Eqascom(EQmod) pointing model issues.

[Northernlight]

Hi all,

I have question about Eqascom / Eqmod that has bothered me for a long time. My mount is a pier mounted EQ8, which is polar aligned by the Qhy PolarScope but I always have terrible pointing accuracy.

Normally I just plate solve which gets me bang on target after the 2nd-3rd solve and slew, but its always bugged me why the initial pointing is so bad and so far off.

Over the last few years I've tried appending syncs to Eqascom but I always found that as soon as I had added around 6 or more syncs via plate solves to Eqascom  it would always start to get worse and throw off the pointing until I deleted all the sync points. 

Anyone know what might cause this behaviour as I was led to believe that eqascom could support upto 1000 sync points.

Cheers,

Rich.

[Starflyer]

Pointing models and plate solving rarely work well together, your model will eventually fight against your plate solving.  It's better set to Dialogue Based in EQMOD, or delete your model at the start of every session, maybe more often of you switch targets often in one night.

I've found that accurate polar alignment, an accurate home position, accurate location and time give me great pointing. I still plate solve but find I'm often only half a degree off where I want to be before the plate solve.

[Northernlight]

It's not a huge issue as the centring in SGP Pro sorts it out after 2-3 plate solves, just wondered if there was anyway to fix the initial poor pointing.

What does the Dialogue mode do ?

[Starflyer]

The author of EQMOD explains the differences here;