NEQ6 Pro Tomorrow

[Nico13]

Well I've pretty much decided that a new NEQ6 Pro Mount will be coming home with me tomorrow from Bintel in Melbourne.

Are there any Pros or Cons I should know about, any big negatives or reasons not to buy this mount.
Or for that matter any alternatives at the same sort of price.

Any comments would be helpful just to ease my mind that I'm doing the right thing.

Thanks

Nico.

[gbeal]

None that I can think of Ken, it is a great mount, I love mine.
Get your head around EQMod/EQASCOM as well.
Gary

[Nico13]

Thanks Gary,
Yeh I saw a bit a bit EQMod and ASCOM etc when looking to see if you could control it with Stellarium or similar.
A bit of reading and some other software to install to make it all work but thats ok.

Nico

[naskies]

Hope the trip's gone well! The only negative is that you'll probably find the urge to spend more $$$ in the near future :P

[Barrykgerdes]

The NEQ6 Pro is and excellent mount. It can be controlled from most PC's via the EQDIR cable , EQMOD and ASCOM. You will also need a USB-RS232 adaptor if you don't have a native COM port. Configure it as COM1 or COM2 if you can.

I have its baby brother the HEQ5 pro with Synscan 3.27 and find the Synscan is much less messy than using the motors with EQMOD. The latest Synscan has a built in EQDIR so you can play with both systems.

Stellarium will couple directly to the synscan but needs ASCOM (not included yet with Stellarium) as the intereface to EQMOD. Synscan uses an abrieviated version of the nexstar protocol.

Barry

[Nico13]

Youre not wrong there, lots of toys in the Bintel shop could very easy go over budget if SWMBO wasn't there. Trip went well I'm now the proud owner of NEQ6 Pro Mount :D



Thanks Barry yeh a bit of reading and some software to setup but interesting you say using synscan is much less messy than EQMod.
Everything I read prior to this and I guess that it wasn't a lot I read but it pointed to EQMod being the way to go with direct control using the ASCOM protocol from Stellarium with the Synscan handpiece not used.

I did pickup the EQMod USB cable while there so will no doubt be trying both systems depending on what I'm doing on the night.

This is all great but as is usual when you want to try something new the good old clouds just roll right in for a few days.

After having a bit of a play setting up in the lounge I noticed that the RA scale ring wasn't moving when slewing, the Dec was fine.
I went back to Park and set them both to Zero, locked the grub screws and then slew to a few different points but still only the Dec was moving with the travel. :question:
See the pictures below.

Nico.

[Barrykgerdes]

Yes that's confusing. It does not move. If you read the manual (P13) I think it is used during polar alignment with the polarscope in the northern hemisphere. It does not apply to southern hemisphere alignment.

Regarding the Synscan. I refer only to the current version. The original was quite primative. The latest version has many more facilities than the EQMOD and works just like the hand controller for the nextstar (even looks very similar) and it has a straight through position in the utilities menu that serves the same purpose as the EQDIR cable. However when coupled to a computer it only resonds to reading/setting of coords and goto.

If you go the EQMOD way you can use Stellariumscope/ASCOM and get more operations.

Incidently EQMOD needs a computer to control the mount in lieu of a separate hand controller, whereas the Synscan is a self contained handset that can be hooked to a computer com port. That is what I mean by less messy. I bought a HEQ5 Pro just to play with the controls and try to write some software

Barry

[Nico13]

Thanks for the info Barry.
Coming from what I had to this it's just going to be a pleasure to issue a goto command and actually have the scope get to where you've sent it and not come back with a motor fail error or some such problem.

So I think initially I will just enjoy it as is for a while and sit back and do some reading about other options.
I also have to setup my auto guiding scope and PHD so plenty to do and looking forward to it all.

Nico.

[batema]

I have had an EQ6Pro for more than two years now and I love it as I am sure you will. After I align I am always amazed at when I go to an object it is always close to the centre. A very good mount for the price. Have fun.

Mark

[Nico13]

Thanks Mark,

Looking forward to giving it a good workout.
Just a matter of them thar clouds. ;)

Nico.