[Wavytone]

OK...

1. Use a clinometer app on a smartphone to carefully level the tripod head to 0.1 degree before putting the mount on top; this simplifies the setup by ensuring the elevation of the polar axis is the same each time. Note that the bubble level supplied is hopelessly inaccurate.

2. Use same clinometer to check the elevation of the polar axis equals your latitude, it is not hard to get this right to 0.1 degree.

3. I then use the dec circle (I have calibrated it) to adjust the azimuth of the mount by aligning on two stars, this routinely gets me to better than 1 degree in azimuth.

4. Often this is good enough, but if you want better, use SynScan itself to adjust the azimuth and elevation of the mount to better than 5 arc minutes - and I bet most users don't know it can do this, or that its quicker than drift aligning.

Section 11.3 Polar Alignment without Polar Scope
The polar alignment function can help users to polar align an equatorial mount accurately.
Here are the operating instructions:
1. Complete a 2-star alignment or a 3-star alignment. At the end of the alignment, the SynScan hand control will display the polar alignment error (refer to Section 3.3). Users can use the data to determine whether it is necessary to adjust the polar alignment.
2. Press the “MENU” shortcut key, and then access to sub-menu “Alignment\Polar Alignment ”, press the ENTER key to proceed to the next step.
3. The screen will display “Select a Star”.
• Use the scroll keys to browse through a list of star names and press the ENTER key to pick one as the reference star for polar alignment.
• The mount will start slewing to point the telescope to the reference star.
4. Use the direction keys to center the reference star in the eyepiece of the telescope after the mount stops slewing. Remember to end the centering operation with Up and Right direction keys. Press the ENTER key to proceed to the next step.
5. The screen will now display the polar alignment error in altitude (Mel=dd°mm’ss”). Users can then use the data to determine whether or not to adjust the altitude of the R.A. axis in the next step. Press the ENTER key to proceed.
6. The mount will slew to a new position. When it stops, the screen will display “Adjust Altitude:”. By using ONLY the altitude control of the mount (do not touch the azimuth control), bring the reference star back to the closest point to the center of the FOV of the telescope’s eyepiece. Remember the reference star’s current position in the eyepiece for later adjust- ment. Press the ENTER key to confirm the centering operation.
7. The screen will now display the polar alignment error. Users can then use the data to deter- mine whether or not to adjust the azimuth of the mount in the next step. Press the ENTER key again to proceed to the next step.
8. The mount will slew to a new position. When it stops, the screen will display “Adjust Azimuth:” By using ONLY the azimuth control of the mount (do not touch the altitude control), bring the reference star back to the closest point to the previous position (at the end of Step 6). Press the ENTER key to confirm the centering operation.
9. The screen will display the polar alignment error again, press the ENTER button to end the polar alignment process.
10. Go back to the “Alignment” menu on the SynScan hand control and execute another 2-Star or 3-Star alignment, and then check the polar alignment error data reported at the end of the 2-star alignment or 3-star alignment. Repeat Step 2 to Step 9 until the error is small enough and acceptable. Generally, users can get up to 1 arc-minute polar alignment accuracy after repeating this polar alignment process 2 or 3 times.