Yahoo! Success! I had to refocus as suggested. I suspect I know what the issue was - I bought the pole (together with all the gear you see in my sig) from a guy in Alaska and of course he would have focused it for his elevation. I am only 19 or so meters above sea level so of course it was out of focus.
All good - thanks to you lads. Very much in your debt.
EDIT:
Here's the plate solved screen capture from Polemaster:
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w...ob/2042648.jpg