I bought an Autostar #497 controller off EBay this week to try with the
60AT. After upgrading the firmware (free program from the Meade site), the
hand control recognized that it was connected to a 60AT/70AT. It appears to
control the telescope just fine. Unfortunately, I have no way to actually
field test it, since my 60AT now consists of a pile of motors & gear
assemblies connected together by alligator clip jumpers.

The 60AT comes with the #494 controller, which doesn't have the second jack
to connect the hand controller to your PC. Meade sells a special cable to
connect the scope to a PC. It's my understanding that this cable assembly
includes circuitry to enable the serial comm. with the PC.

On the other hand, with the 497 you can connect the hand controller with a
simple RJ to DB9 cable (I built one for $3 yesterday). As an added bonus,
the 497 supports a subset of the LX200 command set. Right now I'm connected
to the "scope" with Hyperterminal and it is responding fine to the
applicable LX200 commands.

Nick

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