Hi,
Well I must be learning something from you guys.
Last night I took my EQ3 outside and decided that I was going to have a go at polar alignment, for the first time; only problem is that my house and a big tree is sitting right in the way of the SCP and anything around it.
I have read
Basics of Drift Alignment / Polar Alignment a couple of times and decided to use it, seeing how a basic alignment can be had without even looking up. So I found a length of tube and laid it out East/West, then adjusted for magnetic declination (for me it is the same as in the guide.) I then placed the mount into it's position up against the pole, levelled the mount and set the altitude adjustment to 33º.
Now the test, I lined up Sirius with the 20mm EP and was able to track (manual as no motors) in RA only, with it staying almost in the center of the FOV for a about 5 mins. Next I grabbed the 15mm, with 2 x barlow, and moved onto M42. This time I centered and then went inside and left it for 15mins and when I came back I adjusted the RA till M42 came back into the FOV. M42, rather than still being lined up with the center of the EP this time was actually about half way between the center and the edge of the FOV. I think that is a pretty good alignment, given it was my first time and was based on a rough alignment.
Anyway, I thought I would share my first experience with this exciting task (now I just have to hope that I didn't mix up RA and DEC
)
Daniel...
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Wait til you get yourself an RA drive for the EQ3, you won't know yourself 
