|
Hi Andrew,
Can’t help you out with Az Alt alignment as have a EQ mount but I can help you out with finding true north and true south or close enough
Forget compasses they never worked for me, I use the solar noon method as follows,
The ground must be relatively flat / level where you set up your mount, preferably paved , tiled or concrete etc
Buy a 1m long x 12mm dia piece of wooden dowel and use a hacksaw to cut a cross in one end about 3mm deep
Cut 2 lengths of string 2 metres long and source 4 bricks or half kilo weights
Download Stellarium ( free ) to you laptop
Pick a sunny day to perform the method
Fast forward the time date clock on Stellarium to the sunny day you want to perform the method.Fast forward the clock to the point when the sun passes directly over the meridian line , this line also passes through the celestial poles ( check the data up in the top left corner, when the suns degrees click over from 359deg to 0 deg , that will be the solar noon time you will use later on, say for example 1.08pm )
On the day you have selected, about 1 hour before the solar noon time, set up your timber dowel 90 deg to the ground below your mount position
Use a good quality bubble level to ensure the dowels NSEW points are at 90 degrees to the ground ( this is important )
Use the 2 strings and weights as guy ropes ( NSEW ) to anchor the dowel in position
Exactly at the pre determined solar noon time ( I use my iPhone ) mark a thin line on the ground about 500mm long using a tile cutter or similar and a straight edge or ruler along the exact centre of the shadow cast by the timber dowel ( the more precise your are the more accurate your true north / south line will be )
I have used this method in my two locations ( Sydney and Narrawallee south coast ) and it has never let me down as long as the mount is positioned correctly with respect to north / south
I set my home position , azimuth centred on the mount head , altitude set to location and start a 2 Star alignment ( 1st Star always ends up in the FOV cross hairs of my 20mm illuminated eye piece )
Hope the above helps
Sorry to write such a long procedure but it should only take 5 to 10 minutes after you have all the bits and pieces ready
Martin
PS: there are numerous other ways to find true north / south but I’m old school and the sun never lets you down !!
|