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Hi all...
We have a 12" LX200gps that is steadily reducing our morale to nothing.
We have a permanent concrete pillar base that is sunk down into the ground 8 feet. Then, there is a pedastal that mounts on the pillar on four 1" stud bolts that come out of the top of the pillar. This pedastal then goes up about 1' and has a plate on the top of it that has the same bolt hole pattern as the wedge. We have leveled everything as best we can and have tried repeated polar alignments. Here are our problems:
1) We attempting to align to Polaris and then unlocking the RA, the scope tube should rotate and Polaris will stay in the center. But, how does one align the scope tube to the RA yokes so that it is perfectly parallel? There are no registration marks on the scope tube against the yoke to do this seemingly simple task.
2) Once we get the scope tube parallel to the RA yoke, the next step is adjust the dec angle on the wedge and the RA angle on the wedge to get Polaris in the center... then, when unlocking the RA on the scope, Polaris should stay dead center. Is this correct?
3) Once the scope is mechanically polar aligned, what is the most useful route of menus to take with the new Autostar? It's our understanding that the autoalignment features with the Autostar do not apply to polar alignment, only Alt-Az.
4) Once we have attempted some reasonably close polar alignments, the telescope appears not to automatically track. Objects move right out of the FOV by the time you attempt to make the first focus on them. How many menus in the Autostar do you have to go through before the unit actually begins autotracking?
We ask these questions because the 12" LX200gps we have now replaced a 8" LX200 the always seemed to work flawlessly and track extremely well. The software with that seemed so much more intuitive and useful. We are not at all impressed with the new autostar.
Thankyou for any help you can give us.
Chip and Dan |
