NOTE: A colleague at the same field trip has one of the new iOptron ‘AZ Mount Pro GOTO’ mounts and this did not have any problems. A very nice go-to mount, especially suitable for small to medium refractor telescopes. Both Voyager and The Sky Serious Edition run into very similar problems. This does not seem to be a major problem when using this excellent mount and I am quite happy not to obtain a replacement gps module. iOptron Minitower Pro - posted in Astronomy Software & Computers: Well,I have tried using 2 different astronomy packages to run my iOptron Minitower pro mount and neither has worked. The iOptron software appears to only set the date from the gps module once. Happily, even though the gps is still ‘OK’, it will not then try to reset the date incorrectly until the start of the next observing session. C6 SCT on iOptron Mini Tower Pro for Grab n Go - posted in Cats & Casses: For some time Ive been wanting a good 'grab and go' setup as my observing time is very limited, and resent heath issues prevent me from lugging around anything very heavy. So I let the gps set the correct location but the wrong date and then simply reset the date within the iOpton menus. However, I would not, and have not done so for the simple reason that the gps system also provides the exact location of the mount which is most important when taking it to different locations around the country. In web discussions some have suggested unconnecting the gps module from the main electronics board. One has to contact them directly to ship one outside the USA. On the iOptron website there are details as to obtaining from their ‘shop’ a replacement gps module at a reduced price of $50 (from $99). This was thus the obvious cause of the problem. My first outing with the mount since the beginning of April 2019 was on May 10 th 2019. It is one of the very first imported into the UK and I reviewed it for the Astronomy Now magazine. In tests on the 13 th May 2019, I found that, once the GPS system has said ‘OK, the date was set to rather than. It is easy to align and has excellent ‘goto’ and tracking abilities. However, I was aware that on April 6 th 2019 the 10-bit week counter in GPS systems would ‘rollover’ and reset to zero giving GPS systems not allowing for this problem a false date. When I asked to ‘goto’ the Sun it was low in the west and when I asked to ‘goto’ the Moon it had not risen! Initially I found and tracked the Sun as usual but then when the GPS said ‘OK’ thing went haywire. My targets were, first the Sun in white light and H-alpha and then the Moon, both high in the sky. It is easy to align and has excellent ‘goto’ and tracking abilities. My iOptron MiniTower (as described in detail the iOptron article in the digest) is my ‘Get-up and Go’ mount for taking to star parties or when I go on astronomy field trips with my smaller telescopes.
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