OK you all made try EQmod, still need help please

[Hallingskies]

I am an IT numpty.  I use EQMOD and PHD.  I was able to get a reasonable polar alignment following the instructions in PHD.

I only ever use one-star align in EQMOD.  I just pick a bright one within a few degrees of my target, synch on that and then slew to the target.  It usually lands on chip first time.

As for a game pad, too many buttons!  I use a cheap number pad that allows me direction and slew speed control in conjunction with the pad screen in EQMOD.  That’s all I need if I have to use the finder on first synch.

[alan potts]

2 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

No, I didn't miss it. I know polar alignment is a problem because you can't easily see Polaris. ?

I guess what you could do in the interim is use the handset and the polar alignment routine explained in the mount's manual (it is Skywatcher isn't it?) to polar align the mount without being able to see Polaris.  Once the mount is polar aligned, you can forget about it, as long that is that you don't jog the mount. 

You can then switch off the mount, disconnect the handset, reconnect the computer and star align using EQMOD.  

When I get out again after this weather passes I am going to get the roof right back so we can get down to work properly, I am happy now I know how to star align, I just didn't do enough or wide enough apart.

Thanks for the help. Alan.

[alan potts]

1 hour ago, Hallingskies said:

I am an IT numpty.  I use EQMOD and PHD.  I was able to get a reasonable polar alignment following the instructions in PHD.

I only ever use one-star align in EQMOD.  I just pick a bright one within a few degrees of my target, synch on that and then slew to the target.  It usually lands on chip first time.

As for a game pad, too many buttons!  I use a cheap number pad that allows me direction and slew speed control in conjunction with the pad screen in EQMOD.  That’s all I need if I have to use the finder on first synch.

I will get there, I was born in Chatham, went to Highfield.

Alan

[Xiga]

The beauty of Platesolving is, you don't have to do ANY star alignments. EVER. You just tell it to go to the target, it misses, then corrects (mostly once, sometimes twice, rarely three times) and you're done. It's the quickest method of getting on target. With my HEQ5-Pro it usually only takes about 2 mins, and that's including the big initial slew. 

I know you want to walk before you can run, but my advice would be to jump straight to Platesolving. It's not as hard as you might think. APT must have a section in its Guide on how to install it. I used it myself a few years back and iirc it was pretty straightforward. 

A quick Eqmod tip - there's a button to 'Re sync the encoders'. I always make sure I click this, just before I try and go to the target (when the mount is in the Home position). Just in case I've done something silly like unlocked the clutched and manually moved the mount back to Home, as Eqmod would not know i had done that. 

[Anthonyexmouth]

2 minutes ago, Xiga said:

The beauty of Platesolving is, you don't have to do ANY star alignments. EVER. You just tell it to go to the target, it misses, then corrects (mostly once, sometimes twice, rarely three times) and you're done. It's the quickest method of getting on target. With my HEQ5-Pro it usually only takes about 2 mins, and that's including the big initial slew. 

I know you want to walk before you can run, but my advice would be to jump straight to Platesolving. It's not as hard as you might think. APT must have a section in its Guide on how to install it. I used it myself a few years back and iirc it was pretty straightforward. 

A quick Eqmod tip - there's a button to 'Re sync the encoders'. I always make sure I click this, just before I try and go to the target (when the mount is in the Home position). Just in case I've done something silly like unlocked the clutched and manually moved the mount back to Home, as Eqmod would not know i had done that. 

yeah, with plate solving in APT i rarely even look at the planetarium software. pointcraft goto is amazing. plate solving and polar alignment with sharpcap are the 2 things i cant live without any more. without those 2 its all too hard . been spoilt. 

[david_taurus83]

21 minutes ago, Xiga said:

The beauty of Platesolving is, you don't have to do ANY star alignments. EVER. You just tell it to go to the target, it misses, then corrects (mostly once, sometimes twice, rarely three times) and you're done. It's the quickest method of getting on target. With my HEQ5-Pro it usually only takes about 2 mins, and that's including the big initial slew. 

I know you want to walk before you can run, but my advice would be to jump straight to Platesolving. It's not as hard as you might think. APT must have a section in its Guide on how to install it. I used it myself a few years back and iirc it was pretty straightforward. 

A quick Eqmod tip - there's a button to 'Re sync the encoders'. I always make sure I click this, just before I try and go to the target (when the mount is in the Home position). Just in case I've done something silly like unlocked the clutched and manually moved the mount back to Home, as Eqmod would not know i had done that. 

I have just literally finished writing a tutorial!

 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/334568-setting-up-platesolving-in-astrophotography-tool-apt/?tab=comments#comment-3642006

[Ouroboros]

2 hours ago, Hallingskies said:

I am an IT numpty.  I use EQMOD and PHD.  I was able to get a reasonable polar alignment following the instructions in PHD.

I only ever use one-star align in EQMOD.  I just pick a bright one within a few degrees of my target, synch on that and then slew to the target.  It usually lands on chip first time.

As for a game pad, too many buttons!  I use a cheap number pad that allows me direction and slew speed control in conjunction with the pad screen in EQMOD.  That’s all I need if I have to use the finder on first synch.

Yes, I can understand that.  I have the buttons and what they do written on a piece of paper  stuck on the warm room wall. I always forget.  I lost the paper once and I was sending the mount all over the shop! ?

 

[Ouroboros]

38 minutes ago, alan potts said:

When I get out again after this weather passes I am going to get the roof right back so we can get down to work properly, I am happy now I know how to star align, I just didn't do enough or wide enough apart.

Thanks for the help. Alan.

I must say it would annoy the hell out of me not to be able to polar align on the pole star.  I have found the polar align routine in EQMOD  adequate for imaging with my scope.  

I usually have the telescope  set up, polar aligned and star aligned ready to go even before it's properly dark.  Sometimes I can't even see Polaris by unaided eye, but I can see it through the polar scope.     

[Ouroboros]

This thread is typical of many on this and similar sites.  You ask for some help and everyone piles in with lots of different ways of doing the same thing.  You can end up more confused than before.  There are lots of ways to skin a cat as they say.   You just have to find what works for you.  And in the end all this is just a prelude to the interesting bit of doing some astronomy.    

[alan potts]

8 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

I must say it would annoy the hell out of me not to be able to polar align on the pole star.  I have found the polar align routine in EQMOD  adequate for imaging with my scope.  

I usually have the telescope  set up, polar aligned and star aligned ready to go even before it's properly dark.  Sometimes I can't even see Polaris by unaided eye, but I can see it through the polar scope.     

It annoys the hell out of me too. The worst thing is to actually buy angleiron which I used for runners on the obsey would only have cost about 50 quid and a fair bit of that would have been delivery. One of the down sidfes of working a build from mind, I wish now

I would have made it a bit bigger, no one worries what you do here but I was a bit concerned of how heavy the roof would be, it weighs about 200kg, but it is all well built.

Your right about people jumping in to help and making the asker more confused, they mean well and only trying to help though.

Alan

[Ouroboros]

15 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Your right about people jumping in to help and making the asker more confused, they mean well and only trying to help though.

Alan

Of course, and it's (mostly) good to be made aware there are different solutions. 

[alan potts]

2 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

Of course, and it's (mostly) good to be made aware there are different solutions. 

I and I am sure you need to be made aware of a program that clears away clouds, after storms late yesterday the early morning air was so clean and clear, the sort of air where, when it happens, you can see M33 with direct vision and Sirius is absolutely without scintillation. I shouldn't moan the sky here is superb great times but sometimes you get that sky that, in the words of Spinal Tap, goes to 11.

[alan potts]

Thank you all for the help offered, I am getting more confident than last week. I rolled the roof right back last night which was not as bad I  thought it may have been, though I was messed about with not being able to see the polar scope inner detail and cloud.

I did get a lot of star align done and pointing was excellent, landing most things exact centre ( 12 points dodged between clouds), so I am happy with that and can add as the new stars rise. I even downloaded Mosaic to have a go at sometime, with this degree of align I may not worry too much about Plate Solve.

Alan

[PaulR1]

Hi mate

couple of videos I did here on how to do all this plate solving malarky with APT , might help you out .

 

 

[Ouroboros]

1 hour ago, alan potts said:

Thank you all for the help offered, I am getting more confident than last week. I rolled the roof right back last night which was not as bad I  thought it may have been, though I was messed about with not being able to see the polar scope inner detail and cloud.

I did get a lot of star align done and pointing was excellent, landing most things exact centre ( 12 points dodged between clouds), so I am happy with that and can add as the new stars rise. I even downloaded Mosaic to have a go at sometime, with this degree of align I may not worry too much about Plate Solve.

Alan

Sounds good.  I'm a bit puzzled by your remark about not being able to see the "polar scope inner detail". Does your mount not illuminate the polar scope graticule? 

Were you using EQMOD for your star align? On any particular evening I usually only star align on at most three different stars a long way apart if I plan to observe different parts of the sky. If I'm planning an imaging session on one object I usually only align on one bright star near the object I'm going to image. 

[ollypenrice]

Some people absolutely have to have everything run by the PC. I'm not one of them! I think it is always as well to have a visual finderscope or Telrad on an imaging mount so that when it acts the goat you can just put it on an alignment star, synch and go. My evening starts when I push the disconnected mount to a single alignement star using the finderscope, I power up, synch on that star, refine its centering using the camera crosshair and I'm away. Love it!

Olly

[steppenwolf]

13 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I think it is always as well to have a visual finderscope or Telrad on an imaging mount so that when it acts the goat you can just put it on an alignment star, synch and go. My evening starts when I push the disconnected mount to a single alignement star using the finderscope, I power up, synch on that star, refine its centering using the camera crosshair and I'm away. Love it!

Olly

I have to say that there is much to commend this approach as I still waste far too much time on computer/software glitches

[carastro]

I agree with Olly and Steve,  all this controlling everything from the laptop is fine if you are good with IT, but my setting up of both EQMod and platesolving was a right pain, I eventually managed EQMod on my own after much faffing around, but platesolving took a thread on here of help from the SGL members and still APT would not recognise the two platesolving programmes I had downloaded.  In the end I had to get help via Teamviewer to set it up and I still don't know what they did differently to me.

Alan has said he is not an IT expert, so it's NOT going to be straight forward for him.   Let him go at his own pace.  

It seems to me Alan, that your biggest problem is PA and inability to see Polaris.  There are methods around though I am not familiar with them, I think one might be Alignmaster and another might be in your handset depending on your mount.  Once the PA is better GOTOs should be better as should guiding.

Carole 

[ollypenrice]

27 minutes ago, carastro said:

I agree with Olly and Steve,  all this controlling everything from the laptop is fine if you are good with IT....

...and provided a Windows update doesn't trash all your system... (Artemis Capture was knocked over by such an event near Christmas but at least my ArgoNavis handsets are out of the Windozian reach!)

Olly

[PeterCPC]

I'm with Olly on this as well. I use my handset and it all works ok. Don't use platesolve either. Keep it simple.

Peter

 

[alan potts]

4 hours ago, Ouroboros said:

Sounds good.  I'm a bit puzzled by your remark about not being able to see the "polar scope inner detail". Does your mount not illuminate the polar scope graticule? 

Were you using EQMOD for your star align? On any particular evening I usually only star align on at most three different stars a long way apart if I plan to observe different parts of the sky. If I'm planning an imaging session on one object I usually only align on one bright star near the object I'm going to image. 

Yes I was using EQmod and with the handset now gone I didn't know how to switch it on to see the reticule

[alan potts]

4 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Some people absolutely have to have everything run by the PC. I'm not one of them! I think it is always as well to have a visual finderscope or Telrad on an imaging mount so that when it acts the goat you can just put it on an alignment star, synch and go. My evening starts when I push the disconnected mount to a single alignement star using the finderscope, I power up, synch on that star, refine its centering using the camera crosshair and I'm away. Love it!

Olly

This is a very good idea and I have 5 finders so must get one put on, need some fittings or glue.

[alan potts]

3 hours ago, carastro said:

I agree with Olly and Steve,  all this controlling everything from the laptop is fine if you are good with IT, but my setting up of both EQMod and platesolving was a right pain, I eventually managed EQMod on my own after much faffing around, but platesolving took a thread on here of help from the SGL members and still APT would not recognise the two platesolving programmes I had downloaded.  In the end I had to get help via Teamviewer to set it up and I still don't know what they did differently to me.

Alan has said he is not an IT expert, so it's NOT going to be straight forward for him.   Let him go at his own pace.  

It seems to me Alan, that your biggest problem is PA and inability to see Polaris.  There are methods around though I am not familiar with them, I think one might be Alignmaster and another might be in your handset depending on your mount.  Once the PA is better GOTOs should be better as should guiding.

Carole 

I would never have done it on my own, but I am getting a bit more confident, I onl;y really over did the star align so I really understood what was what. As for PA yes I know I have an issue with this but I feel there is a issue with the peg that the adjusters push against, when locked it still moves side to side, way too much, needs a strip down and looking at, I will do this tonight. Polaris is not as bad as I though, my bad feeling was about the amount the roof moved back on the runners over the end of the metal, well even with the roof back the full length of the obsey, there is still 2/3rds of it on the runners so safe, the hardest part it getting it over the screws at the end which sort of act as back stops.

See when I built this it was for my LX 200 12 inch which doesn't need to see the polestar.

Alan

[alan potts]

2 hours ago, PeterCPC said:

I'm with Olly on this as well. I use my handset and it all works ok. Don't use platesolve either. Keep it simple.

Peter

 

Peter, I am simple.

Alan

[alan potts]

3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

...and provided a Windows update doesn't trash all your system... (Artemis Capture was knocked over by such an event near Christmas but at least my ArgoNavis handsets are out of the Windozian reach!)

Olly

One reason Venci uses Win 7, you can stop all and every update, he agrees with you, they know how to mess up, he will not even let me use the Vista, Eight or TEN words