PMX first impressions

gregbradley · #1 03-11-2011, 10:31 PM

I received my PMX yesterday.

It is well packaged and looks fantastic.
The colour is slightly different to the PME - slightly pinker and brighter in colour. It looks very well made.

A few minor hiccups.

The serial numbers for the software aren't where they say it will be in the manual (on the shipping box) but rather underneath the white foam the mount sits on - which is a bit hard to remove from the box and is the last place you would look. Anyway.

The driver for the Mks5000 system also is not on the supplied CD so the instructions on how to load it fail. A quick search on the SB PMX forum shows it as a download on the SB site once you have registered your mount.

It isn't that much smaller than the PME and sits just a bit lower overall.
It oozes finesse and careful construction. Like a Takahashi scope.

It has some nice touches over the PME. The adapter plate worked very well and meant I did not need to drill any holes to fit it to my existing pier plate. That was unexpected. The azimuth adjusting area of the mount is able to be lit up with red LEDs using the hand controller. Very nice. The hand controller also has a red LED torch much like the PME's.

Both axes has a 3 way switch to enable fast balancing.

The PMX also has a USB hub on dovetail area which works well. My PME has older parallel ports and no USB on the dovetail area. So that means far less cable clutter. Also the 12 volt power outlet is accessible by a simple 2.5mm centre pin positive lead with 2 plugs coming off of it (one for the filter wheel and one for the guide camera).

I had no trouble connecting my cameras through this.

I am looking forward now to a clear night to do a quick polar align (I am not sure if this is a new feature or if its been around with the PME but its very cool, using the home feature you can do a quick and accurate polar align even during the day in a few minutes).

This will be my APO imaging setup. At the moment it'll be AP140 at F5.6 and TEC110 also at F5.6 and Microline 8300.

I'll post some photos of it tomorrow.

Greg.

frolinmod · #2 04-11-2011, 03:18 AM

They were originally putting the serial numbers on the invoice in the sealed envelope attached to the outside of the box, but I surmise that OPT was removing them, so they switched over to putting them inside the box.

The software on the CD is now outdated anyway, so ignore it and download everything fresh after registering your license keys.

So far as I am aware, the only nice new quick polar align feature that the PMX has that the PME didn't always have is the obvious one: the polar alignment scope.

Also, if you have a PME, you all you need to do is update your firmware and then you can use the PMX hand controller with it. Don't you think the new hand controller is better than the old PME hand controller? I do.

gregbradley · #3 04-11-2011, 08:22 AM

I loaded the CD on one of my laptops connected to the net. I ran the Sky X and did "check for updates" and it said it was the current one.

I'll have to check what is the latest version with what I received.

Yes the hand controller of the PMX is better. Good tip about the firmware of the PME.

Greg.

frolinmod · #4 04-11-2011, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

I loaded the CD on one of my laptops connected to the net. I ran the Sky X and did "check for updates" and it said it was the current one.

What you might want to do is download and install the latest daily build. Check the SB website each week or so for a new "daily" build. Significant enhancements are constantly being dribbled in via daily builds, not to mention the bug fixes. Might be a few regressions too, but I haven't seen too many of those.

When/if you do upgrade your ME firmware, don't be surprised when the sounds of the initialization beep tones change too. Makes one wonder what all is changed in there in addition to hand controller support and beep tones, if anything. The Bisques are mum on that.

cventer · #5 04-11-2011, 09:48 AM

Dont download latest daily build of The SkyX. It has a bug in it that causues a slew error in southern hemisphere.

I can load one of the later builds that dos work onto a server for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by frolinmod

What you might want to do is download and install the latest daily build. Check the SB website each week or so for a new "daily" build. Significant enhancements are constantly being dribbled in via daily builds, not to mention the bug fixes. Might be a few regressions too, but I haven't seen too many of those.

When/if you do upgrade your ME firmware, don't be surprised when the sounds of the initialization beep tones change too. Makes one wonder what all is changed in there in addition to hand controller support and beep tones, if anything. The Bisques are mum on that.

gregbradley · #6 04-11-2011, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cventer

Dont download latest daily build of The SkyX. It has a bug in it that causues a slew error in southern hemisphere.

I can load one of the later builds that dos work onto a server for you.

Thanks for the warning.

If you could load a workable update that would be great thanks.

I got all the software working last night on a new to astronomy laptop. It all seems to be working so next step is quick polar alignment then a T-Point model.

With the Sky 6.0 I had to add an extra database of stars for T-Point to be able to plate solve. Do you need to do that with the Sky X?

Greg.

frolinmod · #7 04-11-2011, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

With the Sky 6.0 I had to add an extra database of stars for T-Point to be able to plate solve. Do you need to do that with the Sky X?

In my experience, no. It comes with a UCAC3 subset. But you might have to fiddle with the automated calibration image link settings. By default they're different from the regular image link settings. Until you tweak the settings your automated calibration image links might fail where a regular image link will succeed on the same image. If you like editing or copying things directly, the regular image link settings are in the file default.sxt and the automated calibration image link settings are in the file AutoPointingRun.sxt.

However, I do have the Database Add On installed here anyway and I like it. The Database Add On comes with the full UCAC3 as well as a bunch of other stuff which seemed worth it to me at the time, but YMMV. If you do purchase the Database Add on, copy it to your hard drive and back it up elsewhere too. The portable hard drive is for data transport only, not day-to-day usage.

In regards to the problem with the daily build having a Southern Hemisphere slew bug, geez, don't those guys have Southern Hemisphere tests in their QA test suite? (That assumes they have a QA test suite.) Sorry, being in the Northern Hemisphere, I'd never notice otherwise I would not have recommended.

Terry B · #8 04-11-2011, 04:13 PM

Great to here that you have the new mount Greg
The old one is workng well. It's attracting clouds as expected.

gregbradley · #9 04-11-2011, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry B

Great to here that you have the new mount Greg
The old one is workng well. It's attracting clouds as expected.

Good to see it in capable hands.

Quote:

Originally Posted by frolinmod

In my experience, no. It comes with a UCAC3 subset. But you might have to fiddle with the automated calibration image link settings. By default they're different from the regular image link settings. Until you tweak the settings your automated calibration image links might fail where a regular image link will succeed on the same image. If you like editing or copying things directly, the regular image link settings are in the file default.sxt and the automated calibration image link settings are in the file AutoPointingRun.sxt.

However, I do have the Database Add On installed here anyway and I like it. The Database Add On comes with the full UCAC3 as well as a bunch of other stuff which seemed worth it to me at the time, but YMMV. If you do purchase the Database Add on, copy it to your hard drive and back it up elsewhere too. The portable hard drive is for data transport only, not day-to-day usage.

In regards to the problem with the daily build having a Southern Hemisphere slew bug, geez, don't those guys have Southern Hemisphere tests in their QA test suite? (That assumes they have a QA test suite.) Sorry, being in the Northern Hemisphere, I'd never notice otherwise I would not have recommended.

Thanks for that. I'll see how I go. If I have trouble its good to know there is a solution.

Greg.

cventer · #10 04-11-2011, 08:04 PM

Agreed. No extra databases needed. Plate solves straight out of the box.

cventer · #11 04-11-2011, 08:08 PM

here we go Greg. This is the latest build that works in Southern Hemisphere that also has FITS memory leak fixed so you can do long automated t-point runs.

http://www.dslrfocus.com/skyx/skyxbuild5158.zip

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Thanks for the warning.

If you could load a workable update that would be great thanks.

I got all the software working last night on a new to astronomy laptop. It all seems to be working so next step is quick polar alignment then a T-Point model.

With the Sky 6.0 I had to add an extra database of stars for T-Point to be able to plate solve. Do you need to do that with the Sky X?

Greg.

Mighty_oz (Marcus) · #12 04-11-2011, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cventer

here we go Greg. This is the latest build that works in Southern Hemisphere that also has FITS memory leak fixed so you can do long automated t-point runs.

http://www.dslrfocus.com/skyx/skyxbuild5158.zip

Thanks, downloaded for later if i need it

gregbradley · #13 04-11-2011, 11:20 PM

Cheers Chris. Nice of you.

Here's some photos of the rig:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/139386413/large AP140 on PMX

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/139389271 PMX and PME

Greg.

strongmanmike (Michael) · #14 05-11-2011, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Cheers Chris. Nice of you.

Here's some photos of the rig:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/139386413/large AP140 on PMX

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/139389271 PMX and PME

Greg.

....

Terry B · #15 05-11-2011, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Cheers Chris. Nice of you.

Here's some photos of the rig:

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/139386413/large AP140 on PMX

http://www.pbase.com/gregbradley/image/139389271 PMX and PME

Greg.

Looking good Greg.
I also note the lovely grey skies in the background.

Poita (Peter) · #16 05-11-2011, 12:37 PM

Lovely stuff.

How does the alignment during the day work?

frolinmod · #17 05-11-2011, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poita

How does the alignment during the day work?

Okay, I think it's the "Quick Polar Alignment Method" starting on page 65 of the Paramount MX User Guide. It's nothing particularly new. You can do it with the ME too (and with the GT-1100S before that). Tom sure has done a bang up job on the new User Guide though!

gregbradley · #18 05-11-2011, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terry B

Looking good Greg.
I also note the lovely grey skies in the background.

Too true.

Greg.