Did a rough polar alignment, then the two star alignment, then the mount polar alignment with the hand controller, and then I redid the two star alignment. I assume I had a pretty decent polar alignment with no drift after 5 minutes or so.

I inserted the Starshoot guide camera into the 50mm scope and cabled it up to the laptop and the auto guide port on the CG5 mount. Started up PHD, connected PHD to the camera and started taking 1 second exposures. Had to adjust the gain and brightness but I was able to focus perfect and find several good stars.

The problem I had was with the PHD calibration. I tried several different settings for RA aggressiveness in PHD and made multiple changes to the Autoguide settings on the hand controller. I am not sure what I (or what may) be wrong but I could not get it to calibrate. I even tried to guide with Maxim DL Essentials and again could not get it to calibrate. Both programs gave me an error that the star did not move enough. I spent several hours (way too many for a school night) fiddling with the settings, but I just could not get a good calibration.

This is not the first time I have had issues with calibration. I have been able to get guiding to work in the past, but I am not able to get the guiding to calibrate consistently.

To me it seems that the camera may not be talking to the guide port on the mount ???? but I am not sure why. It is suppose to be clear again tonight so I will probably have another go at it. If anyone out there has any suggestions or ideas on what may be happening or what I am doing wrong, I could use the help.

If I am not able to get it to guide through the port on the mount I am going to give it a try through the hand controller using the ASCOM driver and the serial port.

Update: Found this information on Calibration Issues in the PHD FAQ. Going to try the Ctrl-T test, looks like I can do that in the daylight to make sure the software is talking through the USB port, to the camera, to the mount, then to the motors. There are is also a setup and settings section for my mount.

Anyway the instructions found here are pretty straight forward and I spent about $10 at Lowe’s for the PVC spacer, set screws, and tap kit. I ended up using 8-32 set screws and thumbscrew since Lowe’s did not have any 6-32s – this worked out just fine.

Here are some pics of the finished product.

Inexpensive 10x50mm Finderscope

The PVC Spacer secured in the finderscope tube.

With the Starshooter Autoguide camera attached.

I powered up the laptop, connected the camera, and I was able to get good focus on a tree off in the distance. So I am pretty confident that I am going to be able to obtain quick focus when I use it as a guide scope. I am able to loosen the thumbscrew and move the camera in and out to help if I am not able to get focus by adjusting the front lens.

So for just over $60 (not counting the quick release bracket) I have a nice (and light) guide scope.

The reason this I titled this post Part 1 is that I have not yet mounted the scope to my C8 or AT66, this is because I am not able to get the dovetail and mount to match up right with either scope. I have ordered a Celestron quick release finder scope bracket and should have it any day. Once I get it mounted and get a chance to try it out I will post a follow up.

Again check out Constructing a guide scope from a finder scope for instructions on putting one together yourself.