zjc26138
Postmaster
Reged: 02/24/05
Posts: 5250
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio and Morga...
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I thought I could come to NEAF and not buy anything. I was wrong.  When I leave New York tomorrow I will be bringing home with me an Bosma EM11 Goto mount. Not much is know about this known, because there are none out in the field, other than the few that were sold today. The price is too hard to pass and it has tracking, goto, and looks like a cross between a Vixen Sphinx and an LXD75. I hope it performs as well. 
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Custom AR5
Stellarvue 80/9D
Bosma Goto Mount
Clear, dark skies everywhere,
-Zachary
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TONGKW
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/16/07
Posts: 571
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The Bosma EM11-A Goto Eq. mount has become available in China and here in Hong Kong in recent months but little is known about it. It is also available as a package with their 150mm f/12 Maksutov Cassegrain. I am also interested and would like to hear from you as to how it performs.
http://www.bosma.com.cn/en/productgn_info.asp?id=440
K W TONG
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C8 + CG-5GT, TSA102 + HEQ5 PRO, MK67 + Voyager Mount, WO ZS 80FD + Kenko NES, NexStar 6SE, WO Megrez 72 + Mizar K Mount, Mini Borg 50, C5, PST
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Charlie Hein
Postmaster
Reged: 11/02/03
Posts: 7965
Loc: 26.06.08N, +80.23.08W
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Zach, good to see you on the webcam today... good luck with the mount - heard good things about it from several folks today. It was almost but not quite like being there.
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"He's dead, Jim - I'll get his wallet, you get his tricorder." - Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Weston CSC:
Edited by Charlie Hein (04/19/09 12:09 AM)
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Ian Robinson
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 01/29/09
Posts: 1164
Loc: Gateshead.NSW Nth Coast,Austra...
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Looks like a Sphinx clone.
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RAKing
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/28/07
Posts: 2083
Loc: West of the D.C. Nebula
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Quote:
I thought I could come to NEAF and not buy anything. I was wrong.
You were trying to do the impossible. 
Sorry I didn't get a chance to talk with you yesterday - I was busy negotiating a 130mm Apo for myself. 
Glad you could make it to NEAF. I'll try to say hello today.
Ron
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Time spent looking at the stars is added to your life.
Tak FS-128, C925-CF, C6SE, other stray cats and refractors.
A-P Mach1 GTO
Zeiss orthos to Ethos - and some stuff in between.
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zjc26138
Postmaster
Reged: 02/24/05
Posts: 5250
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio and Morga...
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I got the mount powered up. The motors work.  However I have the scope setup in my living room, pointed towards polaris. I entered all my info into the controller, lat and long (40,32,23 for lat and 80,36,54 for long), time, and how many minutes behind UT(which I assume is 240 minutes). I tell the scope to goto Saturn and it says Rise: 16h, 10m,53.5s. It doesnt go to it and it goes back out to the planet selection page. Any ideas?
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Custom AR5
Stellarvue 80/9D
Bosma Goto Mount
Clear, dark skies everywhere,
-Zachary
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie no more
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 25195
Loc: NE Ohio
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A couple of things...
When a controller offers a "rise time" for an object it usually means that it doesn't think that object is currently above the horizon. West longitude (which is where you are) is usually designated as "minus". Fixing the latter may solve the former.
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John C
Urban Observatory
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 178ED F/9 "APO"
Meade ETX-125AT
C14
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
CI-700, NJP, GPDX/SS2KPC, CG5-GT
ST-10XME, DSI Pro
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zjc26138
Postmaster
Reged: 02/24/05
Posts: 5250
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio and Morga...
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John,
Thanks for the help. I checked the controller and for this mount you can select W or E for the long. I have the W selected and it still will not go to saturn. I even tried setting it to east. It slewed but maybe 7 or so full moon distances off.
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Custom AR5
Stellarvue 80/9D
Bosma Goto Mount
Clear, dark skies everywhere,
-Zachary
Edited by zjc26138 (04/19/09 11:29 PM)
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BCB
Undercover Saboteur
Reged: 11/24/03
Posts: 5196
Loc: Look over your shoulder
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Yep.. The directions for this mount are a bit "wanting"
I'll be going through the same thing tomorrow myself, so I'll see what happens as well..
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Mark
Lost in thought. Please send search party!!!
Astro-Tech 111EDT
Orion 8" F5 Newt w/Moonlight CR-2 focuser
SVP mount w/Meade 497 Autostar GOTO mod
Treeline Observatory
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zjc26138
Postmaster
Reged: 02/24/05
Posts: 5250
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio and Morga...
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Yeah I really hope I can figure out whats wrong, and hopefully its something I'm doing to cause it not to work.
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Custom AR5
Stellarvue 80/9D
Bosma Goto Mount
Clear, dark skies everywhere,
-Zachary
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polaristom
super member
Reged: 12/17/07
Posts: 157
Loc: Alaska
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It was too good for me to pass too Zach. They are shipping mine to me. Keep up-dating us on your progress, I'd love to here how it works for you.
What type/size scope are you mounting on it?
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nofxrx
Vendor (HyperCams & Mods)
Reged: 07/12/05
Posts: 2495
Loc: Palm Bay,Florida
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So what is the weight cap on it...it LOOKS like a Veixen Sphinx clone..ALOT like a Vixen Sphinx clone...
If it is,you bought your self a REALLY nice mount..AND you dont have the bulky Starbook controller(some people love it..it felt more like a Netbook than a Mount HC..)..
Good luck!!!
Keep everyone updated on how it preforms...
are you planning to use it for AP?If so,with what scope(s)/Cams(s)?
Again,GOOD LUCK!!!
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Brent Oliver
WO-66SD*WO-Megrez102ED-Special Edition
CGE Pier-Mounted
Artemis285*OrionSSII-Mono
AstronomikLRGBHOS*AtikMFW
HyperCams&MODS
My Gallery
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zjc26138
Postmaster
Reged: 02/24/05
Posts: 5250
Loc: Mingo Junction, Ohio and Morga...
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Its rated at 25 pounds. I had my AR5 on it and it when I would hit the end of the scope, there was a some vibration. Is it enough to be bother some? Will see. I couldnt figure out the goto problem still. I'll have a look at it this weekend when I go home. I hate leaving school for the weekends but its going to be super nice, and I cant pass clear skies up.
I hope it works as good as a sphinx, and if so it would be one of my best purchases to date. Eventually I might do some imaging. For now it will be wide-field shots with my Canon(if I can get it working), but I might buy a AT106 or AT90 this summer for imaging.
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Custom AR5
Stellarvue 80/9D
Bosma Goto Mount
Clear, dark skies everywhere,
-Zachary
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Wei
journeyman
Reged: 10/05/09
Posts: 5
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any news on the bosma performance?
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wasyoungonce
member
Reged: 06/07/07
Posts: 79
Loc: Land Downunder
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The Hand controller looks alot like the Ioptron gotonova/gotostar type.
In fact...it's an RS232 interface, 32 bit controller....and all the other specs appear to be the same as my old gotostar handset....except it's black and the display is slightly smaller and is missing some extra keys.
My display also shows Alt/Az and RA/Dec which for an equatorial mount is just plain not needed. Considering I cannot change my mount to Alt/Az mode.
It looks as if they got rid of the Alt/Az display and reduced the display size.
Have a look at the Ioprton 8401 controllers (USB) versions for similarity. Ioptron 8401 controllers
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C8, Skywatcher ED80 Pro,
WO ZS 70ED, Canon 450D,
QHY 5 "Q" Guider, Eyeball Mark 1
G11/ Gemini Lvl 4 ver 1.04
http://picasaweb.google.com/brokenback09
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wasyoungonce
member
Reged: 06/07/07
Posts: 79
Loc: Land Downunder
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Earlier Ioptron controllers used time ahead or behind UT but this was later removed as Lat/Long gives the same information.
Edit:...Oppps time ahead of UT is still used on my controller in settings for observing site. I hadn't checked that sub menu for some time...it's something I don't fiddle with.
Just check daylight saving settings.
Edit: Also check the way you entered the date time. Mine is yyyy/mm/dd.
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C8, Skywatcher ED80 Pro,
WO ZS 70ED, Canon 450D,
QHY 5 "Q" Guider, Eyeball Mark 1
G11/ Gemini Lvl 4 ver 1.04
http://picasaweb.google.com/brokenback09
Edited by wasyoungonce (10/06/09 08:29 PM)
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wasyoungonce
member
Reged: 06/07/07
Posts: 79
Loc: Land Downunder
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Hi Zach I meant to ask ...just a few questions:
Does your mount have a ST4 autoguide port?
Do you know the configuration of the pins between the handset & the mount...aka is it a HBX type port. You may not know this as yet. Have a look at the attached picture.
I just wanted to ask as I'm just now trying & testing an Ioptron Autoguide port interface that takes ST4 & routes it through the HBX port.
Edit:
The reason I ask all this because I have a Gotostar (GTS) RS232 version controller...similar to the above mount on a CG5 (a poor copy at that) and I'm really looking for a "better mount"...the reasons are obvious. As said I'm trialling a pre-release autoguide interface for Ioptron. At 1st it wouldn't work but I have just figured that I need to be in the "autoguide" sub menu for it to pass on ST4 commands to the system. Lots of guess work and not much instructions..typical for pre-release testing.
Now the EQ6 (Atlas mount) is a good mount but it lacks the handset and features that GTS (Ioptron handsets) & controllers have.
Things like:
An RTC;
"easy one star align" (which is essentially an all star align feature (to objects like Venus, Jupiter etc)...not just a standard "one star alignment". The controller already has a one; two; or three star alignment feature). Ioptron incorporated this in the latest firmware I'm trying out with my autoguide interface);
Extra HBX ports to add things like electric focuser's (that can be operated from the handset) etc etc.
I really like my old GTS system controller....it is far superior to the EQ6...but alas it is on a mount that leaves much to be desired. I'd kill for a better mount but keep my controller....not really...just sell my 1st born!
Another thing to watch for is "firmware" & "ASCOM" drivers updates. You need to ensure that fixes arrive in a timely manner. This is something IOptron originally lacked. Though that said they are/have getting better at this now so some credit is due for this.
Still...I look forward to your thoughts on this mount as I'm hungry for a better mount and have some dollars to burn...or will soon have...when I sell my 1st Born!
Edited by wasyoungonce (10/06/09 11:01 PM)
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