a long wire to the controller is delightful.

[DaveS]

I guide with encoders. No guide star to lose or calibration to go wrong.

[solwisesteve]

I'm new to this lark but the amount that I'm having to hold in my head about the workings of the various bits of hardware and the software programmes to keep it all working is starting to tax me ? If I go off and do something else for a week and then go back to it, it then takes me half a day playing around and manual reading to get back up to speed ? Even polar aligning the mount means pulling the book out and going over it several times - hopefully my new permanent pier should at least simplify that stage i.e. do it once and never again. For everything else I might end up having to write my own QSG with everything correctly laid out in the correct order.

[wimvb]

1 hour ago, PeterCPC said:

I guide with PHD.

Peter

Me too. It's just that PHD is no longer p.h.d. Maybe it should be called PHPhD. An astrobuddy of mine has a much simpler setup. He uses the SBIG autoguider. It just works. So does a lacerta mgen, as far as I know. Sometimes a computer just complicates things. Otoh, going that route would just complicate other things it seems.

Being able to supervise and adjust my setup from the warmth of my livingroom during the winter has its attraction. I no longer want to dither manually during a -15 C night. Been there, done that, needed a few extra t-shirts.

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, carastro said:

 

I use a handset which I think makes me a dinosaur even more than you as I recall using software to control the mount when I came to your place. 

Carole 

 

It was a temporary lapse, Carole! The mount in question was a Tak EM200 for which a handset was not available (or not at any price I was ever likely to pay!) I'm safely back in the handset camp now and even managed to find a second Mesu just like the first one. It's a Mk1, so they both use the lovely ArgoNavis handsets and are 100% internet free. Bill Gates did manage to sabotage my filterwheels with an update after Christmas but he can't get into my mounts now. (I had fairly regular and unexplained 'failures to connect' from the Tak mount and 'TheSky 6' and am glad to be rid of them.)

My alternative to plate solving involves re-synching on a nearby star and then doing a frame-up via the camera. When I like it I write down the co-ordinates on paper  so I can drive back to them another night. Do you think I'll be thrown off the forum for admitting this?

Olly

[Stub Mandrel]

51 minutes ago, wimvb said:

It's just that PHD is no longer p.h.d. Maybe it should be called PHPhD.

Or even PHD2 ?

[carastro]

Quote

My alternative to plate solving involves re-synching on a nearby star

Ditto.  We are on the same page then Olly.

Carole 

[andrew s]

38 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Do you think I'll be thrown off the forum for admitting this?

Olly

Not at all. The wonderful thing about this hobby is that it can be enjoyed in many ways with many approaches. Now if you sold your Tak FSQ 160s then that would be that!

Regards Andrew

PS not sure if it should be "your Tak FSQ 160s" , "your Tak FSQ 160's" or "your Tak FSQ 160s' ". To this day I remember sitting in the infants class and the teacher told us about the difference between Nouns and Verbs and I though  to myself I don't understand this. Equations yes - English no.

[ollypenrice]

2 hours ago, andrew s said:

Not at all. The wonderful thing about this hobby is that it can be enjoyed in many ways with many approaches. Now if you sold your Tak FSQ 160s then that would be that!

Regards Andrew

PS not sure if it should be "your Tak FSQ 160s" , "your Tak FSQ 160's" or "your Tak FSQ 160s' ". To this day I remember sitting in the infants class and the teacher told us about the difference between Nouns and Verbs and I though  to myself I don't understand this. Equations yes - English no.

I think the key (and sad) thing is that we run 106s rather than 160s but we're open to sponsorship!!!!!!!!

?lly

[Skipper Billy]

4 hours ago, solwisesteve said:

Even polar aligning..........hopefully my new permanent pier should at least simplify that stage i.e. do it once and never again.

Oh you think so do you ??? ?

Less often yes - but it shifts over time !!! Frost heave - soft ground and various inexplicable reasons !!!

[carastro]

Quote

It's just that PHD is no longer p.h.d. Maybe it should be called PHPhD.

Or even PHD2 ?

Just to add to my dinosaur credentials, I still use PHD 1, works just fine for me, tried PHD2, it wants too much info which I have to look up and I am always changing my kit around, so stuck to PHD1, if works fine so why do I need to update it?

Carole 

[PeterCPC]

If it's not broke......

Peter

[DaveS]

....Microsoft will break it for you .

[DaveS]

14 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I think the key (and sad) thing is that we run 106s rather than 160s but we're open to sponsorship!!!!!!!!

?lly

A dual 160 (TEC 160?) rig might be ....... interesting......

[ollypenrice]

1 minute ago, DaveS said:

A dual 160 (TEC 160?) rig might be ....... interesting......

It might indeed! A dual TEC140 is on the cards though...

Olly

[DaveS]

Ooh, that's something took forward to .

[Andyb90]

As I've added more equipment I've had an increasing number of problems with failures to connect to devices or sudden disconnects. I was using a powered usb hub and laptop with 2 ports. The issues were very random, so difficult to understand exactly what was causing them. I did find that all devices worked individually when connected directly to the laptop. So now I've more or less given up on the hub and got a laptop with 4 usb ports. Hopefully the connections will be more reliable.

Andy.

[ollypenrice]

On 05/06/2018 at 08:14, carastro said:

Just to add to my dinosaur credentials, I still use PHD 1, works just fine for me, tried PHD2, it wants too much info which I have to look up and I am always changing my kit around, so stuck to PHD1, if works fine so why do I need to update it?

Carole 

I don't give PHD2 any information at all, Carole. My Lodestar drivers are pre-loaded so I select them with a click, choose 'on camera' and calibrate. That's it. But I'm not using EQMod because my mounts are not ASCOM compatible. (I'm not sure you can join the Dinosaur Club if you're using anything as fancy as EQMod!)

?lly

[StuartJPP]

My mantra, which echoes some above, is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

I try to avoid any updates and label everything. I don't care if the new version of PHD2 has a new fandangled feature that I will never use...or if APT or CdC is flagging that there is a new version available......if it is working, leave it alone. I will selectively update some Windows components for security purposes only (I have Windows 8.1, not 10), but that is it. Additionally during all imaging sessions the netbook is set to "Flight Mode".

I do use a USB hub, but it is a good make and so far it hasn't given me any hassles but I do suspect that if I start having problems it will be the root cause.

[Stub Mandrel]

Seeing is awful. Focus spot on, but jupiter blurred mess, main bands barely visible, except once every few seconds it freezes and tiny sub-bands and europa's shadow pop into view, then poof!!!

I took the t-adaptor off my 150PL... so I fitted the wrong one ... now I'm imaging with the camera at 45 degrees... or I will be when it escapes the house.

CDC stopped talking to EQmod until I reset everything.

Game pad settings gone fubar, every time I try and go north it starts a spiral search.

 

 

[carastro]

Quote

I try to avoid any updates and label everything. I don't care if the new version of PHD2 has a new fandangled feature that I will never use...or if APT or CdC is flagging that there is a new version available......if it is working, leave it alone. I will selectively update some Windows components for security purposes only (I have Windows 8.1, not 10)

My sentiments exactly, but I am still on Vista and W7 - lol.  Though the Vista will now only work with a mouse as the keypad has pretty much packed up, and I can only use it if I have enough USB ports or the hub is working.

Carole 

[Hallingskies]

Once upon a time there used to be an operating system that seemed to talk to all of our various bits of astro hardware, that didn't crash every five minutes, and didn't get sneakily "updated" with GBs of useless functionality while you weren't looking. It was called Windows XP.  Things seemed to have gone downhill ever since Mr.Gates decided that XP was too reliable and too easy to use to carry on making megabucks out of it.

As for "more complicated", I completely agree with the approach of keeping things as simple as possible.  And yet....

I have (had) an obbo set up that seems to run just fine on a Win7 desktop (with updates and internet access turned OFF, naturally). No USB hubs etc, and somehow a computer numpty like me has EQMOD and PHD2 running the tracking, wiith Astroart collecting my imaging data.  It has all worked pretty well to date (although I have never mananged to get ASCOM synching the dome to the mount - ho hum).  But I SO want to monitor it all from indoors.  And I SO cannot get my head around SGP or MaximDL...   

So I'm swapping the desktop for a Vista Pro laptop that I know can talk to my indoor (XP Pro...!) desktop over a Cat 5 cable (people go on about TeamViewer but it sends my anti-virus into meltdown.  Suspicious I am...).   This also means using a USB/12V hub and fitting a focussing motor. And also a little webcam to see where the dome slit is.   And maybe a new camera while I'm at it.  And a USB filter wheel to replace my old manual one.  And and and.  I am sure it will all end in tears of course, but I can't resist the call of the gadgets...

I suspect the truth is that, in a lot of cases, things are as complicated as we want to make them.  Assuming Mr. Gates stops throwing software spanners in our works, of course...

[solwisesteve]

100% agree.... XP was the pinnacle of Windows development. But that's when Windows was sold as a work and business tool. Since then the development has been on how to turn Windows into a Smartphone in order to please that market sector i.e. kids that want to play with their apps and social media and don't understand anything computer(ish) beyond stabbing at brightly coloured piccies on their phone. So Windows is no longer a tool of work... it's a media/games console ? Unfortunately as a business package it's the best there is. We simply couldn't run our company if we had macs on the office desks instead.

[carastro]

Quote

Once upon a time there used to be an operating system that seemed to talk to all of our various bits of astro hardware, that didn't crash every five minutes, and didn't get sneakily "updated" with GBs of useless functionality while you weren't looking. It was called Windows XP. 

Totally agree, it was only when my XP packed up I was forced to buy a Vista Machine which was the one being sold then, and it is still going strong except for the mousepad.  Rarely put it on the internet, have had to sh'ft over to firefox because IE and chrome won't do it any more if I ever need anything on the internet, never bother to update it but it is getting rather slow for anything but imaging.  Which was why I bought the refurbished W7 a couple of years ago as a back up.

Carole