I don't know if this is helpful in this instance, but I understand that the
UK Meade distributor, Broadhurst Clarkson & Fuller (London) sell an
inexpensive item which "parks" an equatorially mounted LX200. I believe
this is a "dongle" which fits in the guider socket, and I guess does the
equivalent of sending a guide East command, thus stopping the RA motor while
leaving the computer running. Rather than returning the scope to a "park"
position, it just stops it moving so that you can leave it powered up
permanently. NB I have not actually seen or used one, so if you are
interested, check with them!

While on the subject, I had always assumed that guide East stopped the RA
motor, but the manual (p26, para 5) states "the 2x sidereal speed in GUIDE
... to make E ... adjustments ... will ... slow down the tracking drive to
half its normal speed". In other words the RA guide corrections would
appear to be 2x (W) and 0.5x (E). Is this correct? If so, the amount of
guiding correction seen for a given length of button press would differ
according to direction, which is mightily confusing.

Dr Nigel Puttick
Great Broughton, North Yorkshire, UK
054.45N 001.15W
"Where observation is concerned, chance favours only the prepared mind"
(Louis Pasteur, in 1854)

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