Hi Steve, sorry you're having so much trouble. Your
calibrations are really bad so there's no way guiding is going to work - you'll
need to concentrate on getting a decent calibration. You need to pare
things down to the bare essentials to figure this out - no imaging apps, no
automation, no DSO imaging, no software talking to the mount except PHD2.
The calibrations are so bad, I suspect the mount isn't tracking at the sidereal
rate. Please read and think carefully about this advice posted recently by
another EQ mount user:
The issue Bruce
mentioned is something I discovered several months ago. I was also getting
non-orthogonal calibration results, among other strange behaviors. The issue
was that when Eqmod connects to a EQ6R Pro, it turns off the mount's tracking.
The easiest way to spot this is to watch the stars in the PHD2 window while
the camera is looping, you'll see the stars marching off the screen. Simply
use the hand controller to restart sidereal tracking or use the tracking
button on the bottom of the Eqmod window. This also happens with Sharpcap and
Stellarium, which also use Eqmod. Just something to check each time PHD2 first
connects to the mount.
-chuck-
This is a new behavior in EQMOD or the firmware, a bug in my opinion, and I don't know that it's confined to any particular model of EQ mount. But this sort of thing will ruin a night very quickly. Here's what you can try to achieve
a usable PHD2 calibration:
1. Set the mount guide speeds in EQMOD to
0.9x and leave them there.
2. Slew the scope as close to Dec=0 as you can,
recognizing that you are in Australia. Point as close to the meridian as
possible, we're trying to keep from pointing down close to the
horizon.
3. Disconnect all other apps from the mount and
connect PHD2. USING THE EQMOD UI, make sure the MOUNT IS TRACKING AT THE
SIDEREAL RATE.
4. Start looping in PHD2 and watch the stars in
the display - they shouldn't be moving quickly in any direction if the mount is
tracking.
4. Use the hand-controller to move the mount
north a little bit until you see the stars on the PHD2 display start to
move
5. Start the PHD2
calibration
If this doesn't work, use the Star-Cross test in
PHD2. Do NOT start using an imaging automation app that's trying to image
a DSO. You need to take a picture through your main scope without the
imaging app trying to guide or otherwise fooling around with PHD2 - don't
connect the app to PHD2, just connect it to the main camera. Details on
the Star-Cross test and basic trouble-shooting with the Manual Guide tool are in
the manual.
Good luck,
Bruce