I think Richard's second suggestion is already being acted upon.

However, I had a thought about his first: as text messaging becomes

-- Jeff.

:)... You're OK. I have this for star parties and what-not to block
light, wind, smoke, etc: http://www.planetcurran.com/blind.php

cheers & beers,
Chris

--- In ap-gto@..., "Joseph Zeglinski" <J.Zeglinski@>

So ... Chris ...

I guess that rules out my using those 3 luminous pancakes I

bought as

vibration pads for my Losmandy G11 tripod.
Probably could die of radiation poisoning.:-)

Joe

I don't "hang" my controller on it's hook. I have some of that 2"
industrial velcro on the back of my controller and at various

on the pier. I just "stick" it. I'd like the red led for use as a
flashlight - for when I drop stuff on the ground and my real
flashlight it back at the laptop. Say you're trying to adjust that

reticle and you drop that 0.9mm black hex wrench on the ground....
Yea, I did that and by the time I got back with light, it was too

I have plenty of bubble/other levels. I'd just like to have

in" so I didn't have to find it each time I setup. I suppose I

epoxy one to the mount...

Luminous white paint? Really? Please don't setup next to me. :)

cheers & beers,
Chris

--- In ap-gto@..., "Joseph Zeglinski" <J.Zeglinski@>

Hi Chris,

I would second your wish for the "red light". I think it

pointed up from in front of the keypad hook, since I find it

to poke

around in the dark trying to attach the BLACK ring onto a mating

hook on the

mount. That requires two hands as I end up doing it by feel -

difficult with gloves on.

To solve my own problem - for lack of a red LED - I plan on

"painting

the AP keypad hook" with luminous white paint used for fishing

lures. If

the keypad hook were made of clear plastic material, a backward

(not top)

pointing red LED could both light up the hook with "edge-

provide a back pointing lamp when you need to check something

it, and

avoid it pointing upward at the scope.

As for item #1, the bubble level, I bought one of those cheap

two axis

bubble levels ( visit Scopestuff) - the one that is on a flat red

plastic

triangle plate - and simply place it approximately on the AP

pivot point, or flush against the azimuth adjuster block, for a

convenient viewpoint.

Joe

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Curran" <curran.chris@>
To: <ap-gto@...>
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 11:49 AM
Subject: [ap-gto] Re: Software wish list

I have two suggestions for upcoming AP mounts though:

1) A bubble level built into the base of the mount.
2) a red led light built into the hand controller.

cheers & beers,
Chris

I'd like to have a luminescent 6" straight level included w/ the

rather than a bubble level. That way one could use it for

park on initial setup, as well as leveling the tripod AND the

you could implement this in the software, that would be OK, too.

and a coffee maker on the larger mounts, if it could be used for

well. :)
Clear skies,
Chuck

Chris Curran wrote:

Richard,

2. A "calibration" facility within the software to overcome

Just curious: how does a non-ortho scope impact me? None of my

are ortho and I never have a problem with guiding. Is it

Isn't AP already working on that (or have I misunderstood what

planning with 'modeling')?

I imagine that a facilty to polar align using reference stars
would be very welcome by some users.

My 1200 does this now. You point at a reference star, change the
meridian setting in the hand controller, then re-goto that same

Adjust alignment. Repeat. It's pretty darn simple (and very

Works in the northern or southern hemisphere. What improvements

be made to this?

I have two suggestions for upcoming AP mounts though:

1) A bubble level built into the base of the mount.
2) a red led light built into the hand controller.

cheers & beers,
Chris



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    One more off topic lead - I saw an "ear mount" white LED flashlight,
with push button switch,  for about $2 in a grab bin, at a local job shop
(Princess Auto, in Canada). This flashlight is about the size of a hearing
aid plug.  It clips around the ear like a cell phone headphone. I considered
replacing the LED with a red one, but I personally don't like things hanging
around my ear - especially since it is not padded, just a plastic ring.
Still, it is a very good idea. Swap out the LED and slip on some tubing as
ear padding, and you have a perfect solution.

I understand your desire to have a handy flashlight.
Let me offer a few alternative and much cheaper solutions.

I think Richard's second suggestion is already being acted upon.

However, I had a thought about his first: as text messaging becomes

-- Jeff.

One should, indeed, do his quick search before asking a question

appears that the method described in detail in one of the AP manuals

used for Gemini Level 4. I never tried that but, apparently, as long

same object can be reached from both east and west from meridian, a

'Meridian Flip' appears on the Gemini Quick Menu. Actually simpler than
described in the AP manual. In about 5 hours I'll try that.



Again, my apologies for being off-topic here but Rolando certainly

good advice, not only to AP users.



Best,

LN

So ... Chris ...

I guess that rules out my using those 3 luminous pancakes I

vibration pads for my Losmandy G11 tripod.
Probably could die of radiation poisoning.:-)

Joe

I think Richard's second suggestion is already being acted upon.

However, I had a thought about his first: as text messaging

-- Jeff.


From: ap-gto@... [mailto:ap-gto@...] On

Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 10:12 AM
To: ap-gto@...
Subject: [ap-gto] Software wish list


GPS is probably the last thing that I would like to see on my

However, I can think of a number of "refinements" that I would like

offer as constructive comments for consideration.

1. Numbering of the reference stars. If the reference stars were
numbered, instead of having to scroll through the list to find an
individual star, this would enable the user to quickly select stars

any point in the alphabetical list. No one is going to remember the
number of every star, but the idea is that knowing there are say 50
stars on the list, entering 35 quickly puts the user three quarters

way through the list close to the required star and then the next

previous keys can be used to find the exact star. In practice one

remembers the numbers of stars used on a regular basis and these

selected immediately by entering their number on the keypad.

2. A "calibration" facility within the software to overcome the

of a non-orthogonal telescope. I appreciate that shimming the

obviously overcomes this problem. However, with over 100lbs of
telescope on my AP1200, shimming has become very difficult in

A facility within the software to "calibrate" the mount using

stars on each side of the meridian would be very useful indeed.

The only other thing that I would say, bearing in mind Gerald's
difficulties in polar aligning in the southern hemisphere, is that I
imagine that a facilty to polar align using reference stars would be
very welcome by some users.

As I have previously said, the above are intended as constructive
comments for discussion/consideration.

Thanks, Richard

--- In ap-gto@...<mailto:ap-gto%40yahoogroups.com>,

I think that this topic has been exhaustively covered,
clearly fixed location users do not feel they need
anything more, and the minority portable users are
not all in accord. I do hope that the moderator will close
this topic now
For Roland, yes I do understand what you are saying,
ten minutes of time allows 150 nautical miles of rotation
at the equator, etc.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]