Hello everyone!
1st, before I posted here I have tried many times (over the course of 2 months) to figure this out so I didn't have to bother all you guys but I'm just at my wits here and am looking for some suggestions, and maybe understanding... I'll do my best to explain my situation/problems.
I have had good success with my calibrations with my CGE PRO/OnStep mount. Once I go thru the calibration and it starts to guide and settle in so to speak the numbers total RMS are generally under .7".
However when you look at the RA and Dec RMS numbers the RA is always much larger then the Dec axis. When you look at the images taken they always have oval stars. I've looked at my individual frames and the stars range from being round to being oval in both RA & DEC directions. Now I know this is a very common thing but I cannot for the life of me get these numbers to come in much closer to each other. The result is always oval stars with the RA axis at least 40-50% larger then Dec. I know the closer the 2 axis' are to each other the more round the stars reguardless of the actual number so to speak.
Something that I have noticed is when I go to a different part of the sky the numbers are always different of course and in the end I either recalibrate which sometimes works and sometimes it does not. In most cases I have to recalibrate or force calibrate to make the numbers get even a little better after the move from where I took the original calibration for the evening. Also I always seem to have a few minutes that look good then both axis' take a ++++ and then come back as if there is a cycle. At least thats kinda what it seems like to me. I don't know how to fix this so suggestions please.
My general process flow is, once I have calibrated I will use the Guiding Assistant at least 1 time and if I like the numbers I'll go with it, but in 50-60% of the time will run a second guiding assistant and adjust to get things the best I can get and go with that. Again still producing oval stars. For your information to help me, I've attached my log file, setup specifics and a quick snapshot of the mount/ota/tripod to look at. I'm hoping with many more eye's on my setup you guys can help me trouble shoot why I ALWAYS have oval stars with this mount.
Mount: CGE Pro/OnStep conversion
Main OTA/Camera: 12" Newt. DBA Certified/Swayze primary w/zwo294mc pro
Guide Scope & camera: Orion CF 80ed w/zwo290mini
I would like to thank you ALL that respond in advance to my post!
Dale