I am not new to astronomy and scopes/binos, but I have just acquired an EQ-6R-Pro and would like to learn how to polar align with the built-in scope. It seems, and should be, rather straightforward, but tonight's attempt was a complete bust.
I am used to the gentle illuminated reticle in your typical Celestron right-angle finder. But, that's not what I see in the alignment scope in the RA housing of my mount. All I see, when the power is on, is a vast red expanse with a black reticle. The reticle is in focus, but I'm darned if I can see anything in the 'red sea'. What am I doing wrong?
I'm a bit finicky and turned the reticle about 20 deg counterclockwise before I used the scope. I know it doesn't really matter, but I'm used to the view with the correct orientation east/west and north/south of the major axes that one sees in the illuminated Celestron. I removed the eyepiece, and loosened the screws just enough that I could use a sharp thin object to prod at the retainer ring notches and I got it to move to the correct orientation. I then tightened the screws, and performed a calibration/alignment of the polar scope using the 180 deg swings in declination and making the half-way adjustments. This should all be familiar to you. But tonight, all I got was a fairly bright red sky in the scope's view.
There must be an obvious and simple explanation for this, but I haven't found anything that makes sense to me easily. Would some kind soul help me out? 
