[Craig_]

Originally Posted by Startrek

I don’t plate solve but I’ve been using EQMOD with Stellarium for 3 years now
Just a thought, maybe your meridian limits are set in EQMOD ( say 5 or 10 degrees after the meridian ) and this may be in conflict with your PS software when close to the meridian or SCP ??
Just a hunch ?

Thanks for the reply. As I understand it, and I'm happy to be corrected on this, it is a software limitation of EQMOD that you cannot sync coordinates when close to the pole. That said, sorry, I'm not sure I quite understand what you are saying here? If my meridian limits are set in EQMOD, this would allow the mount to track only as far as those limits before initiating a flip, correct?

Originally Posted by Merlin66

Craig,
Not sure I can help, but I do use EQMod (and Astroart for plate solving and syncing)
If you're using SharpCap to refine your PA I assume you're tweaking the Alt/Az to give you a final correction?
Ok, at this stage you have the mount aligned and the scope pointing to the SGP.....this is the home position for EQMod.
When you open EQMod it automatically assumes (unless you've set a different Custom park position) it's pointing at the SGP, so there's no need to have a sync at that point.
The next step is to obviously slew to your intended target. If it's not 100% centred, then do a Plate Solve and sync which will be recognised by EQMod.
As you change target during the night, you can continue to apply PS and add sync points to improve your pointing model.
Does that make any sense????

Yes, I do use SharpCap for my PA, so I am tweaking the Alt/Az yes.
To clarify, when I say I want a sync initially, it is because after PA takes place the "home position" isn't pinpoint perfect on the SCP. (That is to say, the mount is aligned by alt/az, but the RA/DEC are not being aligned in SharpCap as I understand it.) So the reason I need to PS and sync after PA is that if I complete my PA routine and attempt to slew to a target, invariably it won't accurately slew to that target as where the mount thinks it is pointing is not exactly where it is pointing. After successfully PS+syncing, I can slew with perfect accuracy to any target.

That then leads me to the crux of the issue, which you touch on - "If it's not 100% centred, then do a Plate Solve and sync which will be recognised by EQMod." This step has mixed success when PS away from the pole. I can start APT, run the Pointcraft module and have 100% success night after night PSing my coordinates near the pole - it just won't sync them. Let's say I want to image M8 - I then slew to where M8 "should be", invariably find it isn't there because I haven't yet synced the mount to PS'ed coordinates, and then the fun begins. Sometimes I can PS successfully whatever area of the sky I end up in, sync, and then off I go. Other times it just won't PS successfully, and I end up having to slew all over the sky until I find an area it can successfully platesolve.

So my problem is basically two-fold:

1) With a 100% success rate in Platesolving near the Pole, this is useless as EQMOD refuses to sync coordinates near the pole (if there is a way around this I'd love to hear it)

2) Despite no apparent technical limitation to Platesolving (given 100% success rate near the pole) once I start slewing away from the pole my success rate drops dramatically. Sometimes it can take 10-15 minutes before I land on an area of the sky the software can successfully platesolve - immensely frustrating.

Maybe this entire thread can be better summed as me asking: how can I improve my platesolving success rate when all the software is correctly set up already? (demonstrated by the fact I can PS successfully on the pole, 100% of the time.)