HELP !! Mount problems...

Bummer Keith. :x I'd be as mad as hell as well.

A number thing to keep in mind with autoguiding,

If the tracking error is too fast then the autoguider will not be able to keep up with it.
If the drive has backlash (delay) to east and west commands, then it can make autoguiding even more difficult.
It doesnt always work. Funnily enough, I reckon it would work perfectly on a good mount (one that wouldn't need it :lol: ) and not work at all on a bad mount.

I to am seriosuly considering upgrading to a high end GEM,

...

I to am seriosuly considering upgrading to a high end GEM.

You won't regret it, Dave.

-- Jeff

Hi Keith,

I have this mount and use it with an 80mm F7.5 refractor and an sxvH16 ccd. I have run 30 sec exposures with good tracking despite only a rough polar alignment. In Sky & Telescope they have reported these mounts as having a PEC anywhere between 20 and 40 arcsec so they are not really suited to long exposures. I haven't tried autoguiding on this yet as for some reason my mount still thinks its in the southern hemisphere even though the inputted lat long co-ordinates tell it otherwise. When I try to do an allign the scope heads for the ground and I quickly have to stop it. I end up just bluffing the system and then manually alligning on objects which is not what I paid for.

Kieran

If the tracking error is too fast then the autoguider will not be able to keep up with it.

This is my fear Dave, I think I won't even try, from what I've seen now, autoguiding would not work, pity. :roll:

Hi Keith,

I have this mount and use it with an 80mm F7.5 refractor and an sxvH16 ccd. I have run 30 sec exposures with good tracking despite only a rough polar alignment. In Sky & Telescope they have reported these mounts as having a PEC anywhere between 20 and 40 arcsec so they are not really suited to long exposures. I haven't tried autoguiding on this yet as for some reason my mount still thinks its in the southern hemisphere even though the inputted lat long co-ordinates tell it otherwise. When I try to do an allign the scope heads for the ground and I quickly have to stop it. I end up just bluffing the system and then manually alligning on objects which is not what I paid for.

Kieran

Thanks for the info Kieran, looks like we both need to save up the bucks !
Keith...