Setting up HEQ5 & GOTO alignment

[Borneogoat]

Yesterday, I received my first proper telescope. BT200 f/5 Newt with HEQ5 mount. I've assembled it all ... correctly, I hope! Got it balanced too. Tonight, weather permitting, I'll give her a go. I'm a little confused about the Synscan alignment. If I do a 2-star alignment, do I need to polar align the mount? Or can I just aim the North leg in the general direction of south? I can grab a compass and use my local magnetic deviation factor if true south is required.

Regarding magnetic deviation to find true south, I used the Australian Geomagnetic Reference Field Computation calculator and got D = 14.982 deg . Since that seems to be a positive number, I assume I use 195 deg. Correct? Or do I use 165 deg?

[jenchris]

left of South.
use the polar scope in the axis to see the octans stars for alignment.
If you want to get it right, do it correctly and be fastidious.
It may take you a little while to get it right the first time but keep at it.
Get the tripod level with the peg pointing about south.
Drop on the mount and nip it up so it can be moved by the azimuth screws that are either side of the peg
Use your mobile phone app with spirit level to get the altitude.
recognise octans through your polar scope - or use drift alignment to accurise the SCP alignment.

[xelasnave]

And hide your axe.
Good luck and patience and keep saying life was not meant to be easy.
Alex

[Jasp05]

I agree with alex. I got my heq5 just before christmas and it still takes me the best part of an hour to be setup and aligned.

I would question one thing though. I was under the impression true south was left of the south pole. However after drift aligning for 5 minutes on each axis (was able to take subs at 5 mins @250mm fl with my dslr which is my best result yet.) I put my compass app on my phone to the mount. It was reading 192-93 degrees. Which is to the right of the south pole....

Is this my phone giving me incorrect direction? Or is it meant to be to the right of magnetic south.??

[raymo]

Hobart has a positive deviation, which means that the compass reads
a higher number than it should, so you use 165 degrees. If you look down
from above the mount, move it anti clockwise.
As Jennifer says, left of South, but looking at the mount from behind, [with
the counterweights furthest from you].
raymo

[jakob]

Electronic Compass and Levels are influenced by Mount and can not be relied on.
To find Sigma Octans through the Polar Scope on HEQ5 is near impossible.
I do 2-star alignment then use the Polar alignment routine with the Synscan Handset.
(no need for the Axe):)
Clear Skies.:thumbsup:

[Jasp05]

What do you do if you dont use the handset? I currently use sharpcap for polar alignment when im out and can see the pole. But at home i dont have line of sight at the pole. So use astrophotography tool for drift aligning. (It uses the darv method).

Is the handset more accurate than apt? Can i use the handset with phd2?