Re: Pole master on G11 with Digital Drives
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This is the nice benefit of having this (worldwide) forum to exchange experiences and ideas. So... To respond to Brian's comment, I'd say that my overall experience with PoleMaster was positive.? Many people love this item, so it is just a matter of learning how to use it.? It was my initial use that was a strange experience.? I'd say now after a few nights' experience with it, that I feel it is a good investment.?? It is even 5 times as beneficial for me, as I have 5 Losmandy mounts to use it on, and I only need one PoleMaster.? The mounting plate threads into the RA viewport cover of all my mounts, from GM8, CG11, G11, GM811, to G11T.?? I agree with Brian that you don't need (in theory) to have the USB connector in any particular orientation.? Even if PoleMaster comes up 180 degrees rotated from that night's Polaris star position, you can rotate it through software by 359 degrees overall, so you can always find the right orientation.? Even if you got it to give you the correct polar star alignment on June 1st, would that be the right orientation on Jan 1st?? Only if the software knew your longitude, and the date.? These things are easy to look up on most modern computer systems, but if it is multi-platform, perhaps it does not know how to calculate the pole (say Polaris) hour angle at this stage of the software development.? You can look up the Hour Angle for Polaris on any sky chart...but beware of what the?Hour Angle (H.A.) is for your latitude: a 24 hour "clock" that rotates CounterClockWise! showing how Polaris would look from you standing at a gravitationally vertical Up position.? ) That's why you must rotate the stars by hand using the software slider... you don't need to know the Polaris H.A. at all, but you must be able to see enough of the surrounding pole stars to line up the star dots inside the circle targets provided.? ?? Because the camera rotates with the entire DEC axis, it is not affected by any imperfections in the cutting of the RA polar axis tube cover threads.? Even having some chaff in the threads would not affect the camera...it only needs to rotate along with the whole DEC axis on the DEC axis needle bearings that are deep inside...what the 1.25 inch steel shaft rotates on.? The camera could be mounted anywhere on the main DEC assembly tube.? When you rotate the DEC assembly (by motor or by hand slowly enough for the camera software to capture the circle arc (the software?says to rotate the DEC by 30 degrees, but it was not necessary to make that precise...a guess is enough).?? Hope these notes help... I'll write up more info when I get back home to the PC with all my PoleMaster screen captures.? (Hey...?that's a lovely system you've setup Stu!)? Here is the QHY PoleMaster instruction file, for reference.? It never says how to adjust the camera focus, but some of these units will need that.? Best to all, Michael On Sun, Dec 20, 2020 at 7:40 AM Brian Valente <bvalente@...> wrote:
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Michael Herman