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jrbarnett
Eyepiece Hooligan
Reged: 02/28/06
Posts: 4347
Loc: Petaluma, CA
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Hi all.
Does iOptron's firmware include a feature that allows you to slew to a specific RA and Dec?
Synscan does not have this feature, but Nexstar does. I was hoping that iOptron's GOTO controller firmware would also have this feature.
Regards,
Jim
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"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
- Sir Issac Newton
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StargazerBill
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/27/07
Posts: 521
Loc: Catawba, VA
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I have not used that function but am pretty sure it does have it. Someone else may need to verify but I think it does.
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37;23N 80;10W (Jet Stream Alley) 
Vixen ED100sf
Orion ST 120
Orion XT6i
Meade 8" SCT
Sky-Watcher 10" Dob
GSO 42mm Wide Field
Meade 5000 UWA 24, 18, 14, 8.8, 6.7, 4.7mm
Vixen NPL Plossl 30mm, 20mm, 15mm, 10mm
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wasyoungonce
member
Reged: 06/07/07
Posts: 79
Loc: Land Downunder
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Depends upon which handset you have.
The 8401 & 8402 have 256 user defined targets (coordinates and identification names can be entered) that can be entered and saved in the handset.
The 8403 can save 128 user targets...I think.
I wish it had more user defined storage but Meh!....Who's complaining 256 is pretty good!
You could also just use the arrow buttons to "Slew" to any RA/DEC you desire...but you knew that didn't you 
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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 (10/14/09 07:07 PM)
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jrbarnett
Eyepiece Hooligan
Reged: 02/28/06
Posts: 4347
Loc: Petaluma, CA
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"You could also just use the arrow buttons to "Slew" to any RA/DEC you desire...but you knew that didn't you?"
Actually no, I didn't know that and it answers my question. Thanks!
I hate the user defined object route in Synscan because there's no way to name/label your objects. They are identified as UDO 1, UDO 2, etc., meaning that you must have a separate sheet of paper that maps your UDO numbers to your object list. It takes way too much time to use the Synscan UDO feature to cruise through a list of targets not in the onboard catalogs. Synscan (to my knowledge anyway) does not have a means of displaying live, real-time RA and Dec coordinates during manual slew.
Thanks again for the feedback. I think I am interested in one of these mounts. GPS, two star alighment and two-piece set-up seem like they would be perfect for the time-challenged observer.
Regards,
Jim
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"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."
- Sir Issac Newton
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wasyoungonce
member
Reged: 06/07/07
Posts: 79
Loc: Land Downunder
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I am using an older version of the Gotonova Handsets...called Gotostar. It's an RS232 version of the system for Equatorial mounts. SO I couldn't really say how the mini tower preforms.
But I can say that my GTS handset/system is great to use. Real time clock, 130,000 target database, ASCOM and finally I can autoguide with a new ST4/HBX autoguiging interface I just trialled.
I do not know if the interface will work with the towers as mine is an EQ mount...but I suspect the IOptron people have made it to be able to output Alt/Az corrections (it has an inbuilt PIC micro controller & thus the applicable codes could be written into it).
You may be able to place the tower in EQ mode (via handset) and with a Wedge. I'm not sure..but if you can then I see no reason why the autoguider will not work as they all have the same HBX ports.
Best you go to this
Ioptron site
This site for more info. Alternate
One last thing...by pressing the 1 to 9 buttons you can go from 1X drive (sidereal) speed to 1024X drive speed. It can slew very fast indeed.
Just check that the towers are working with ASCOM I did read some grumblings about that.
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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 (10/14/09 11:15 PM)
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Telescopeman54
Vendor - Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC.
Reged: 08/17/07
Posts: 1541
Loc: New Hampshire
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Yes. You can enter coordinates manually.
Wasyoungonce: The MT DOES work in EQ mode! You know because we proved it and our friend "JB" has used it for imaging. I want one of those converters so I can experiment with it! It talks to the 8401 controller, therefore, it MUST talk to the MT. The controller is the brains of the mount. It doesn't care about the mode. The signals are the same regardless of the mode.
CS
Steve
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Stephen Forbes - President
Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC
61 Valhalla Farm Road
Hillsboro, NH 03244
Web: http://TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Email: Stephen.Forbes@TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Phone: 1.603.325.0619
6" f/15 Jaegers refractor on GOTO GEM
5.1" f/8 Burgess on CG-5 w/ iOptron GOTONOVA
102mm f/7 refractor on iOptron Mini Tower
1975 Celestron Orange Tube C8 on Equatorial Mini Tower
1978 RV-6 on iOptron Mini Tower
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wasyoungonce
member
Reged: 06/07/07
Posts: 79
Loc: Land Downunder
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he he he I must be getting old...as in my name..and forgetting things.
I knew the Smart star can be mounted EQ but I wasn't confident about the tower.
To get a ST4/HBX interface then one has to "Bug" IOptron. 
Edit:
PM sent
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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 (10/15/09 12:11 AM)
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