Last night I did a quick test on a new Qhyccd polemaster, a camera and software that aids in quick and precise polar alignment.....some information here.
Very easy to set up and the software program was easy to follow. For people not familiar with identifying Sigma Octantis and it's surrounds it could be a little tricky but with the software it provides a overlay through one of its steps to double check you have the right star.
I found it very easy to use - much of the region is obscured from my location - but sigma octans and the pole itself are not - so with the help of astronomy.net for plate solving it was really easy!
Went ahead and bought one from a California supplier (Optcorp) and it will ship today. I notice that software verison V112 is required for the Southern Hemisphere support, and the QHY post on Facebook and in some other forums says it will be available as a download from the website but it's not on there yet. Seems existing stock at the retailers must ship with V110. How did the Australian owners get V112?
I did try to contact Astronomy Alive and Gamesonline to give them some business first and I did hear back from Chris but no stock held or local price information available.
I tried Gama electronics first , the Australian agent for Qhyccd products, but Theo said the product wouldn't be released until late Feb with it still being tested for the southern hemisphere.
I saw posts on Cloudy nights indicating the software was ready for SH users and some people where ordering from Cyclops optics in Hong Kong. So I ordered through them, took three days to arrive using HK ems postal service...nice. Would have preferred to purchase from Gama but wanted to get my hands on one while on break.
I just downloaded the software and drivers from the Qhyccd site. Also the manual kind of makes the procedure appear trickier then it really is.
It turns out that Optorp is now saying they are out of stock - despite showing it as in stock when I ordered it. I have cancelled my order with them and demanded a refund. Now I will miss having it in time for my dark site trip. I might just wait for now.
Not familiar with the Astrotrac but if you can rotate the RA axis {in the instructions it states to keep the ra axis locked and use the mounts hand controller for powered movement} so the calibration procedure can be done it should be able to. You would have to come up with same way to mount the polefinder too .I'm going to try it with my teegul sky patrol and see if it works
This product release is a real mess, I get conflicting stories whoever I contact. The advertising on the QHY website says it supports both hemispheres and has a screen shot of V112. Some US retailers use the same info on their product page. Australian sources like Astronomy Alive claim it is not released and the ones available and shipped from the US do not have southern hemisphere support yet. Neither of the Australian sources (Theo or Chris) have stock and won't for some weeks probably but they expect to get southern hemisphere support versions. Now we are hearing in a post below that V114 is released for testing. QHY needs to get their story straight. I contacted their help desk and was told it was not available yet, despite what the website said. Confused? You bet I am.
Thanks for the heads up and 1st light report Stuart – looks like a useful piece of kit.
I was initially puzzled by the fitment on the front of the DEC housing. I just assumed that any device would fit on the eyepiece end of the Polar Alignment ‘Scope (PAS) and then take images through the PAS and manage the alignment process through comparing the “real” image through the PAS and a software generated overlay.
The configuration in your posted images suggests that the TAK PAS and Tak illuminated reticule are completely bypassed and do not form part of the alignment procedure Following the http link to the QHY website they confirm this by stating that a PAS is not even required.
This product release is a real mess, I get conflicting stories whoever I contact. The advertising on the QHY website says it supports both hemispheres and has a screen shot of V112. Some US retailers use the same info on their product page. Australian sources like Astronomy Alive claim it is not released and the ones available and shipped from the US do not have southern hemisphere support yet. Neither of the Australian sources (Theo or Chris) have stock and won't for some weeks probably but they expect to get southern hemisphere support versions. Now we are hearing in a post below that V114 is released for testing. QHY needs to get their story straight. I contacted their help desk and was told it was not available yet, despite what the website said. Confused? You bet I am.
Your questions have all been answered in this very thread. I don't understand what difficulty you're having in terms of purchase, Southern Hemisphere support, and where to get the software.
I'd imagine it wont take long for someone to market a bracket that you could purchase.
Yes Dennis the Tak PAS is bypassed and no user input of longitude etc just press the southern hemisphere tab and your set. Qhyccd claim accuracy of 30 arc seconds, using the Tak PAS it's 2 arc minutes . I use the Tak PAS all the time and it takes me less then 5min to dial it in so its the greater accuracy that attracted me. In the quick test I did GOTO's seemed pretty good with stars pretty close to the crosshairs of a 12mm reticule eyepiece I was using. Left the mount running with a star centered in the eyepiece for half hour and the star was still in the box formed by the crosshairs with just a small amount of drift....nice.
I don't think The camera itself is made for a region SH or NH , it's the software you use which provides the SH and NH support. Initial software only had NH support , the versions posted above now have SH support. So I think if someone is saying the US or overseas camer will not work I suspect this is not correct. Perhaps what they meant was that it had not been tested in SH yet enough for them to sell it.
I have to say.... these look very tempting. The wife says I can't spend anymore money for now.
I have been sort of doing a manual version of this lately. In my back yard when I set up, I know pretty much where south is... but not having a permanent pier I am always off a little when I put the scope out to observe. But being close, I have been doing a 5 minute exposure before I turn on the mount, and looking at the the image to see where the stars have revolved... and having done this a few times now, I sort of know how much to adjust the scope by to line the pole up to the centre of the image. It's been working pretty well. The image shows what I see when I do these test exposures. So you can see where the pole it, and I roughly, from practice, know how far I need to adjust to bring the to the middle. Yeah, sure I still need to do some refinement... but it's pretty close.
But this camera says it takes 2 minutes.... 30 arcsecond accuracy... I am going to have to find the cash I think. I'm sure I don't need two kidneys....
Had another test last night just on dusk and I was able to identify sigma octantis through the polemaster, with the Tak pas I would have to wait until it got somewhat darker to use it.
