[acropolite (Phil)]

I don't believe the problem is with the Lodestar, I was seeing the same problems as h0ughy on at least a couple of occasions at the same time but on my AZ-EQ6 (running Synscan V3.35). My guiding setup was PHD and Orion starshoot autoguider. At least twice I heard the h0ugh cursing in the dark, only to look at my own PHD plot to see it too had completely lost sync. My setup was PHD directly to the SSAG via USB, the Az-EQ6 mount was on battery/charger power and the Laptop mains, h0ughy I believe was using a UPS on all his gear. FWIW the SSAG image showed considerable noise when slewing, indicating that noise was coming back via the guide port. Switching to a twisted pair guide cable minimised but didn't eliminate that anomoly.

I still haven't ruled out polar alignment problems as I had corrected my manual alignment using the Syncan polar alignment method and I'm not convinced that the sysncan polar alignment routine is/was accurate.