Well with a storm blowing outside and only the memory of a beautiful
conjunction of the Moon and Venus last night after a barren observing
period of a month I thought I'd peruse the LX200 manual again. Here are
some of my thoughts:

The LX200 manual often gets damned. IMHO I think it's a pretty good
source of information and tips relative to other manuals; that's not to
say it couldn't be improved, maybe with some help from MAPUGers :)

I was reminded of the latent AUX port and wondered if any MAPUGers had
found another use for this. I realise that it operates the fan on the
LX200 Maksutov. Did Meade really include it in the base with this
future application in mind?

How about a Meade video or CD included with the 'scopes showing a quick
guide to the Meade manufacturing process, the use of various
accessories, the setup and operation of the equipment and maybe even the
odd tutorial on, for example, refined polar alignment or various
astrophotography techniques.

Bill and others have made some great wish-lists for the LX???, I
wondered if it might be feasible to have a plug-in infrared remote
control (plugged into the keypad port?). This would be great for remote
focusing, motion control, etc. from my bedroom window without yet
another cable :)
Practically every other device in the home has one so why not our LX's?

Retaining a favoured slew rate in permanent memory is often mentioned
but how about the same for settings in the PARAMETERS menu; this would
be particularly useful for the 'Better', 'Higher', and 'Brighter'
settings and suit them to your usual observing site. Having the
'Brighter' magnitude level set to +20.0 at power up is non-sensical when
observing from mag +4 skies; or the 'Higher' level set at 0 deg altitude
when surrounded by trees and houses! I wonder how many of us even
bother to use these very useful settings because it's a pain to have to
do it every observing session.

John, I found your message containing your thoughts for MAPUG very
exciting for the future. Like yourself, I've found the spirit of
contributions a huge improvement over those of the middle of the year,
when I seriously considered unsubscribing. So glad I stayed :))

Just some thoughts,
Happy New Year to all MAPUGers,
Graham

View index by [date] [author] [subject]
Previous message: [M]: RE: CCD focussing and a Hartman mask, Michael Hart
Next message: RE: [M]: Dew Caps and Supplementary Heating- Measuring Results, Michael Hart
Next message in thread: [M]: Re: LX200 features revisited, Andy Wallace