Gary, the technical support you provide to your customers is among the best I have experienced! Thank you so much for your complete and thorough response, which I am sure will help other users as well as myself. I have turned refraction on for my AN because I have inputted accurate time and location data. And now I know that if I want to view a solar system object I have to go-to that object from the AN and not the PC.

I hope to be able to share with you some first photos very soon.

Be well and clear skies.

Paul

Hello Gary. You might recall that I purchased an Argo Navis from you this summer so that I could control my AN/SServoCat system from my PC using an ASCOM driver. There have been a lot of adventures along the way but I have now put a camera on my dob and am trying to get the system working. One of the issues that has arisen in my efforts involves the tracking rate of the system after a go-to.

If I understand the manuals correctly, the AN/SC system almost always uses the sidereal tracking rate after a go-to. As far as I can tell, the only exception to this is the SmartTrack(TM) feature -- which will use the "proper" tracking rate for solar system objects if the user has the latest AN and SC firmwares (which I do). The AN manual says that SmartTrack(TM) is available if you dial up a solar system object from within MODE CATALOG, MODE IDENTIFY or MODE TOUR and then keep the scope pointed within 2.5 degrees of the object.

My question is whether SmartTrack(TM) will engage if MODE CATALOG is set to "From Planetarium" and a planetarium app on the PC (e.g., Stellarium) is used to initiate a go-to to a solar system object (say Jupiter, which is very prominent right now)? If the answer is yes, then would a properly coded ASCOM driver be able to access SmartTrack(TM) to set the correct tracking rate? If the answer is no, then is there any other way an ASCOM driver can override the sidereal tracking rate?

Thanks for your continuing support Gary. I think I am almost there.

Paul Abel

Thanks Gary. A lot of good information here. Let me experiment with my system once the AN arrives and then I may very well be back here with more questions.

Best!

Paul

I just purchased an Argo Navis which is now on its way to me. The reason for this purchase is to allow me to control my Dobsonian, which already has a ServoCAT version 3, by a PC using an ASCOM driver. My goal is to do to EAA with this scope and find targets using a PC planetarium program and then the Platesolve (Sync Mount and Re-centre target) function of Sharpcap.

Reading the AN manual, I understand that I can connect one of the AN serial ports to an LX-200 ASCOM driver on my PC by using the “meade” startup command in the AN’s SETUP SERIAL function. While I can then fill in the AN’s “FROM PLANETARIUM” catalog entry from a pc planetarium program, in an earlier post on this forum, Gary says that in order to then initiate a GOTO to those coordinates I would have to “press the GoTo button on the ServoCAT handpad.” https://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au/forum/posts/list/61.page Since I can get a wireless handpad for the ServoCAT. I can live with that.

The ASCOM drivers I have seen often come with a “virtual handpad” that will allow you to move the scope directly from the PC. Does anyone know whether I will have such functionality if I am using an LX-200 ASCOM driver connected to the AN? Or will I again have to the use the movement buttons on the ServoCAT handpad?

And if, after I do the GOTO, I then use Sharpcap’s Platesolve function and want Sharpcap to send an ASCOM Sync command to the AN/SC based on the plate solving results and then perform a re-GOTO to the original co-ordinates, will this work? If all I would have to do is press the GoTo button on the SC handpad after the platesolve, I could live with that.

If the Sharpcap Platesolve function will not work with the LX-200 ASCOM driver, then I know I can connect the USB port on my ServoCAT to a USB port on my PC and then use one of the two available ServoCAT ASCOM drivers. But I would like to use a wireless connection between the scope and the PC, and I am wondering if and how I can use the AN to make the connection with the ServoCAT ASCOM driver on the PC (by attaching a serial to Bluetooth adapter to the end of the AN serial cable).

So, my last question is whether any of the startup commands in the AN’s SETUP SERIAL function (in particular, “servocat” or “navis”) would allow me to use the AN as a “conduit” between the ServoCAT ASCOM driver and the ServoCAT?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

Paul