Hmmm... not sure of what you mean by 11 degrees east of south... ...east of magnetic south, east of grid south or east of true south?
(EDIT: Just went back to your original post... east of magnetic south...OK!)
I assume you are using a compass to do the initial setup. For Sydney the mnemonic is GMS - grid to magnetic, subtract - and MGA - magnetic to grid, add. True directions are very close to grid for Sydney as well so the mnemonic should still be OK for true to magnetic variation.
I'll take your word for it that your magnetic declination is 11 degrees from magnetic to true (mine is 12 at Oberon so I believe you ).
So,...
True south is 180 degrees true, so set your compass to 180 - 11 = 169 degrees magnetic. So when your compass reads 169 degrees all lined up on the needle, it should be pointing true south.
Hope this helps to clarify the muddy water rather than muss it up some more!!!
It gets confusing, but the Magnetic north is 11 degrees east of True North. So true north lies 11 degrees west of the compass needle pointing magnetic North. I alsways use an offset on the compass to 11 degrees east and align the mount true north. What you have said is correct if you have no magnetic offset then you set your mount 11 degrees to the east of south to have true South.
Sorry if any confusion but the way I read your post it seemed you were ofsetting the wrong way.
when i have 'finished' i am standing behind the mount standing in line with the direction it faces. i hold out my compass and it shows magnetic south as being 11 degrees to my right hand side, thus I believe the mount is pointing 11 degrees east of the magnetic south.
yep you have to set the time and date every time, and yes i did definitely have it set for 11th december, DST, GMT+10
Haven't they heard of non volatile ram? Do you have to set your latitude and longitude each time as well, and will the EQ6 synch or must it go thru a 2 star alignment each time?
it remembers the last date and lat/long you input but you still need to confirm them. the time it does not save between sessions and defaults to 8pm every time.
you can buy a gps addon which does all that for you but yes it is a bit of a drag
There are always other options than ones given by the maker of the mount. Lukily there have beeen people working on this day and night to help those that dont want to stuff around with the controllers.
I am making the EQ direct version which should be finished this week. then the fun time of testing begins.
Ice if you just want tracking why not go the Syntrek version of the mount, I am using it and it works great, it also gives you the option of adding Autoguiding without hacking into the mount.
Ice if you just want tracking why not go the Syntrek version of the mount, I am using it and it works great, it also gives you the option of adding Autoguiding without hacking into the mount.
It might be worth noting however that according to Tasco they must fit the mod or else the warranty will be void.
You cant purchase the skyscan mod seperately what sej is commenting on is that you can buy the syntrek mount which has the Skyscan motors factory installed but does not have the goto hand controller which you can simply purchase and plug in anytime.
This would be a good option for Mike not needing goto and also has the guide port.
But yes any motor instalation done by the customer will void warranty from tasco.
Point it 11° east of magnetic south will get you close enough.
Just like Daves link.
To help get around the alignment problem, I saw someone from the ASV with a jig to help locate true south and made one myself. Essentially, it is a triangle that fits at the base of the tripod which allows you to hold the compass at the required offset. You can then turn the jig around until the compass points south and put the tripod on top. Otherwise, the compass is affected by the steel in the tripod. I hope my pictures give you an idea.
...east of magnetic south, east of grid south or east of true south?
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