There's not quite enough information here to make a definitive diagnosis but
have you tried using the 201XT directly hooked up to the CG11 and aligned
the scope on say, a magnitude 4-6 star? A star of this brightness should
nearly max out the readout at a 0.1-0.2 second exposure time. Second, the
easiest thing to do in terms of focusing the 201XT is to use an eyepiece
which is nearly parfocal with it, like the Meade 9.7 mm illuminated reticule
version. Otherwise, measure the distance from the CCD chip to a reference
point on the nosepiece of the autoguider. Point the scope at a bright
lightsource (a streetlight on a garage works quite nicely) and use a piece
of scotch tape to focus the image. Focus the scope so that the image is
sharp at a distance which would place that sharp image on the CCD chip when
the 201XT is inserted to your previously determined reference mark on the
nosepiece. Hopefully this will get you a good result...

Mike

> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 1998 6:13 AM
> Subject: [M]: 201 XT autoguider problem
>
> I am trying to have a 201XT autoguider work on a CG11... with lots of
> problems. The two units I have tested both show similar symptoms : no
> detection of any star even though I took care to have a fairly precise
> focusing (within about a millimeter, without optical accesory in the light
> path) and making sure that all the field of view would be explored. The
> read-out in the "find-and-focus mode" remains at 00 or 01 with erratic
> location of the peak signal on the detector. Without taking a dark frame,
> the symptoms are similar except for the read-out value which oscillate
> between 33 and 34. I tried to "expose" the CCD detector with a flash-light
> with excatly the same result. I also used different exposure times across
> the range... no difference whatsoever. Has anyone experience such problems
> ? Before returning for the 4th time the unit to Meade, I need to make sure
> that I do not goof somewhere in the testing process. Can anyone help ?
>
> Arnaud
>

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