Using the LX-200 Meade Telescope

[kevinpgrinnell]

2 questions 1.

I'm using the LX-200 at my university's observatory. It's on an ALTAZ mount. I've heard that I should avoid using Polaris during the 2-star alignment, as all lines of RA pass near it. But trying it anyway gives good results. I'm guessing that's because in ALTAZ mode, the software doesn't care about RA.

2.

Sometimes when I use the 2-star alignment, it works fine and pinpoints all the GOTO objects. Other times it pinpoints some of the objects and misses others by 180 degrees of azimuth. And sometimes it slews so far while using GOTO that the curly cable wraps around the telescope. I power it down when this happens because I'm afraid that it will break its own cable.

I think I've found the cure however. If I use Polaris as a guide star during the 2-star alignment and I slew to it in the clockwise direction, all the ill-effects I described above happen. But during the 2-star alignment process, if I slew to it in the counterclockwise direction, it never wraps its cable around itself. It always seems to know what direction to turn to avoid stretching the cable, and it pinpoints all the GOTO objects perfectly.

I may try to obtain an LX-200 manual to see if it talks about this issue, but if anyone here has any experience with this, I would appreciate your input.