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Originally Posted by resurgance
Hi, thanks for having me, I'm all newly registered...
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Welcome, Stew.
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Originally Posted by resurgance
I am a novice, of a couple of years, have what I think is some decent kit, but still need to get back to basics. Permission to ask a bunch of questions??
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Granted. That's what we're here for
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Originally Posted by resurgance
- If my camera (DLSR) is upside down on a right side up refractor, pointing West, then with my mount turned off, star trails should start heading down on my monitor right?
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No idea. Trying to work out things like that gives me headaches. I just do a little slew to see which way things move.
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Originally Posted by resurgance
- Should my SSAG be right side up or upside down in relation to my refractor, given that the 50mm OTA it is on is a frac itself?
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It should not matter. My guide camera was set up at around 45 deg upside down
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Originally Posted by resurgance
Or is there a method of determining how PHD2 is reacting? Last night I tried to Drift align and the lines were pointed downwards, and the adjustment lines were frantically and constantly in the opposite direction, then it told me my mount was not reacting fast enough, even though it calibrated OK.
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If you are drift aligning in PHD all guiding should be turned off. The built-in function should do that automatically. If you are not using the built-in drift align, turn off guiding pulses in the Brain. Make sure that tracking at sidereal rate is on though. The autoguider does not look after that
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Originally Posted by resurgance
- To drift align being a Southy I want to start at my Eastern Horizon with hardly and DEC so OTA is pointing toward where the celestial equator meets east right? And this is to determine Azimuth? With my scope in the config mentioned above, which way do I adjust mount in relation to where my star drifts?
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Drift alignment on a star near the horizon is for altitude. Azimuth adjustment uses a star near the meridian. If the graph is heading south you need to adjust north. Which way that is on the display depends on the orientation of your camera. Best to test beforehand by careful slewing in each direction. Or watch your calibration run to see.
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Originally Posted by resurgance
- Next I go overhead, to approx where Orion is at the moment, OTA still perpendicular to Celestial equator right? Then this is Altitude adjustment?
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No - that is for azimuth.
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Originally Posted by resurgance
- Unguided I can do almost 120sec with rough alignment and still get nice round stars, as soon as I try auto guiding, its a jagged mess! I have ASCOM driver using shoestring GPUSB, as I thought there may have been an impedance issue with SSAG and ST-4 port on my DD. Results are no better.
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Attach a PHD log file. The location is on the Global tab of the Brain. What version of PHD are you using?
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Originally Posted by resurgance
End goal post alignment is to get PE as low as mount allows, then start guiding so I can get 3-5min exposures for the projects that I have in mind, and also maybe start using my big OTA one day.
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PE or PA? PE=Periodic Error, PA=Polar Alignment
PE relates to errors in RA due to the drive train. PA errors result in drift in declination. Autoguiding is often the best way to eliminate PE. Polar alignment is important as even though autoguiding can eliminate the drift you get field rotation