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Subject: Severing The Cord (But not the cables)
From: Doug Snyder
Reply To: mapug@shore.net
Date: Fri Mar 17 03:52:11 1995
Although the fog has rolled in for the night here in San Jose, I was
grateful for the few hours of Moon filled skies with no rain and no
100% cloud cover, which we (and many others) have endured so far
this year. The brief respite gave me the opportunity to test out all
my new astronomy gadgets that suck up electricity, and until today,
relied upon that little three-orficed gizmo staring out from my wall,
the omnipotent AC outlet.
Not wanting to venture far from the roost, and also knowing that some weather condition would foul me up, I again set up everything in the back yard, only this time the house could have burned down and it would not have hindered me, except for the smoke floating across the optics and the additional light pollution caused by the flames. But I was free from the outlet and all my tech toys were purring along, and are still purring as I write this, only I am not too much into imaging fog (yet).
I have been keen on using all the capabilities of my LX200 10" since I got it last year, and now, I can do it anywhere. Sure, its a great visual instrument, and one doesn't need all the additional accessories to really enjoy the splendors that grace our skies, but for those that are interested in remotely controlling a telescope and ccd imaging, I thought I would describe just what this particular wierdo is using to satisfy his astronomical, computing, and imaging fetishes.
For external power, I just purchased a 90 AmpHour DeepCycle Marine 12 Volt battery - maybe somewhat of an overkill, but I plan to make some multi-day trips this spring and summer, and its still a Group 24 battery (sized like an auto battery).
I'm using the Meade 12v to 18v converter to supply power to the scope, and I hope they are reliable, as I only have one, and would hate for it to go bellyup on me in the middle of the night.
On the computing end, in order to image, control the scope, and all the other computational wonders desired, including in-field access to the Hubble Guide Star Catalog on CDROM, I said no-no to my desktop, and researched laptops that would not bankrupt me (well, only alittle). What I settled on is an NEC Versa S, 50MHz 486DX2, Active Matrix Screen, 340MB Hard Disk, and 2 PCMCIA slots - one slot gives me a second serial port, and the other slot is being used to run a totally portable (no external power required) double-speed CDROM player. One serial port is used to operate the RS232 link to the scope, and the second port is operating the ST6 CCD - no conflicts at all, and I still have use of the built-in SurePoint that beats the mouse or trackball (when it comes to laptops). For software, I have loaded the latest versions of TheSky GSC and SkyPro, both running under Windows and being very LX200 and ST6 compatible. I also have available SBIG's CCDOPS in DOS, plus several other programs loaded onto the disk. Since the battery life in the NEC is only about 2 hours, I bought a small (palm size) 140 watt inverter which runs the laptop indefinitely from the DeepCycle battery (NEC has not made available their own 12v converter). One more thing on the laptop (actually classified as a sub-notebook) is that it comes with a 3.5" High Density Drive, but the drive itself is external and portable. This is no problem as once the software is loaded onto the HD, you only occasionally need a floppy drive, and it is very easy to connect. The Active Matrix Screen is bright (maybe too bright, but easily fixed), sharp, and clear from much more of an angle than other laptop screens.
The ST6 uses 12v from its computer interface and the interface to either SkyPro or CCDOPS via the laptop is conflict free and I am transferring data at 115k bps in Windows with SkyPro. When running CCDOPS through Windows, the transfer rate is only 57.5k bps (under DOS only, the rate is 115k)
The other device running off the battery some of the time is a 12v Dew Zapper from Orion - it consumes 16 watts - fortunately, we don't have that much of a dewing problem here most of the time.
Well, I had better end this journal and sort out the images that I took before the fog came crashing in. Maybe next new moon period, we'll all get lucky. I can't wait to get out to the boonies!
I welcome any comments, suggestions, or hate mail - that's why there is a DELETE key on my keyboard.
Clear Skies, Good Viewing, and Power to the LX200! Doug Snyder