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Newbie: Gemini 2 and SGP

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Hey Ed,

I just shut down my first observatory and I'm setting up my second as we speak. I run a Gemini-2 powered Mi-250 (similar to a Titan) so I think I can speak your lingo.

First off, lets assume you're already polar aligned and you have chosen an appropriate park position. The ASCOM driver allows you to create park positions in a variety of methods. My previous setup required me to have my scope side ways in order to close/open the roof. So, lets assume you have that defined already as the home position (LMK if you don't and I can talk you through that too). You won't need a model since you're using plate solving so don't worry about that part. When I turn on my Gemini-2, I would select 'warm restart' if I was in my 'home' position. If I was messing with the scope and had it in the CWD (Counterweight Down) position, I would choose either Cold start (dump the model, CWD), or Warm start (dump the model, keep most of my settings). Again, you don't need a model if you're polar aligned.

OK, from there, I started SGP and told it to do it's thing. Often the first plate solve takes awhile because it might be off a bit, but beyond that it's just good to go. I always used 'slew' and 'center' for my targets. That way, SGP knows to issue a 'slew' command and the target is always roughly in the area. Otherwise, if for instance you're at CWD, SGP tries to plate solve and it can get some wonky results near the pole that can really mess things off. So, I always 'slew' and 'center' for all targets.

You do not need to unpark your mount. SGP will issue an 'unpark' when it starts the sequence. If you are doing things manually, you will need to do an unpark (I always used the ASCOM hand controller) and then issue the slew or nothing will happen.

I ran remote for 3 of the 5 years I had my ROR. I did it from around the world and have quite a bit of lessons learned. Gemini-2 is very survivable and works really well. I sometimes see that the model will get corrupted; you just need to park it CWD and then do a cold restart and it will come back without any issues. The corruption is usually due to a bad plate solve.

Good luck,
Chris


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