ServoCAT on my UC18 tracked well on this tiny target. 
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Plate solving with ServoCAT
A question for those who do astrophotography with their Dobsonian and ServoCAT. ?My setup is a 15” with ServoCAT. ?I have been using “go to” followed by spiral search if my target is not in the field of view. ?I have been considering using SharpCap using DSS. ?How well has it worked for you and what software have you been using?
Mike
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Re: ServoCAT now shipping
Hi David. Prices are available on the website: .
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Re: ServoCAT now shipping
Bill, I'm glad to hear about this.? Do you have a price list available?
On Fri, Dec 29, 2023 at 8:35?AM Bill Conrad < bill@...> wrote: I am happy to announce that we have begun shipping ServoCATs. The first delivery shipped to DocTelescope in Italy. If you have never heard of, or seen, a DocTelescope product, check them out at . They are works of art.
We will be contacting customers on our request list in the order that they were received.
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Re: ServoCAT now shipping
Congrats!!!
That is an amazing accomplishment!
Richard
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I am happy to announce that we have begun shipping ServoCATs. The first delivery shipped to DocTelescope in Italy. If you have never heard of, or seen, a DocTelescope product, check them out at . They are works of art.
We will be contacting customers on our request list in the order that they were received.
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Re: Conversion to a Smart Telescope
Mickey, ? You are correct.? ? Yes, the Argo Navis limitation is that you can’t remotely slew the telescope until the 2-star alignment is completed AND the Argo Navis is placed into Planetarium mode.? ? Richard ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Mickey Huffman via groups.io Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2023 4:14 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [ServoCAT] Conversion to a Smart Telescope ? First Two things you need, SharpCap 4.1 which will take care of the plate solving and I use a laptop on a stand attached to my 22" starstructure dob. I use stellarium with in my case Nexus DSC (which the new ascom driver will be ready soon) none the less currently I control my target acquisition and tracking using stellarium. I connect all programs and hardware to the scope laptop and then connect my control laptop (at the desk I am sitting) via Remote desktop. Once I have the ascom driver I shoud be all set for better tracking and centering than I am currently (i have to use the servocat remote hand control via line of sight for centering) luckily it works through glass windows.? Argo Nav users can do this now and if using ZWO cameras have slightly different hardware but the end result is the same (i think) right Richard? On Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 03:22:09 PM EST, david w pearson via groups.io <p.davidw@...> wrote: Hi Servocat forum! I am asking for insight into the operation of Servocat, Argo-Navis and the new ASCOM driver. My goal is to make my 20” dob with Servocat/encoders/Argo-Navis able to operate like the new smart telescopes.??? Questions 1)? ? ? ***Does Servocat or Argo-Navis require completion of star alignment, before go-to is allowed? a)????? If Servocat, what does it require to get around that limitation? b)????? If Argo-Navis, what does it require to get around that limitation? 2)? ? ? ***Where is the sky-to-scope transformation Matrix or quaternion computed: Servocat or Argo-Navis?? Guessing Argo-Navis? I have written a windows app to control my astro-physics equatorial mount using ASCOM to move mount, focus, take a picture, perform plate solve, sync and then go to user defined RA/DEC. Of course, this won’t work for this application, but I am somewhat knowledgeable with ASCOM and computer programming. My current thinking as to how this would work in its simplest form, is as follows. 1)? ? ? ****Start with scope in its vertical orientation at power-up as we do now. 2)? ? ? ****At initiation, scope would go to a lower altitude and take a picture 3)? ? ?****?Perform all-sky plate solve to determine first star alignment RA/DEC using the corresponding Elevation/Azimuth 4)? ? ? ****Slew to another part of sky (60-90 degrees away: of course, can’t be only in altitude) 5)? ? ? ****Perform all-sky plate solve to determine second star alignment RA/DEC using the corresponding Elevation/Azimuth 6)? ? ?****??Compute transformation matrix or quaternion to complete the 2-star alignment. 7)? ? ? ****Use Argo-Navis and Servocat as before I know this won’t work today, but is it possible to plug in a computer that uses a windows app to do the missing operations and use Argo-Navis as just a planetarium???? I am guessing that the answer is probably no, as Servocat driver may have to be a hub (don’t know outside my knowledge base).? Also, as Argo-Navis was designed many years ago, may not have capability to communicate with an app using ASCOM?? Although, been seeing on forum, folks talking of ASCOM communication with Argo-Navis, but I am completely ignorant on this topic. It may be that Argo-Navis needs to be treated as a planetarium program, and the computer/app replaces it? If anyone is interested in further discussion on this topic or can answer some of my questions, I would appreciate it. Thanks…Happy Holidays! ? dave ?
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Re: Conversion to a Smart Telescope
First Two things you need, SharpCap 4.1 which will take care of the plate solving and I use a laptop on a stand attached to my 22" starstructure dob. I use stellarium with in my case Nexus DSC (which the new ascom driver will be ready soon) none the less currently I control my target acquisition and tracking using stellarium. I connect all programs and hardware to the scope laptop and then connect my control laptop (at the desk I am sitting) via Remote desktop. Once I have the ascom driver I shoud be all set for better tracking and centering than I am currently (i have to use the servocat remote hand control via line of sight for centering) luckily it works through glass windows.?
Argo Nav users can do this now and if using ZWO cameras have slightly different hardware but the end result is the same (i think) right Richard?
Mickey
On Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 03:22:09 PM EST, david w pearson via groups.io <p.davidw@...> wrote:
Hi Servocat forum!
I am asking for insight into the operation of Servocat, Argo-Navis and the new ASCOM driver.
My goal is to make my 20” dob with Servocat/encoders/Argo-Navis able to operate like the new smart telescopes.???
Questions
1)? ? ? ***Does Servocat or Argo-Navis require completion of star alignment, before go-to is allowed?
a)????? If Servocat, what does it require to get around that limitation?
b)????? If Argo-Navis, what does it require to get around that limitation?
2)? ? ? ***Where is the sky-to-scope transformation Matrix or quaternion computed: Servocat or Argo-Navis?? Guessing Argo-Navis?
I have written a windows app to control my astro-physics equatorial mount using ASCOM to move mount, focus, take a picture, perform plate solve, sync and then go to user defined RA/DEC.
Of course, this won’t work for this application, but I am somewhat knowledgeable with ASCOM and computer programming.
My current thinking as to how this would work in its simplest form, is as follows.
1)? ? ? ****Start with scope in its vertical orientation at power-up as we do now.
2)? ? ? ****At initiation, scope would go to a lower altitude and take a picture
3)? ? ?****?Perform all-sky plate solve to determine first star alignment RA/DEC using the corresponding Elevation/Azimuth
4)? ? ? ****Slew to another part of sky (60-90 degrees away: of course, can’t be only in altitude)
5)? ? ? ****Perform all-sky plate solve to determine second star alignment RA/DEC using the corresponding Elevation/Azimuth
6)? ? ?****??Compute transformation matrix or quaternion to complete the 2-star alignment.
7)? ? ? ****Use Argo-Navis and Servocat as before
I know this won’t work today, but is it possible to plug in a computer that uses a windows app to do the missing operations and use Argo-Navis as just a planetarium????
I am guessing that the answer is probably no, as Servocat driver may have to be a hub (don’t know outside my knowledge base).? Also, as Argo-Navis was designed many years ago, may not have capability to communicate with an app using ASCOM?? Although, been seeing on forum, folks talking of ASCOM communication with Argo-Navis, but I am completely ignorant on this topic.
It may be that Argo-Navis needs to be treated as a planetarium program, and the computer/app replaces it?
If anyone is interested in further discussion on this topic or can answer some of my questions, I would appreciate it.
Thanks…Happy Holidays!
?
dave
?
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Conversion to a Smart Telescope
Hi Servocat forum!
I am asking for insight into the operation of Servocat, Argo-Navis and the new ASCOM driver.
My goal is to make my 20” dob with Servocat/encoders/Argo-Navis able to operate like the new smart telescopes.???
Questions
1)? ? ? ***Does Servocat or Argo-Navis require completion of star alignment, before go-to is allowed?
a)????? If Servocat, what does it require to get around that limitation?
b)????? If Argo-Navis, what does it require to get around that limitation?
2)? ? ? ***Where is the sky-to-scope transformation Matrix or quaternion computed: Servocat or Argo-Navis?? Guessing Argo-Navis?
I have written a windows app to control my astro-physics equatorial mount using ASCOM to move mount, focus, take a picture, perform plate solve, sync and then go to user defined RA/DEC.
Of course, this won’t work for this application, but I am somewhat knowledgeable with ASCOM and computer programming.
My current thinking as to how this would work in its simplest form, is as follows.
1)? ? ? ****Start with scope in its vertical orientation at power-up as we do now.
2)? ? ? ****At initiation, scope would go to a lower altitude and take a picture
3)? ? ?****?Perform all-sky plate solve to determine first star alignment RA/DEC using the corresponding Elevation/Azimuth
4)? ? ? ****Slew to another part of sky (60-90 degrees away: of course, can’t be only in altitude)
5)? ? ? ****Perform all-sky plate solve to determine second star alignment RA/DEC using the corresponding Elevation/Azimuth
6)? ? ?****??Compute transformation matrix or quaternion to complete the 2-star alignment.
7)? ? ? ****Use Argo-Navis and Servocat as before
I know this won’t work today, but is it possible to plug in a computer that uses a windows app to do the missing operations and use Argo-Navis as just a planetarium????
I am guessing that the answer is probably no, as Servocat driver may have to be a hub (don’t know outside my knowledge base).? Also, as Argo-Navis was designed many years ago, may not have capability to communicate with an app using ASCOM?? Although, been seeing on forum, folks talking of ASCOM communication with Argo-Navis, but I am completely ignorant on this topic.
It may be that Argo-Navis needs to be treated as a planetarium program, and the computer/app replaces it?
If anyone is interested in further discussion on this topic or can answer some of my questions, I would appreciate it.
Thanks…Happy Holidays!
?
dave
?
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Hello everybody,
I would like to give you some updates about what I have done over the last couple of nights. First of all I have to say thank you to Serge because he gave me the very last version of the Nexus DSC firmware so now it is possible to nicely connect
The StellarCat with the computer through the George Hilios Ascom driver, so not necessary to have the Argo Navis anymore.
Everything works well except of an important function I am looking for, which is to plate solve and go to automatically with the last version of SharpCap 4.1. ?Unfortunately I am not sure if it depends on the plate solve which is not correct
or if it depends on the command to the mount to reach the correct coordinates. I am going to try more extensively because I had not much time because I have to sleep for reasons related to my job.?
I just have a question. I would like to be sure what is the best format to insert coordinates and elevation in the Servocat settings. They are natively set to 0.
Thank you very much.?
Filippo
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Il giorno 18 dic 2023, alle ore 23:14, Paul Abel <pabel0418@...> ha scritto:
?Mike, thanks for your response to my inquiry.? It appears that you and I are in the same place.
George, I am very pleased to read that you are moving forward with your ASCOM driver.? I collected our emails from last year discussing the issues I noted and just sent the collection to your gmail address.? Also, I am hoping to be able to do an observing session
tonight and I will try your driver under my new setup (Sharpcap 4.1 and no more wireless com ports using VirtualHere) and let you know what I find out.? Like Mike, I am happy to keep working with you to knock all the bugs out of your excellent driver.
Paul
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Mike, thanks for your response to my inquiry.? It appears that you and I are in the same place.
George, I am very pleased to read that you are moving forward with your ASCOM driver.? I collected our emails from last year discussing the issues I noted and just sent the collection to your gmail address.? Also, I am hoping to be able to do an observing session tonight and I will try your driver under my new setup (Sharpcap 4.1 and no more wireless com ports using VirtualHere) and let you know what I find out.? Like Mike, I am happy to keep working with you to knock all the bugs out of your excellent driver.
Paul
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Hey all, I am looking forward to figuring out the last of the issues with the ascom driver. I am expecting to have some spare time over the holidays.
Paul, let's chat. I want to make sure I correctly remember the list.
On Mon, Dec 18, 2023, 12:08?PM Mickey Huffman via <finman42= [email protected]> wrote:
I am very hopeful Richard. My limited information and speculation is from multiple sources over time. The one thing I am sure of today that concerns my rig is that Astro Devices is in the process of doing an Ascom update so that the current versions of Nexus & Nexus pro will work with the ServoCat Gen 3. As for the other things I mentioned who knows when or where. The sooner the better, I have no preferences for any company and no axe to grind with anyone. The more and better astronomy moves affordably forward for us amateur's the better. I will be thrilled to not be bound by line of sight, a clicker and 150' through a window waiting for the object to center.
Mickey
On Monday, December 18, 2023 at 09:53:18 AM EST, Richard < rmille64@...> wrote:
Mickey,
I am delighted to hear that you have a plan to achieve remote control of your DOB!? I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.
?
Richard
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
I am very hopeful Richard. My limited information and speculation is from multiple sources over time. The one thing I am sure of today that concerns my rig is that Astro Devices is in the process of doing an Ascom update so that the current versions of Nexus & Nexus pro will work with the ServoCat Gen 3. As for the other things I mentioned who knows when or where. The sooner the better, I have no preferences for any company and no axe to grind with anyone. The more and better astronomy moves affordably forward for us amateur's the better. I will be thrilled to not be bound by line of sight, a clicker and 150' through a window waiting for the object to center.
Mickey
On Monday, December 18, 2023 at 09:53:18 AM EST, Richard <rmille64@...> wrote:
Mickey,
I am delighted to hear that you have a plan to achieve remote control of your DOB!? I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.
?
Richard
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Mickey,
I am delighted to hear that you have a plan to achieve remote control of your DOB!? I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.
?
Richard
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Mickey, Could you clarify this statement. “Also in the near future there is no plans for an Argo Nav (nexus killer) Astro Devices Nexus Pro killed that and as for the Servocat Gen 4, I wouldn't hold my breath to wait for it.” What do you base this on? Yesterday I also sent Serge some information on what I think is a bug(privately). We will see what he does with it. The next generation of DTCs will be based on plate solving. So, in MHO the controllers based solely on encoder will be phased out. Bob ? ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Mickey Huffman via groups.io Sent: Monday, December 18, 2023 5:17 AM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [ServoCAT] Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders ? Hello everyone who is wanting to to know what to do about using ascom drivers with the Nexus/Nexus Pro DSC. I had a long conversation yesterday afternoon with Serge (owner Astro Devices). Thanks to all the email chatter the last few days about this (which I forwarded to Serge) he will have an update by the end of the month to use George's ascom driver with the Nexus which will solve the issue. ? Also in the near future there is no plans for an Argo Nav (nexus killer) Astro Devices Nexus Pro killed that and as for the Servocat Gen 4, I wouldn't hold my breath to wait for it. ? ? Paul, ? I am using Peter’s 32bit ASCOM driver.? ? Richard ? ? As Bob mentions above, I had to replace my Nexus DSC with the Argo Navis in order to control my Dob with either ASCOM driver.? My scope has the 40k step encoders and I can confirm that the AN works just fine with those encoders.? There is a special setting in the AN to allow it to work with 40k encoders, I don't remember what it is but it is explained quite clearly in the AN user guide.
By the way, for the other people reporting using the ServoCat ASCOM driver, which driver are you using -- Peter's or George's?? I was beta testing George's driver for him and in the last version I got from him, the scope moved in the wrong direction when I did a Plate Solve/Sync/Center in SharpCap 4.0 (Sharpcap 4.0 was not able to move the scope at all after a Platesolve/Sync/Center with Peter's driver).? Now that I have upgraded to SharpCap 4.1, Peter's driver appears to work correctly -- SharpCap 4.1 is able to move the scope in the right direction after a Platesolve/Sync/center.? I have not yet gotten around to testing George's driver in SharpCap 4.1.? I would be interested in learning about the experiences of the other ASCOM users.
Paul
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Paul, I had been helping beta test George’s new Servocat driver and had the exact same problems as you with his latest version (I think 0.8). I too noticed that Peter’s Servocat driver now works as expected with latest Sharpcap release. I do really prefer the feature-rich version of George’s driver and look forward to continued troubleshooting with him. Mike
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On Dec 17, 2023, at 5:40?PM, Paul Abel <pabel0418@...> wrote:
?As Bob mentions above, I had to replace my Nexus DSC with the Argo Navis in order to control my Dob with either ASCOM driver.? My scope has the 40k step encoders and I can confirm that the AN works just fine with those encoders.? There is a special setting in the AN to allow it to work with 40k encoders, I don't remember what it is but it is explained quite clearly in the AN user guide.
By the way, for the other people reporting using the ServoCat ASCOM driver, which driver are you using -- Peter's or George's?? I was beta testing George's driver for him and in the last version I got from him, the scope moved in the wrong direction when I did a Plate Solve/Sync/Center in SharpCap 4.0 (Sharpcap 4.0 was not able to move the scope at all after a Platesolve/Sync/Center with Peter's driver).? Now that I have upgraded to SharpCap 4.1, Peter's driver appears to work correctly -- SharpCap 4.1 is able to move the scope in the right direction after a Platesolve/Sync/center.? I have not yet gotten around to testing George's driver in SharpCap 4.1.? I would be interested in learning about the experiences of the other ASCOM users.
Paul
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Hello everyone who is wanting to to know what to do about using ascom drivers with the Nexus/Nexus Pro DSC. I had a long conversation yesterday afternoon with Serge (owner Astro Devices). Thanks to all the email chatter the last few days about this (which I forwarded to Serge) he will have an update by the end of the month to use George's ascom driver with the Nexus which will solve the issue. ? Also in the near future there is no plans for an Argo Nav (nexus killer) Astro Devices Nexus Pro killed that and as for the Servocat Gen 4, I wouldn't hold my breath to wait for it.
Mickey?
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On Dec 17, 2023, at 6:30?PM, Richard <rmille64@...> wrote:
? Paul, ? I am using Peter’s 32bit ASCOM driver.? ? Richard ? ? As Bob mentions above, I had to replace my Nexus DSC with the Argo Navis in order to control my Dob with either ASCOM driver.? My scope has the 40k step encoders and I can confirm that the AN works just fine with those encoders.? There is a special setting in the AN to allow it to work with 40k encoders, I don't remember what it is but it is explained quite clearly in the AN user guide.
By the way, for the other people reporting using the ServoCat ASCOM driver, which driver are you using -- Peter's or George's?? I was beta testing George's driver for him and in the last version I got from him, the scope moved in the wrong direction when I did a Plate Solve/Sync/Center in SharpCap 4.0 (Sharpcap 4.0 was not able to move the scope at all after a Platesolve/Sync/Center with Peter's driver).? Now that I have upgraded to SharpCap 4.1, Peter's driver appears to work correctly -- SharpCap 4.1 is able to move the scope in the right direction after a Platesolve/Sync/center.? I have not yet gotten around to testing George's driver in SharpCap 4.1.? I would be interested in learning about the experiences of the other ASCOM users.
Paul
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Paul, ? I am using Peter’s 32bit ASCOM driver.? ? Richard ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Paul Abel Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2023 5:41 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [ServoCAT] Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders ? As Bob mentions above, I had to replace my Nexus DSC with the Argo Navis in order to control my Dob with either ASCOM driver.? My scope has the 40k step encoders and I can confirm that the AN works just fine with those encoders.? There is a special setting in the AN to allow it to work with 40k encoders, I don't remember what it is but it is explained quite clearly in the AN user guide.
By the way, for the other people reporting using the ServoCat ASCOM driver, which driver are you using -- Peter's or George's?? I was beta testing George's driver for him and in the last version I got from him, the scope moved in the wrong direction when I did a Plate Solve/Sync/Center in SharpCap 4.0 (Sharpcap 4.0 was not able to move the scope at all after a Platesolve/Sync/Center with Peter's driver).? Now that I have upgraded to SharpCap 4.1, Peter's driver appears to work correctly -- SharpCap 4.1 is able to move the scope in the right direction after a Platesolve/Sync/center.? I have not yet gotten around to testing George's driver in SharpCap 4.1.? I would be interested in learning about the experiences of the other ASCOM users.
Paul
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
As Bob mentions above, I had to replace my Nexus DSC with the Argo Navis in order to control my Dob with either ASCOM driver.? My scope has the 40k step encoders and I can confirm that the AN works just fine with those encoders.? There is a special setting in the AN to allow it to work with 40k encoders, I don't remember what it is but it is explained quite clearly in the AN user guide.
By the way, for the other people reporting using the ServoCat ASCOM driver, which driver are you using -- Peter's or George's?? I was beta testing George's driver for him and in the last version I got from him, the scope moved in the wrong direction when I did a Plate Solve/Sync/Center in SharpCap 4.0 (Sharpcap 4.0 was not able to move the scope at all after a Platesolve/Sync/Center with Peter's driver).? Now that I have upgraded to SharpCap 4.1, Peter's driver appears to work correctly -- SharpCap 4.1 is able to move the scope in the right direction after a Platesolve/Sync/center.? I have not yet gotten around to testing George's driver in SharpCap 4.1.? I would be interested in learning about the experiences of the other ASCOM users.
Paul
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Re: Nexus DSC and Argo Navis Encoders
Hello Filippo,
I have emailed you a new firmware for Nexus DSC that should solve your problems using the ASCOM driver for ServoCAT written by George Hilios.
Best Regards, Serge Antonov, Astro Devices.
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On 17 Dec 2023, at 8:48 pm, Filippo Scopelliti <filiscoop@...> wrote:
Hello everybody,
it seem that there is no way to let me control via Ascom my SC/Nexus DSC (not pro). People that can do that they use Argo Navis. It is OK for me to replace my Nexus with the Argo Navis to control the system with Ascom but in my current system I have the 40.000 steps encoder. If I replace my Nexus with the Argo Navis is it necessary to change the encoders also?
Thank you for your help.
Filippo
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Filippo Scopelliti
bobrose500
Mike