[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Coolhandjo

Getting an LX200 to achieve good gotos especially in polar mode on a wedge can be quite difficult. This is quite a common problem with the LX200 especially the earlier versions. The first thing you need to do is to get all the rotational axes orthogonal (at least within an arc minute or so). If your axes are not orthogonal you will never get good results. Forget SMT it only makes it worse.

The Meade telescopes very often are supplied with the dec pivot on one fork arm up to 3mm higher than the other. I have seen many like this. The Optical tube is then adjusted to try to compensate for this. In the two star alt/azm mode the error is often not noticed to be too bad but when you attempt to polar mount the errors become very noticeable.

The attitude of the telescope when mounted on a wedge takes the following form. With the optical tube pointing straight up in the forks (90 degrees) and the wedge set to your latitude the Optical tube will be pointing at the south celestial pole. The control panel will be down and if you stand in front of the control panel you will be looking north.

The instructions for polar mounting start off by asking you to establish the exact 90 degree position of the OTA. This is the most important part and if found correctly will make the rest of the instructions easy. But remember orthogonality is the key to good alignment especially in polar mode.

The actual position of the finder scope during alignment will depend on where Sigma Octans is however the starting position will have the finder scope on the underside. The second alignment star will always end up with the finder scope on the higher side and the OTA pointing pretty much up towards the zenith.

If all this is done correctly you can forget the drift alignment. I have not used a drift alignment for 12 years. If your mount gets set to the true south pole attempting a drift alignment will only make matters worse.

Barry