GENERAL FEEDBACK Last updated: 30 June 2004

Subject:	re: Intermittant problems with GoTo
Sent:	Thursday, June 24, 2004 20:59:31
From:	Richard Seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
Other places to seek LXD encoder wheels are the Yahoo groups:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LXD55telescopes/

and

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roboscope

good luck
--dick

Subject:	solar filters
Sent:	Tuesday, June 22, 2004 14:40:55
From:	organgrinder (sal.p@blueyonder.co.uk)
HI there, I was wondering if you could advise me on what type of solar
filter I would be best to use, I have the Meade LXD55 SCT 8" (beautiful
telescope) and I have just received my 7 eye pieces from meades 30th
anniversary, I have also just purchased a broadband nebula filter p/n
908 B but would like to add to my accessories.

Thank you for and advice.

Yours faithfully
                  S.Pugliese

Subject:	Intermittant problems with GoTo
Sent:	Tuesday, June 22, 2004 13:37:54
From:	Howard Zelizer (hzelizer@yahoo.com)
Recently my LXD55 mount began to act strangely, it would, on occasion,
decide that Arcturus, although plainly near zenith, was actually at the
center of the earth and attempt to goto there, very distressing. I
couldn't bear the thought of shipping the scope across the country and
waiting for weeks so I took matters into my own hands and, most surely,
voided the remainder of my warranty.

I took the RA motor assembly apart and here's what I found:

It appears that there is no strain relief for the dec and hand
controller RJ-45 jacks and the mounting points for the board into which
they are soldered are the two screw anchors and the power switch. This
arrangement may be suitable for a telephone that only gets plugged and
unplugged once or twice, not so good for cables that get plugged and
unplugged all the time, especially if one of the cables has a relatively
large and heavy ferrite spike suppressor attached near the plug and gets
tugged on a regular basis

Unfortunately, the power switch wasn't seated all the way into the board
before being soldered, so, when the mounting screws are tightened, the
board is stressed, and after a while, through plugging and unplugging
the cables, the solder joints where the jack pins are soldered to the
board develop ring cracks, causing intermittent contact.

It doesn't help that the jack pins weren't cleaned before wave soldering
(they were pretty heavily oxidized, probably from improper storage
before assembly). Chinese craftsmanship at its best.

The good news is the problem was resolved by re-soldering the
connectors; the bad news is that in the process of troubleshooting I
slightly bent the dec encoder wheel (damn!).

You wouldn't know where I could get my hands on one of those bad boys,
would you? I tried Meade twice, got one surly tech and one who was
simply unhelpful, neither offered me the opportunity to purchase the
part (the whole dec motor ass'y, if I understand correctly).

I would also note that another possible reason for erratic goto
operation (within a given observing session and after several successful
goto operations) would be the opti-interrupter assemblies. These
assemblies are a combination of an LED and a photo-transistor. In my
experience, the photo-transistor has an unfortunate tendency to become
intermittently noisy, which will result in either no encoder pulses
being generated or spurious pulses being generated.

Regards,
Howard Zelizer

Subject:	My LXD AR5 Mount Stiffness
Sent:	Sunday, June 20, 2004 10:00:46
From:	ZygmoDean@aol.com (ZygmoDean@aol.com)
I recently replied to a complaint you had received about how poor
someone's AR was working, and enclosed a picture of the moon from my
first attempt at photography through a telescope (an AR5), which you
posted on your site.

I have checked through your site, and the links to others, and have not
seen a satisfactory answer for my question.  So I am asking you. :)

My AR5 works fine, but I am uncomfortable with the stiffness of the
mount.  The only other telescopes (real ones, I mean!) that I have
experience with, are an old Edmund 4 1\4 reflector, and a Celestron 8. 
Both, when the axis are unlocked, are completely free spinning...could
actually be sent spinning in complete circles if one chose to do so. 
However, the AR5 is so stiff, that it is hard to find a good balance. 
With the axis unlocked, I can remove a fairly heavy eyepiece, and the
tube does not move.

If this is not normal for an LXD mount, it would seem to me that this is
placing a strain on the motors.

I am perfectly willing to have the mount Hyper-tuned, if this will make
a substantial difference in the freeness of the mount.  However, since
that is the only complaint I have with it, I would hate to waste my
money on the tuning, and see no difference after the work.

Would you please give me your thoughts on this?  Thank you.  Dean.

Subject:	LXD General Feedback
Sent:	Friday, May 28, 2004 03:34:20
From:	Dieter.Wolf@DNSint.com (Dieter.Wolf@DNSint.com)
one comment / question I discovered with the GEM (compared to the ETX
mount):

The movement of the LXD55 with the GEM - of course - differs from that
of the ETX with fork mount. While the ETX always goes 'straight ahead'
to an object you selected with the AutoStar, the GEM has to find its way
taking into concern the tripod legs, etc. So it moves one axis then the
other, sometimes both, sometimes shortly stopping to 'think' about which
way to go...

But WHY - e.g. - having centered M81 and then set for GOTO M82 (which
you already see at the edge of a wideangle ocular) will it go towards
the OPPOSITE direction, then stop and return to slew to - correctly -
M82??? Looks like its going back to take up speed or go to a defined
start position?

Any comments?
Thanks Mike and have a nice day...
Dieter (Munich, Germany)

Subject:	LXD75 Upgrade Request Letter-Writing Campaign
Sent:	Thursday, May 27, 2004 05:12:37
From:	Macaulay, James
I suggested on the LXD55 Portal board that LXD55 owners all write to
Meade, requesting to be allowed to upgrade their mounts to LXD75's,
without having to purchase OTA's. Considering the problems we've had
with the 55's, we feel this would be a good customer relations thing to
do. Meade has already said "no", but one of their reps suggested sending
a letter. So we figure a lot of letters would be a good idea.

Would you be willing to put an announcement on your site, suggesting
that all LXD55 owners do the same? Couldn't hurt; could help a lot! Only
costs 37 cents each.

Here's the address (no email) to save you looking it up: 

 Meade Instruments Corporation
 6001 Oak Canyon
 Irvine, CA 92618
 
Thanks! 
 Jim Macaulay

And along a similar line of thought:

Subject:	LXD75 mount sans scope a possible option?
Sent:	Friday, May 28, 2004 17:53:05
From:	Douglas G.Canard (dcanard@cswnet.com)
Just saw that thing about a newer version of the LXD series being in the
works.

If enough of us requested that Meade include an option of purchasing the
LXD75 mount at a somewhat lower price without an OTA attached, would
they take heed?

I was told by my dealer when I requested he order my AR-5 almost a year
ago that I had to buy the whole package. I now have four scopes  instead
of the previous three because of that policy -- all of which ride quite
nicely on my LXD55 mount. My cup runneth over.

Five scopes is going to get kind of redundant and unnecessary for my
needs.

I just want the mount. If they do this, I will buy it. Otherwise, I
won't bother, and will stick with my old 55.

Who else is with me on this one? 

The customer ___ 

A} has the money
B} may be only interested in the mount
C] knows of certain competitors who sell verified,
well-reviewed-by-the-pros, high-quality mounts minus the OTA at somewhat
higher prices
D} is always right, even when being a persnickety, fickle, pain in the
tookus sometimes
E} all of the above 

And:

The only thing I can figure is they prefer only their scopes on their
mounts? I just recently discovered that my replacement AR-5 refractor
also has defects in the coatings, but not as bad as the first one. It
looks like an imprint of a thumb -- possibly happening during the
assembly process -- that might of eaten into the coatings on the edge of
the lens. I can see a dark smudge on the edge of a defocused image of a
bright object. When I look at the reflection of a light bulb in the
lens, I can see where the reflection goes from a greenish color to white
where the "smudginess" exists. I never touched that lens, cleaned it, or
even dared breath on it after what happened to my first refractor. No
one else has been near it either. I'm guessing "finger acids" slowly ate
the coating?

I'm not interested in the cheapest 6-inch Schmidt-Newtonian because of
the large central obstruction, nor the next-cheapest AR-5 because I
already have one with a recently-discovered, somewhat-defective lens. It
really would be nice to be able to purchase the mount separately. But if
they insist on selling the whole package; I guess I can rig up an "AR-5
squared" binoscope with my two refractors if it comes down to that. Or I
may splurge for a somewhat more expensive yet definitely higher-quality
GOTO mount made by another company--I'm sure the competition wouldn't
mind. Or maybe neither, and get one of those little Personal Solar
Telescopes from Coronado for 500 bucks. Have you heard anything good or
bad about those scopes?

Subject:	LXD 75
Sent:	Wednesday, May 26, 2004 17:23:12
From:	BullFox (bullfox@comcast.net)
The main difference seems to be that it is white and it has ball
bearings, and it is white. Did I mention that it is white?

And:

I am sure there must be.  From the add it appears that the shape is a
little different.  My little point was that Meade wants to differentiate
from the LXD 55.  I wonder if they might be a little embarresed by all
the negative commments.

Subject:	LXD75, or LXD55? Which Scope, which Eyepieces?
Sent:	Wednesday, May 26, 2004 05:19:09
From:	Niall Saunders (niall@njs101.com)
To: 	  d_wallace@ecrm.com
I just read your comments on the intention to add a larger aperture OTA
to your collection, and your intention to consider the new LXD75 8" SCT
from Meade. I have slowly (thanks to the constant stream of information
here on Mike's site) upgraded from my ETX-105, through an ETX-125, and
on (now) to an 8" SCT LX90 . My neighbour has the same OTA on the LXD55
mount.

As far as I can see, the new LXD75 mount will have some advantages over
the LXD55, but the LXD55 is a good enough system (bearing in mind that
the optics, the 'crucial' part of the equation, are identical anyway)
that you might want to seriously consider looking at getting your hands
on a 'cheaper' LXD55, once the market becomes saturated with these. But,
if an all-new 'shiny' LXD75 is already on your shopping list, go for it.

The only other comment I might make is that, having already been used to
the ETX-90, you may feel more 'comfortable' with the LX90. I certainly
prefer the 'predictability' of the way that the OTA moves as the LX90
mount slews around the sky. I have also never yet found a need to use
the LX90 in 'Polar' mount (and, indeed, only ever used my ETX-105 in
that mode, and never really saw any particular advantage, considering
that, to date, I have never taken astro-photographs with exposures
longer than 16s). The LX90 really is an ETX mount 'on steroids' - the
whole way it has been put together is just 'better' than the ETX. I
certainly have no regrets - but I have not yet sold my old ETX-105!!

As far as eyepieces are concerned, I spent five hours observing last
night - using 2" optics for the very first time. I only have two 2"
eyepieces, a 40mm Erfle and a 26mm Reverse Kellner. I purchased a Meade
90-degree mirror diagonal, and machined up a 2" adaptor to fit the rear
viewport on the SCT (2" o.d. thread, 24TPI, thread depth 0.5" - when the
HELL is America going to 'get with the program' and switch to Metric
measurements??!!). I also made up an adaptor to fit the front thread of
my Olympus 3040Z digital camera, and another adaptor to couple that tube
to the front ring of the Antares 40mm eyepiece. (The 26mm ep only
arrived yesterday, and - naturally - has a different eyecup mounting
ring diameter, so back to the lathe for another swarf-making session
!!).

The end result was VERY impressive - a huge 'WOW' factor.

Mike has already published a large 'mosaic' of the Moon that I took
using the Olympus 3040 mounted afocally on a 20mm ep, hanging off the
back of my ETX-105. The Olympus camera benefits from a very 'fast' lens
(f/1.8 at best), but achieves this thanks to a much wider objective.
This does not sit 'comfortably' with any of the lenses in the 1.25"
format - simply because the Olympus objective is wider than all of them
(including the Meade 40mm SP, and even a 15mm WA). However, it is a
really nice match to the 2" eyepieces. And the photographs that I have
asked Mike to post here on the LXD55 site will hopefully show just that.

For my ETX-105, I am keeping a 15mm SP and the original 26mm SP
eyepiece, and will be selling everything else (full, boxed, Meade kit).
All I will be adding to those two lenses will be a 2x 'shorty' Barlow
that I acquired with the LX90. For the LX90 I will be using the original
26mm, along with the 15mm from the ETX-105 kit. I have the 40mm Erfle
for wide-field (deep-sky) work - as well as for Lunar work - it is great
to have the whole Moon filling the AFOV of this eyepiece, and to have
little or no vignetting when capturing the images on the Olympus. I have
not yet used the 26mm in anger, but found a suitable lens from an old
'Wide Angle & Zoom' adapter kit that someone gave me for the Olympus. It
was never much use for its original purposes, but the lenses are
achromatically corrected, and edge blackened. So, a couple of hours on
the lathe will see an adapter ring made to carry this 1.5"
double-concave lens inside the 48mm barrel of the 2" eyepieces - and,
hey presto, a 'free' Barlow to experiment with. (It is just so annoying
that, again thanks to America's continuing unhealthy relationship with
the Imperial Measurement system, that I will also have to machine up a
completely new mounting barrel for the Antares eyepiece, to give it a
'standard' 48mm 0.75TP internal thread - as opposed to the 1 7/8" 44TPI
thread that it seems to have).

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Niall

Thanks for the comments, Niall.  The LX90 was my other choice as an
upgrade. But I was concerned about the weight -- I have virtually no
view of the sky from my home and must pack the scope in the car and
drive 3 miles (about 5 km) to a local playground.  With my ETX-90
set-up, this is a grab-and-go operation: I can be observing about 20
minutes after the notion occurs to me.  With the larger scope and its
consequently heavier mount I'm worried that getting the scope out will
look like hard labor and I won't use it much.

If I can believe the preliminary literature, the LXD75 mount's heaviest
component weighs 25 lbs (masses about 11.5 kg).  If I remember right,
the LX90's heaviest piece is about 30 lbs (13.5 kg).  I'm getting on in
years and was never in good physical shape; I worry about hoisting 30+
lbs of expensive machinery to about eye-level and trying to lock it onto
a mount.  The LXD75 upgrades the LXD55 mount with periodic error
correction, which is what attracted me to this choice -- up to now, you
had to have an LX200 to get PEC.

Astrophotography is what attracted me to the hobby, and I'm fascinated
with double stars but I've not had much success taking pictures of
doubles (or planets, for that matter) with the ETX-90 optical tube and
my home-built mount. (Though the mount alone makes a very nice tracking
platform for the camera; I've had pretty good success with wide-field
photography in the ten second to thirty minute range, as you might have
noticed from my occasional submissions to Mike's ETX-90 guest
astrophotography site.)  I run the telescope in polar mode normally. 
Which means I'd need to have a wedge with the LX90.  (The GEM mount, for
all that it does weirdness near zenith, at least eliminates that
requirement.)  And I worry that the LX90's fork doesn't provide
sufficient back clearance at high pointing angles for a camera at prime
focus -- the standard ETX-90 fork certainly doesn't which is why I went
with a custom-built mount.

My astrophotography camera is a Canon Digital Rebel (300D), a 6 MP DSLR.
 This replaces the Rebel G film body I started out with.  Neither camera
has mirror lock-up capability, which makes intermediate-time exposures
(1/125 to 1 second) a problem due to the induced vibrations.  I've got
both the #62 T adapter and the eyepiece projection "variable camera
adapter" and have used both but with limited success so far.  I also
have the Meade LPI, but have not yet mastered its use sufficiently.  If
you want the long, continuing story, I have a running log at
http://wa1gsf.home.comcast.net/astronony_blog.html (my site was
mentioned in the latest issue of Sky and Telescope, I discovered to my
surprise last night).

Subject:	pier for 10" LXD55?
Sent:	Monday, May 24, 2004 17:05:29
From:	alfiesty@rockymountains.net
I have moved to Colorado since you rebuilt the mount for my 10" LXD55. I
would like to mount my telescope on a permanently on a pier but Meade
does not sell one. Do you know of a source for piers suitable for this
scope? Is this something you might do a special product for?

James M Hodgers
Buena Vista, CO

And:

you

Subject:	Eyepieces advice - LXD?5-SC8
Sent:	Tuesday, May 25, 2004 07:28:26
From:	Dave Wallace (d_wallace@ecrm.com)
Now that Meade's announced a mount that looks to be both portable enough
for my back and sufficiently precise for my camera, I'm contemplating
upgrading to the LXD75-SC8.  I currently have an ETX90 OTA on a
home-built, Autostar-controlled mount, so I've had experience with the
"charm" of the Autostar.  And I've had time to accumulate a small
collection of eyepieces, plus a 2X Barlow.  The eyepieces I have are the
Meade 4000-series 40, 26 and 15 mm focal lengths.

Since you own the SC-8, I thought I'd impose upon you for the benefit of
your expertise and experience.

My question has to do with purchasing additional eyepieces to retain
wide FOV and to achieve higher magnification now that I'm upgrading to a
scope with both a longer focal length and a higher maximum theoretical
magnification. I can do (and have done) the math to calculate
magnification and FOV, but I've not had that much observational
experience except for my ETX90.  On the SC-8, would I be better off with
the 56 mm eyepiece or a focal reducer and my 40?  (Can you even use the
Meade f/6.3 focal reducer with an eyepiece or is it strictly for
cameras?)  Is it better to use the 15 mm eyepiece and the Barlow or go
for a 7.5 mm eyepiece (I wear glasses, so eye relief is an issue)?

Subject:	LXD75 & Autostar 497
Sent:	Monday, May 24, 2004 02:24:01
From:	Niall Saunders (niall@njs101.com)
Just read Dick's comment (on the ETX Autostar feedback page) on the
'vapourware' that is the new LXD75.  I had also been wondering how the
'hinted at' 3-star alignment might be implemented, but was even more
curious when I came across several sites that suggested the new LXD75
mount would have a PEC function.

If this is going to be the case, then presumably the PEC code, and
results, are going to have to reside in the Autostar - unless Meade have
significantly increased the processing and data storage capabilities of
the axis drive electronics for the LXD75.

I am still basically convinced that the LXD75 is just a 'new release' of
the 55 mount, with a few extra buzzers and bells thrown in for good
measure. All the photographs (that I have been able to hunt down) show
an all-new mount, with 'white' castings everywhere - with the exception
of the motor drive assemblies - which are still in black. Would it be
fair to assume that the MDA's are just the same as are used on the LXD55
- and that the primary difference is simply the diameter of the driven
worm gear? The pre-release blurb suggests that the drive mechanism has
had the backlash 'virtually eliminated'. Does this mean that the driven
gear is now a 'split gear', spring-loaded to ensure a permanent tight
mesh with the driving worm? Or is it just like the LX90, where the
original design concept (as is even used in the ETX family) seems merely
to have been better built?

Certainly the LXD75 tripod seems far better than the original LXD55 -
using the design of the LX90 tripod as a starting point. At last the leg
adjustment knobs have been 'turned inwards' - a simple design change
that ought to have been implemented twenty years ago!!

My personal feelings - unless there really HAS been a major change in
the drive mechanics (which I currently doubt), and unless there IS a PEC
function in the new software, and unless there IS going to be a new
3-star method of alignment (and assuming that major software
enhancements will be hobbled, such that they are ONLY available when
'talking to' an LXD75 mount), then existing LXD55 owners (or others)
should not feel too concerned that their equipment is 'old hat'.

As an LX90 owner, and LXD55 user (both 8" SCT) all I would be looking
for is to see what enhancements might come of the current 3.1e AutoStar
software. It is good, but not perfect - and could do with some
improvement (as usual Meade should be 'starting' with the incorporation
of the many suggestions regularly posted here - not least Dick's
'patches'). Only then should they be thinking about PEC functionality,
or 3-star alignments.

We shall wait and see!

Cheers,
Niall

And:

From:	Richard Seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
Some of the LXD55 crowd think that the 3-star is actually used to
avoid the necessity of the "LXD55 Align" operation which is 
currently part of the Autostar's setup for that model.
Or at least it involves having two of the stars on opposite sides
of the "meridian flip" a GEM mount requires.

I don't know if they received that information from Meade, or what.
Therefore i'm reserving all guesses on 3-star until it arrives.  
Such an alignment would be directly applicable to the LXD55.

You might say that's true of any GEM... "just a 'new release'"

Your note did make me realize that the normal LXD55 motor units
-could- serve, since the PEC index sensor (if there is one)
could be mounted in the GEM itself, since it wants to be coupled
to the worm itself.  But you'd still need a way of communicating
the index pulse back to the Autostar.

I'm always curious... what "bugs" do you find in the current (31Ee)
firmware?  Aside from the too-long-home-in (as described by the
"3.0 Dance" article on Mike's Site), is anything else actually broken?

have fun
--dick

Subject:	polar alignment
Sent:	Thursday, May 20, 2004 05:52:34
From:	Jorda126@aol.com
do you have any pamphlets or fliers on polar alignment procedures for
the lxd55 schmidt newtonian from meade?

john j.

Subject:	re:  Laptop to Autostar
Sent:	Monday, May 17, 2004 08:38:24
From:	Richard Seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
To: 	  dbruns@jps.net
Congratulations on finally getting it going!

One item:  you wrote:
>reseymour@wolfenet.com had some very good tips on testing communications
>to an autostar.  He was using win95 and some things don't apply to me
>like Hyperterminal.

All of the Hyperterminal stuff is still directly applicable to WinXp.  
You should find Hypterminal under Programs > Accessories > Communications.
(or you can add it by using the Add Programs / Add Windows Component
under Control Panel.  Choose the Communications group)

Hypterminal is still included with a Windows XP (Pro and Home)
distribution.

good luck
--dick

Subject:	question about LXD55 
Sent:	Monday, May 17, 2004 16:18:52
From:	Javier Villarreal Nuez (JVILLARREALP@gruma.com)
I have a little question for you. Have you ever had random Slew problems
with your LXD55 SC8?. I have them very often and i've read many
different thoughts of what the problem might be. Some say it is when the
power goes low (using batteries for example), other guy says he called
Meade and they told him it was a short in the cable and that they sent
him another one. What do you think?

The only way i can get around this problem is to align (very very
carefully, like 4 times) and never grab the autostar again, that is, i
attach it to one tripod leg using Velcro and leave it there, if i grab
it, it is very very likely to make random slews and ruin the aligment.

Thank you very much in advance for any ideas,
 Have a great day 
 Javier Villarreal.

And:

Thank you, i just sent my telescope to where i bought it, they are going
to check it for me.

Subject:	stolen from LXD55telescopes yahoo group:
Sent:	Saturday, May 15, 2004 18:46:57
From:	Richard Seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LXD55telescopes/message/29622

From:  "astronomics1"
Date:  Sat May 15, 2004  1:02 pm
Subject:  New LXD 75 Just Announced. Long with prices and model
sizes.

Just in, Meade has announced a new line of telescopes. We are
not
sure at this time if it is replacing the LXD 55, but from the looks
of it, I would say it was a distinct possibility.

Some of the new options for this series include.
New heavy duty tubular steel tripod legs.
New High Precision worm gears.
New High Precision pointing.
Periodic Error Correction.
And the Autostar Suite LPI with the computerized models is
standard
equipment.

No idea on delivery times, but I would expect in the next few
months. Pricing and models are listed below:

Newtonian
#MN6EC 6" $469 S&H $75 Non Goto
Schmidt  Newtonian
#MSN6EC 6" $639 S&H $75 Non Goto
#MSN6ECU 6" $639 S&H $85 UHTC $75 Non Goto
#MSN6AT 6" $799 S&H $75 Goto UHTC $85
#MSN8EC 8" $799 S&H $85 Non Goto UHTC $125
#MSN8AT 8" $949 S&H $85 GOTO UHTC $125
#MSN10AT 10" $1099 S&H $95 GOTO UHTC $150

Schmidt Cassegrain
#MSC8AT 8" $1299 S&H $85 GOTO UHTC $175

Achromatic Refractor
#MAR5EC 5" $679 S&H $85 Non Goto
#MAR5AT 5" $799 S&H $85 GOTO
#MAR6AT 6" $999 S&H $95 GOTO

We will have more information when it comes available on our website
in the next few days.

Clear Skies,
Mike/astronomics

http://www.astronomics.com

Subject:	Laptop to Autostar
Sent:	Wednesday, May 5, 2004 14:05:13
From:	David Bruns (dbruns@jps.net)
I have a laptop running Windows XP.  It has no serial com ports.  I
ordered the meade usb converter cable and am using 505 cable set.  I
cannot get the laptop to talk to the autostar.  On my desktop computer
with com ports I have no trouble operating the scope.  Lxd55 mount, by
the way.  In systems it shows that usb cable is working.

reseymour@wolfenet.com had some very good tips on testing communications
to an autostar.  He was using win95 and some things don't apply to me
like Hyperterminal.  Anyway Meade was useless, they only have one
computer guy (chris) and he wont return calls or stay until 6pm.  To top
it off the mount self destructed and is on its way to meade for a list
of warranty repairs.  My scope dealer had recommended celestron because
the electronics were more friendly.  I wish I had listened.  No, I
wanted the white tube. Unitron dreams.  Any insight to the usb adapter
problem?

Thanks for listening and for your website.....David Bruns

And:

Thanks for getting back to me.  It turns out that the usb cable from
meade was bad.  I found this out when i attempted to connect my new
EXT125.  The cable I purchased is made by belkin #F5U109.  It is a nice
adapter because it has lights that show link,tx and rx.  Well, while
attempting to import some comet info I inadvertantly shut power of to
the scope and now my autostar controller wakes up with a blank face or
some odd gibberish type characters.  Do you have a clue as to what
happened?  Anyway there is no scope control from either the handbox or
computer.  Any thoughts would be appreciated.......David   ETX125 & AR6

And:

Thanks for getting back with me so quickly.  I'm not sure how to talk to
the autostar as it is acting like it is in a coma.  When I turn it on
there is no beep and the screen goes dark almost instantly.  Sometimes
it will show a few lit "blocks" with no lettering.  Sometimes it will
show a few wierd symbols.  Never is it repeatable.  Is there a
combiniation of buttons to hold down during "boot up" on the
autostar?......David

And:

I am so sorry for being a pain in the rear but I need help!  This
morning I went out and purchased another 497 controller.  I had my scope
back.  It was version 26ec.  So foolishly I opened up Autostar Suite and
went to upgrade handbox.  The second I pushed that button the controller
said "downloading do not turn off"  Its been sitting like that for an
hour now.  None of the buttons are responsive.  Meanwhile the software
said "data sent successfully"  I dont dare turn it off, thats how I got
here in the first place.  Any thoughts?........David

And:

I have downloaded the ACU file but cant open it as it appears to be a
dos file and I am running xp.  I've opened the command prompt but it
does'nt recgonize the application.....David

And:

Will do, I remember having this problem with the autostar suite upgrade
Thanks.  david

Got ACU up and running.  Got Autostar to "flash load ready", press
upgrade now and there is a small tx-rx flash on my usb to serial, then a
box opens sent successfull.  however in the bottom left it say
"initializing handbox...please wait.  When I close out the sent
successfull box it clears out the "initilizing handbox" and goes to
"complete".  However the handbox still says ready.  Also the handbox
bootup I was looking for is holding The enter and scroll down key at the
same time while powering up.  Any way ACU detects the presence of the
31ee software on my local drive.  I push the button and I get what I
said in the opening of this.  Anyway to get around flash load ready? Now
I have 2 unresponsive hand boxes.  I've been through all of your online
Q and A (which is very thorough I might add)  and just cant seem to put
the pieces together.  Again any thoughts?...David

And:

I've done that. The screen on the autostar still says flash load ready. 
how do I clear that out?  Powered down and up the screen Is blank-no
beep.

And an update:

To end the story, I've got everything up and running.  Turned out to be
the "new" USB to serial cable.  It would control the scope from the
laptop and "connect and receive" very well.  Repeatable.  But it would
give the "Data successfully transfered" after about 5 seconds. But when
you go to close ACU it said handbox not updated or something like that. 
Well I moved operations over to my desktop, loaded all meade software,
etc., hooked up to the serial port on desktop without the usb-9 pin to
9pin.  Data flowed!  I'm looking forward to first light tonight as long
as sacramento weather holds up. Thanks for the hand-holding and being
there as a lifeline and thought provoker.  Meade should have you on the
payroll.

As a slight repayment of knowledge I talked with someone who had spent
some time with Russell (forgot the last name) a VP at meade who
acknowledged the fact a new form of the lxd55 was "in the works" and
that they were looking at making the mount more robust based on the
warranty claims.  I don't want to be quoted on this as I gleaned it thru
casual conversation.  I get the impression that this is at least several
months or more before pre release.  Thanks again for being co-pilot on
this winding road..............sincerely,  David

Subject:	Macs and the LXD55 (no hurry)
Sent:	Sunday, May 2, 2004 18:05:50
From:	Scott Tyack (scott.tyack@csiro.au)
Great sites, I'm trying to read everything!

I'm looking at buying an LXD55 8" SN to do some photography and general
viewing. My problem is that I am MacHead and my laptop is a Powerbook.

How do you go with using a Mac and your Meade scopes?

Are there any sections on the sites/web that deal with Mac image capture
and scope control?

I have seen VirtualPC suggested in places. When I look at the clock on
VirtualPC it is running much slower than real time which I am assuming
will interfere with any tracking adjustments by PC software?

If I ever get myself setup with a scope and my Mac I will be sure to
document everything to help other Mac users!

Thanks for your time,

Scott.
Geelong, Australia.

Subject:	LXD55 autostar
Sent:	Sunday, May 2, 2004 16:07:40
From:	"efraim granda" (egrand@access-4-free.com)
I got my LXD55, CN,Autostar, with no software,

everything working perfecf, exsept I coldnot astablish conection to
Autostar suite by Meade, is this beceuse I dont heve thet kit with thet
software and cable sold sepertly by Meade?

Thenk Efi

Subject:	mount
Sent:	Friday, April 30, 2004 21:28:14
From:	"J Smar" (jesmar@netnitco.net)
Newcomers should be aware that the closer you are to the "polar home"
position, the less you will actually see movement in R.A. - this should
not be confused with a slipping gear in the drive portion of the mount.
It may sound silly, but I have seen someone claim a slipping gear when
they were spiral searching close to Polaris. This was cleared up when I
took off the access covers to show him and explained the way an
equatorial mount works in relation to the pole.

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