Dithering?

[alan potts]

Now I have been advised to do this and Think I have it set in  PHD 2,  but APT is telling me Dithering is not working due to Err 0, I can't find anything on the Net about this Err 0 in APT. I am allowing a 20sec gap between shots so the mount can move. and Dither is set on 1 but I did try it on 2

No doubt I am wrong but I though APT was just the camera control and PHD 2 was issuing orders to the mount.

Don't know if this affects anything but I am using the FREE version of APT

Any tips and help gratefully accepted, Alan

[tooth_dr]

Does it say PHD server connected in APT in the log/text box?

The pause between exposures doesn’t need to be set by you to allow time for dithering. The exposure won’t start again until dithering completed but you can tell APT how long to allow mount to settle in the guide+ box (shift click) after dithering.

 

[alan potts]

1 hour ago, tooth_dr said:

Does it say PHD server connected in APT in the log/text box?

The pause between exposures doesn’t need to be set by you to allow time for dithering. The exposure won’t start again until dithering completed but you can tell APT how long to allow mount to settle in the guide+ box (shift click) after dithering.

 

I need to check this, I am clearly not providing enough information for you.

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, alan potts said:

I need to check this, I am clearly not providing enough information for you.

The default settings are pretty good so I wouldn’t worry initially. 

I did a google search and found this:

http://aptforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=541

 

[alan potts]

2 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Does it say PHD server connected in APT in the log/text box?

The pause between exposures doesn’t need to be set by you to allow time for dithering. The exposure won’t start again until dithering completed but you can tell APT how long to allow mount to settle in the guide+ box (shift click) after dithering.

 

I went to have a look and found a set of boxes to fill out that never knew was there so I tried to set something up an I will see what happens, choose low figures to start with to see if anything occurs .

[carastro]

I seem to recall when I was using phd1 for this I had to select server in one of the menus in PHD.

Carole 

[alan potts]

7 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

The default settings are pretty good so I wouldn’t worry initially. 

I did a google search and found this:

http://aptforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=541

 

I will look into this too, never saw any of this Run as Admin comments.

[alan potts]

Just now, carastro said:

I seem to recall when I was using phd1 for this I had to select server in one of the menus in PHD.

Carole 

I will look at this Carole, in the other thread I did a few shots of M13, guiding was a bit naff, it was low down and at times through smoke from a fire but its not so bad, lost a few subs with Dec fits, maybe the smoke.

Alan

[carastro]

Guiding close to the horizon can be a bit problematic I have discovered, probably because everything is looking through loads of atmosphere where the distant clouds tend to be thicker for the same reason.

Carole 

[david_taurus83]

APT can either the mount itself if you are not guiding or it can command PHD to dither. If you press Gear and then Guide, in the settings box, it should give you a list of control options. If using PHD or PHD2 you would choose these. Or, if your doing short exposures and your mount can cope without star trails, you can forgo guiding and APT can dither itself.

[alan potts]

17 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

APT can either the mount itself if you are not guiding or it can command PHD to dither. If you press Gear and then Guide, in the settings box, it should give you a list of control options. If using PHD or PHD2 you would choose these. Or, if your doing short exposures and your mount can cope without star trails, you can forgo guiding and APT can dither itself.

I am doing something wrong as I stopped and started a few times in an effort to get it to work, it worked once each time then Timedout after each time after that, I set the figures you used apart from stability where I put 1.5 as you don't have a figure there that I can see.

Guiding was rather pleasing last night too.

Alan

[david_taurus83]

I think that box is blanked out when you select APT dithering. When using PHD is there a default value?

[alan potts]

2 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

I think that box is blanked out when you select APT dithering. When using PHD is there a default value?

Dave, I'm not proud, PHD or APT dithering any one will do, to me it is more logical for it to come from the guiding program though no doubt I am wrong in thinking that. When that box was blank nothing at all happened, it did dither once when I put a figure in the box, 1.5, then timed out, stopped APT Started again and the same happened, just once.

Alan

[david_taurus83]

If your guiding make sure it's set to PHD or PHD2, whichever version your using. If set on APT and your guiding then this will probably confuse things.

 

The default values should be fine. The only thing you should be changing would be how many images between dithers and the dithering distance. The scale of 1 to 5 is, I believe, 1 to 5 pixels. Assuming the default values of PHD haven't been changed, if you select 3 in APT, then it will issue a command to PHD to move around 3 pixels. Whether its guide camera pixels or imaging camera pixels, I'm not sure. Once you get comfortable with it all, and if you wish to make larger dither movements, then there is the dither setting in PHD. This will multiply the scale you have set in APT.

 

For example, the APT distance is set at 3 and PHD is set at 1. So a dither should be around 3 pixels.

 

If APT distance is set at 3 and your PHD distance is set at 4, the mount should dither around 12 pixels.

 

For now, start off with a setting of 3, 4 or 5 in APT and leave PHD alone. See how the mount copes with recovery. The bigger the dither then the longer it takes to recover and settle.

[alan potts]

22 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

If your guiding make sure it's set to PHD or PHD2, whichever version your using. If set on APT and your guiding then this will probably confuse things.

 

The default values should be fine. The only thing you should be changing would be how many images between dithers and the dithering distance. The scale of 1 to 5 is, I believe, 1 to 5 pixels. Assuming the default values of PHD haven't been changed, if you select 3 in APT, then it will issue a command to PHD to move around 3 pixels. Whether its guide camera pixels or imaging camera pixels, I'm not sure. Once you get comfortable with it all, and if you wish to make larger dither movements, then there is the dither setting in PHD. This will multiply the scale you have set in APT.

 

For example, the APT distance is set at 3 and PHD is set at 1. So a dither should be around 3 pixels.

 

If APT distance is set at 3 and your PHD distance is set at 4, the mount should dither around 12 pixels.

 

For now, start off with a setting of 3, 4 or 5 in APT and leave PHD alone. See how the mount copes with recovery. The bigger the dither then the longer it takes to recover and settle.

I cant see any of this as I don't have a setup here in the house, I have noted this, can't say I understand any of it but noted. I will check what I can see on the programs on the scope but at the moment we are waiting for the heavens to open.

I have not changed anything in PHD2 on the scope apart from points outlined in other issues like min  movement etc. For sure PHD2 is set at 1 on dither with no other boxes touched RA only etc.

Alan

[glowingturnip]

I think this one is an easy fix, you need to have the server enabled in PHD2 - in PHD, go to tools and 'enable server'

That will mean PHD starts listening to dither commands that APT is sending, I think at the moment it's not listening.