Observing from Costa...

[andrew s]

... Coffee that is.

I have decided to ship my kit of to a hosting site in Spain so I can do some serious observing before old age prevents me observing any more. I only got 5 reasonable sessions in last year and potentially could get 200 in Spain. I want to do low resolution high cadance (every 20s) spectroscopy of M Dwaf flare stars. But as the flares are nearly random you need a lot of observing time. Maybe also some photometery of  exoplanet transits that need long observing runs.

To this end I have been reading the kit for full remote operation.

First task was to get the PC to auto boot on power-up. Not too difficult once I found the right screen and figured out how to edit the values.

Second was to provide power switching over IP. Bought a LIndy IPower switch only to find it did not come with a power lead! Having got a cable via amazon the next challenge was to discover it's IP address. Searched using a IP address software I could not find it in the list. Eventually applying the "If all else fails read the manual" strategy I found that holding down the function key for two beeps got it to read out the number - doh.  Inputting the number into my web browser brought up a user log in with name and password - this time I consulted the manual first. (Not completely true I tried to guess a couple of time first, admin 1234 etc.)

I have used Radmin for remote access for years and still stayed loyal to it as it works so well. On their site they you can download for free (although you need a Radmin 3 server licence) their VPN software. This installation went easily without having to look at any instructions - phew. So how to test it?

It would run over my network but what about over the internet? Hence the trip to Costa Coffee. Coffee bought logged on fired up Radmin VPN selected the telescope computer and...

...it worked.

Just need to tidy up and label all the connections and wait for Ian King et. al. to complete their new site in Castilléjar in August. 

Regards Andrew