I think that I was that "someone" trying to follow the manual to set my Dec
circle to 89.2 deg after aligning with Polaris. In fact, I did "pretend it's
knurled" and followed the manual...oops! After fumbling with Meade's polar
alignment process, drift alignment, etc., I realized that I needed to start
over. Took the OTA off the wedge and used a level to realign the axis so
that 90 deg was 90 deg and the OTA was perfectly vertical. While waiting for
the sky to clear, decided to call Meade one day and ask about the apparent
discrepancy in the manual. Went through several people before I got the
LX-200 "expert" that was available. Won't mention names (cuz I really can't
remember anyway), but I was told "oh yeah, that doesn't apply anymore
because the software accounts for the fact that the actual dec of Polaris
isn't 90 deg. Just disregard the procedure in the manual". My response: "but
it's in the manual...how am I supposed to know?" His response: "just forget
about it, the software compensates for the difference in declination!" So I
said, "what about all the other new users reading and trying to follow the
manual?" You guessed it, he said "well, guess they could call us."

Three cheers for accurate manuals and customer support!!!

Michael Clary



> Reminds me of a thread a while back where someone was trying to fine-tune the
> declination on his LX by adjusting the "knurled" knob, according to the
> manual. When he pointed out the knob wasn't knurled, but smooth, so what
> should he do, the answer came back from one of the old-timers, "'Pretend it's
> knurled."
> Annie
>
>
>> Subj: [M]: RE: RE: Slight Rant on Astronomy Products Documentation in
>> Genera l
>> Date: 4/10/2000 2:57:10 PM Mountain Daylight Time
> Joaquín")
>>
>> <<...I agree whole heartedly, when I did the electronics relacement on our
>> LX200, the instructions were faxed and were copies of copies...basically
>> unreadable and with several alternatives, non of which exactly matched up
> to
>> the original configuration inside my scope, or the particular configuration
>> of replacemen parts sent to me...>>

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