Polar Alignment PMX and TPoint

[graham.hobart (Graham stevens)]

There is a post regarding Southern Hem PA with a copy of the report - it states both move azimuth West and loosen right knob/ tighten left knob etc so I assume it really depends on whether your mount is set up as in Northern Hemisphere or Southern Hemisphere GEM. Either way it does state the cardinal direction to go in so that makes it easier.
Sorry- post is on the Bisque site -can't attach it as work computer.

[roughy (Mark)]

I have also responded to Daniels post. Refer below:

"Hi Daniel

I must respectfully disagree with you and concur with Peter. East and West do not change but left and right do depending upon you personal orientation to an object such as the PMX. In the southern hemisphere standing on the northen side of the mount facing south, the left knob is on the eastern side. Standing on the southern side facing north the left knob is now the one on the western side.

Given that everyone adjusts the mount's azimuth from the instrument panel side (wherethe arrow marks on the knob housing are) facing the relavant celestial pole, the change in the output for the polar alignment report to refer to left and righ knobs as opposed to east and west now appears to be sending people in the southern hemisphere in the completely wrong direction when adjusting azimuth.

Cheers

Mark"

[rat156]

Originally Posted by roughy

Hi Stuart
Just realised you wrote roughly, not roughy. Apologies.
Yep understand the issue now. In hindsight one thinks you should be able to figure it out for oneself if the corrections are getting larger and larger in the same direction. But a couple of decades of self and mount orientation facing the SCP is a strong habit to push a bit of lateral thinking through.
Cheers
Mark

No apology necessary, clearly a misunderstanding (and an unhelpfully chosen pseudonym ). I had to read your post three times before I noticed the lack of "l", sometimes your brain just doesn't want to register what is written. I find this with proof reading my own work all the time.

Anyway, I have also registered a post with the SB people. Don't expect a response soon though. Although they are good engineers, they just don't get customer service at SB. Virtually anytime you register a fault on the forum you get asked what version of the software etc you have, and if you aren't 100% up-to-date, then you get asked to update and repost. It's the astronomical equivalent of the IT crowd "turn it off and turn it back on again". Although this may actually be helpful (to update the software/firmware) it just leaves you with the same feeling as if you're talking to someone in Mumbai about the Telstra cable in your front yard.

Cheers
Stuart

[roughy (Mark)]

Hi Frolinmod

I initiated this thread and an identically titled one on the SB forum. I entirely agree with your comments. Patience and courtesy are the catalysts for goodwill.

However goodwill is a two way street.

When I first posted my issue with SB the response from Daniel was prompt and to the point, please provide data. This I did.

Daniel's next post, left is left and right is right, was unrelated to the data nor progressing towards a solution. It is also grossly incorrect. Left and right have no relationship to hemispheres or celestial coordinates. Without providing more illustrative examples, the working solution to the issue provided on this forum is evidence of this.

My subsequent reply to Daniel was both formal and polite. I intend to maintain this standard of communication. Another individual, Alph, if I bother to respond to him, will not be treated so. I consider him to be a snide and ignorant individual.

I acknowledge the Bisques run a small company with a large client base and endeavour to do as best they can. However a request for patience rather than an off handed and wrong statement in response to a call for assistance, would have been a better step towards maintaining goodwill. Especially when one has invested 12K in their products. When you are responsible for your products, the onus is on you to maintain the relationship.

The tone of my communication with SB directly will not change nor diminish. Nevertheless, I have, and will maintain the right to insist on appropriate communications addressing my issue as opposed to dismissive and incorrect statements.

Cheers

Mark

[frolinmod]

"This has been fixed in TheSkyX build 7064 and later to be released as a daily build soon."

[PRejto (Peter)]

Thanks for the heads up on the fix.

Interesting that Kim's post back in April about this issue went unnoticed on the SB forum. It ought not to take this sort of agitation to get a reply. Maybe I'm overly sensitive about this but I think it is also a bit rude for SB not to say "boo" to the posters at SB and here that have forced the issue. Why is "thanks for finding this bug" so hard for them to say? Nothing much that is happening at SB recently makes me a happy camper.

Peter

[pvelez (Pete)]

Not wanting to get ovely involved in this thread - I posted the same question top SB last year - to which I received no response

Pete

[PRejto (Peter)]

Finally: (in case you missed it)

Update to TheSkyX Daily Build addresses the following issues -

Tuesday July 23, 2013 Build 7110

AO slew rate limit is now correctly applied.
SkyQLink no longer listed since no driver is presently available.
Bisque TCS window now saves PEC scale.
Bisque TCS window fixed a crash doing "Save all parameters" w/o a connection.
Bisque TCS window remember path to tracking log files.
Bug Fix - For southern hemisphere, TPoint polar alignment message for MA is now correct (was backward).
Bug Fix -Make automated pointing run parameters persistent w/o having to actually run the automated pointing run.
AllSky ImageLink now has a new file format.
Fixed bug where database searches for spectral types using "equal to" did not work.
Changed the toolbar button's background color to light gray so that the "on" state is more apparent on the Mac.
Camera Add On - Filters may be assigned focuser offsets.
Fixed a bug where Automated Pointing run options were incorrectly restored to zero upon restart which occurred when "Sort for dome" was turned on.
Fixed some of the sluggishness to "Create Pointing Targets" tab of the Automated Pointing Run window.
Fixed a crash on some systems when labeling constellations.
Fixed a crash when starting an Automated Pointing Run (introduced in the prior daily build).
Camera Add On - Ensure Apogee camera's are listed, regardless of update route.