[Octane (Humayun)]

+1 for StarTarg. That is the reticle that I use.

Carl, when you're pointing the scope at a star at the meridian, you are correcting for drift in ONE direction, only. Your goal is to minimise/eliminate drift in just ONE direction. That is to say, that you will still have drift in the uncorrected axis. When you swing over to the eastern/western horizon, you are now correcting for drift in one direction, again.

The goal is to iterate several times until you get no drift in either axis.

A good way to tell if you're making the right adjustment is to time how long it takes for the star to move a known distance (if you don't have access to an on-screen reticle, then, open an application or bring something up on screen which you can use as a marker or a reference gauge).

Example:

Azimuth adjustment: time how long it takes for the star to move. If it takes, say, 30 seconds, to move 3 centimetres, make an adjustment in azimuth, one way or another -- it usually helps if the first adjustment is a relatively big adjustment rather than a small one -- it is a lot easier to perceive movement after big adjustments. Measure the drift again. If it now takes 60 seconds to move 3 centimetres, then, you know you've made the right adjustment. Keep making those adjustments until you can get around 5 minutes without any drift.

Now, point the scope to the horizon and do the same thing, except, this time you'll be making adjustments to your altitude. Once you can attain 5 minutes without movement, swing the scope back to the meridian, and check again. Unless your mount is 100% perfectly level (spirit levels lie!), when you make an adjustment in one axis, it affects the other axis, too. Hence the iterative process.

H