Wow !! What an idea.

I've been lamenting the lack of a 'home' or 'park' command in the LX200 command
set. I remember someone saying that 16" LX200 has this command. If the 12" and
smaller has such a command, it's not documented in the appendex showing the
serial port control codes. Now I see how to do it. At the end of the night,
send the scope a code to go into guide speed and then send the code to slew
east. The scope will just stop where it is. At startup the next night, the
scope should know exactly (maybe) where it is. Send a the code to stop the slew
and start the observing run for the night. Does anyone know if the LX200 will
really respond this way?

Also, has anyone attempted to check the LX200 for undocumented control codes?

Jim Waller
Ada, Oklahoma USA

On Thu, 15 Jan 1998, Bob Elliott wrote:

> At 10:30 AM 1/15/98 -0600, John and Ken wrote:
> >In Altaz at the GUIDE speed, the directional buttons move the scope in
> >RA and dec rather than in altaz as in the other speeds. I guess this
> >is so you can do autoguiding with the field derotator... To verify,

<clip>

> >
> >ken
>
>
> Well guys ... I know that my LX-200 is smart but to guide is RA and Dec when
> in Alt- Azi mode seems to me to be a bit of overkill. If the telescope is
>
<clip>

>
> Bob Elliott
>

Bob,

Give it a try. I was surprised too, but it certainly works that way
in my case. In fact, if you hit West key in GUIDE mode, you can
actually hear *both* motors stop, hence it's moving at 1x sidereal
in RA (which is exactly the same as drifting). Further, if you
think about it, it would be impossible to use an autoguider
in AltAz with the derotator for long exposures if it worked any
other way. (The calibration about which button moves in which
direction would change during the exposure.)

Better go check on my ST7 exposure of M81 as I'm at the end of a ten
minute exposure. The Moon will of course wreck everything ;^).

Thanks,

ken

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kenneth R. Shouse, Ph.D.
Principal Engineer ____/ __ / /
Engine & Vehicle Research Division ___ / / / / __ / /
Southwest Research Institute _____/ _____/ _/ _| _/
6220 Culebra Rd., Bld. 151
San Antonio, TX
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