Pecprep help and egg shaped stars

[kookoo_gr]

i have the heq5 pro and i am imaging DSO's with an 8'' f/6 newton and guiding with a philips spc900nc with my 9x50 finderscope. my first astrophotos show egg shape stars and as a result my dso is fuzzy and without many clear details, also when i guide i can't pass the 3min limit without my images showing a large amount of drifitng. the step at phd is at 3000ms and i tried 2000ms and 4000ms with the same results. my polar allignment is as good as it gets without drift alligning my scope (a bit borred on doing it). my next step is to drift allign but i am wondering about the periodic error of my mount. i tried to find a tutorial but i can't find anything and the eqmod manuals don't give any help. my questions are the following:

1. is there an idiots guide to pecprep?

2. in order to use pecprep and find what my pec error is i need to guide with my main scope and my webcam at a star using phd right? i also need to have the log file enabled at the options of phd. how long to i have to guide? after that i run the pecprep and analyse my mounts pec error with the log file that phd recorded right? when this is done how do i use the information produced by pecprep?

3. since i use a field near my house to image i have to move my equipment there. if i set my equipment at different days and different spots do i need to run again pecprep?

4. any suggestions to improve this imaging setback?

[chrisshillito]

1. PECPRep does come with its own manual that contains worked examples. There is also an EQMOD PEC workflow document here: EQMOD

2. To record a PE trace you can use PHD but you must have the guiding output turned off i.e. no guiding, just let the star wander around (with tracking on)

3. If you're talking EQMOD's PEC here, then provided you park the mount prior to shutdown and unpark after powerup then PEC sync will be maintained (it doesn't matter if you slacken the clutches as the worm doesn't move when the clutch is disengaged)

Chris.