Meade ETX 125 AT

[bobgunnis]

Hi

I have just purchased as my first ever telescope the Meade ETX 125 AT. Can anyone advise me of any useful tips in which to get me started and if I use the scope on manual and find a particular star or object and then press the enter key on the ASU handset, does this lock on and track? I will have course have aligned the telescope as per the manual but this is about not using the GoTo facility.

Many thanks

Bob Gunnis

[acme]

Hi Bob,

A nice first scope. Try this site for info for your Meade ETX.

Weasner's Mighty ETX Site

Acme.

[andrew63]

Bob,

I have a meade etx90, the site suggested is very good dedticated to meade users. I use my scope manually at times to but i would think with autostar set up to track and then use manually you will be out of sync but you can still track what you are seeing but would have to set up again to find new obect. But have a look at the meade forum.

regards, andrew

[bobgunnis]

Many thanks for the responses and I am currently having a look at Weasner's site now and it looks very very informative and useful.

Once again ~~ Many Thanks

Bob Gunnis

[GJBC]

i believe you can do what you are looking to do. i have a lxd55 using autostar as well. and i am able to locate a known object then using the objects menu find the object eg vega but instead of pressing GoTo i press and hold the "Enter" key for a few seconds on releasing it it beeps press it again and it is synched on the object now it is not 100% accurate but it is not that bad i then go to another object using go to and centre the object and then using the same routine synch on that one as well. after that i am away and it is pretty good and accurate. but as you state you need to align first. and to answer your first question I also believe that once switched on it is tracking form the off.

it would be good for others to read about you findings in the mighty etx site which is awsome.

[ronin]

Wouldn't have thought that the ETX125 AT could be pointed at a star then by pressing Enter it would track.

Tracking is by altering the Alt/Az movement and this has to be in a specific ratio, as this depends on the orientation of the scope I would thought that the scope must be started from a set postion. In the case of the ETX's this is stated as Level and North.

The scope will I guess assume that it starts at Level and North so if you put it down facing South then the thing is automatically going to track in the wrong direction, things will disappear out of view at twice the rate.

Meades are fairly explicit in that they state what the set up and alignment is, Why change, it is easy to do and that is how the piece of equipment is intended to operate.

It will take you longer to get one object in view when it is not set up right then it would to actually set the thing up.

For another source of information try the CN forums, they have a section for Meades and ETX's.

[bobgunnis]

Many many thanks for your responses to my question and I am going to follow the Intiializaton and Align procedures as recommended by Meade and that way I can bbe sure of finding various object and tracking them

Bob Gunnis

[Capricorn]

A simple opion is to point scope north and level it. So that it starts from the correct position.

Then tell it to align but don't bother centering the stars just press OK for each one that it slews to.

The alignment process is then over quickly and the scope will have started from the correct position and so the Alt/Az movement should be pretty close to correct.

I do this when the alignment stars are hidden and I intend to locate objects manually anyway. It does mean the tracking is present and more or less correct. Also useful method when the scope has a solar filter on the front during the day. No stars visible to actually align on. Scope starts out OK and tracks the sun as required.

Check out what other alignment options exist.

There is a manual operation, think that you enter it by pressing Enter once, that however stops the tracking and is for terrestial use.