Hello all.? I have begun holding public viewing sessions at my observatory, using my dob that uses both ArgoNavis and ServoCAT.? After showing the guests the physical telescopes, I then take a few minutes to do the required two star alignment with the dob.? During the alignment process, the guests get restless.? I have done enough reading through the support materials for the both the AN and the SC to know that it is perfectly acceptable to leave the AN powered on for at least a few days between viewing sessions so that the alignment achieved during the first session can be used for the second session.? So I could go out on a clear night a day or two before the public session and get the dob all aligned.? However, I am not sure of the details of this process so I am hoping to get some pointers.

AN

So at the first session, I do the two star alignment.? Before walking away from the scope, does it matter at what menu level I leave the powered up AN?? Should I leave it in MODE ALIGN STAR or go up one level to the top operating mode level?

SC

I do NOT want the scope tracking the second alignment star between sessions because it might bang into something.? So should I:

• power down the SC; or
• leave the SC powered up but use the E-Stop toggle switch on the front of the SC (gen 3); or
• leave the SC powered up but disengage the gears?

Finally, at the start of the public viewing session, when I undo whatever I have done to the SC above, although the AN should have retained alignment, the dob will no longer be pointing at the last object being tracked at the end of the first session (i.e., the second alignment star).? Does the system automatically correct for this "inconsistency?"

Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.
Paul

SCU is displaying the internally stored gear ratio numbers.
When you save the data from SCU it also generates a .dat file usable by ServoCAT_Sky.

BC

The only little thing a little bit strange is that the gear ratio in the SCU MSdos windows are not the same as the one I have in my .dat file that I read in Servocat-sky sofware.
But I think I read somewhere that this is normal.
Could anyone confirm ?
Regards

Dear all,
As weather forecast is very bad and I couldn't do Messier marathon this week end, I decided to try to upgrade my servocat V6 0E to latest version V7
After having configured a port to become serial, I followed the manual.
It worked perfectly !

I then ran SCU.exe to try to get the .dat.
It worked and the .dat I got seems to be the original one ! : the gear ratio seems to be logical compared to what I can calculate
So I can say to the guys wanting to upgrade their V6 to V7 and that don't have their .dat that the upgrade will NOT erase their .dat file.
They will then be able to get it through SCU.exe that can get the dat file with new version of servocat
I'm very happy !
I'll try to upgrade my argonavis version tomorrow evening.
Thanks everybody for having helped me!

Yes. I use Gen 2

Would this be possible with a Gen 2 SC?

Thanks Mickey for your feedback?
Hum, it seems there is no way to collect my .dat before upgrading my Servocat….

开云体育

Having gone thru this exercise, you need the latest firmware for your ServoCat for the Georges new ascom driver to work properly. You will need to contact Bill@... for the update.

Thanks Peter
My driver I installed last week is the new one "DownloadNew (2022) driver for the StellarCAT ServoCAT"

When you say "Latest firmware is required", you speak of Ascom, right ?

Because unfornately I have windows XP and Ascom V6.6 needs win 7 because it needs .net 3.5 or .net 4.8
I succesfully installed a .net 4.0 to tried to installed Ascom V6.6 on XP anyway, but it didn't work (I don't remenber exactly the message, something like "hostkey machine problem in the Bios")
This is why I then installed Ascom v6.2 (Successfully)
In 2 weeks I will tried to recheck all this, and if really I can't get the .dat, I will upgrade the servocat software anyway, check what is the .dat that then is in servocat 7, and create a new one if the original dat file have been erased during upgrading
Thanks for your help guys !

Thanks Bill
I have version 3 of argonavis.
I will try to update both Argonavis and Servocat and check with SCU.exe the .dat file I will have after update.
If the .dat file seems to have been deleted, I will then estimate the gear ratio and find other parameters according to manuel
I will do this in 2-3 weeks as I want to make sure the scope is fully operational for the Messier Marathon I will do in 10 days.
But before doing this, a last try :
I have downloaded and installed an "old" version of ASCOM to try to get the .dat.
It is Ascom 6.2 versus the current 6.6.
Do you know how to use ascom to try to get the .dat ?
I have tried to Run "Ascom diagnostic" then click "Choose device", then select "telescope",? but then it opens a new windows "Ascom Telescope Chooser", and I don't know what to do next....
Any advice ??
Thanks

Dear Bill
Yes it’s what I’ve done.
Unfortunetaly Normand Fullum lost many files 2 years ago due to his laptop crash, including the 36” .dat file
Do you think the software upgrade have a hiigh chance to erase my .dat file that is currently in the scope?
I already have the files to make the upgrade. Thanks?
Thanks

Mike:

If you are in a shed with a long hand controller cable, how will you manage cable wrap around the telescope?

BC

Hi Bill,

I am in the process of building a small shed to set up next to my Obsession and would like to be able to use the hand control there rather than using a CATPaw. ?The uncoiled cable would be a better option and when I know the length I will contact you with the length.

Mike

My question is regarding the coiled cables for the hand-pad. ?Can 2 coiled cables be linked together? ?If so, would a special connected be required?

Thanks, Mike

Hi to Spectroscopy Group members.
Re: selecting a suitable guide star when collecting spectra in a sparce star field.

Hampshire Astro Group often find it difficult to identify a chosen star when collecting high resolution spectra on their 640mm R-C plus Lhires spectrograph setup. A narrow pattern of stars is not always identified by platesolver.? We have found it useful to call up Aladdin and then select Sindbad.
Suggested by Steve Broadbent, our outgoing Chair.
Kind regards.