Meade ETX-90PE Advanced Autostar Operation, Adding Observing Sites, To Edit a Site

Note: You may also add a custom site to the list by choosing “Site: Select” and pressing Enter. Scroll down the list until “Custom” displays. Then add the name of your site and press ENTER. Enter the latitude of the site and press ENTER. Enter the longitude of the site. Press ENTER and you have created a custom site entry which you may select at any time from the “Site: Select” list.

Time Zone	Shift
Atlantic	-4 Hours
Eastern	-5	Hours
Central	-6	Hours
Mountain	-7	Hours
Pacific	-8 Hours
Alaska	-9 Hours
Hawaii	-10	Hours

Table 1: Time Zone Shift. Calculations are for standard time.

ADVANCED AUTOSTAR OPERATION

Before trying out the examples in this section, familiarize yourself with the basic operations of AutoStar described earlier in this manual. The following examples assume that you have a basic knowledge of AutoStar and understand how to scroll to a desired menu or menu option and how to enter numbers and text. It also assumes that you have initialized AutoStar and have placed the telescope in the "Home" position (when appropriate).

Adding Observing Sites

If you plan to observe using AutoStar at different geographic locations, you can store up to six observation sites in AutoStar's memory to help simplify your telescope setup. Perform these procedures using the Site options (Add, Select, Delete, Edit) of the Setup menu.

To Add a Site to the user-defined site list:

In this example, you will choose a city and add it to the database list. You will then select the site to enable it.

1.Navigate to the "Setup: Site" menu. Press ENTER,

2.Scroll through the options until "Site: Add" displays. Press ENTER.

3.You are given a choice to enter a zip code (press “1”) or select a city from the list (press “2”). If you choose “Zip,” enter the digits of your zip code and press ENTER.

4.If you choose “City,” scroll through the list of countries/states. Press ENTER when the country/state you wish to add displays.

5.Scroll through the list of cities. Press ENTER when the city you wish to select displays. The sites you choose will appear at the top of the Select list (all other available sites will be listed after the sites you have chosen).

6.To choose a site, navigate to "Site: Select." Press ENTER. Scroll through the list of sites. Both Zip Codes and Cities are displayed. When the desired zip code or site displays, press ENTER.

To Edit a Site:

In this procedure, you will enter a location that is not available in the AutoStar database by editing data of a nearby site. You will edit the location's name, latitude, longitude and the time zone shift. You will then select the site to enable it.

You will need to know the latitude and longitude of your location to perform this procedure. This information is available on most maps.

1.Using the Add option, choose a site on the list that is closest to your observing site and press ENTER so that the site is added to your observing sites list. Choosing a site already on the list (as opposed to using the "Custom" feature) makes it easier to edit, as the "Time Zone" value may not need to be changed.

2.Scroll to "Site: Edit" and press ENTER. "Edit: Name" displays. Press ENTER.

3.The name of the site you have just entered to your list displays; if it does not, scroll to the site.

4.Using the Arrow keys, change the name of the site so that it now reads the name of your observing location. Press ENTER. "Edit: Name" displays again.

5.Press the Scroll Down key and "Edit: Latitude" displays. Press ENTER.

6.Using the Number Keys, enter the latitude of your observing site and then press ENTER. "Edit: Latitude" displays again.

7.Press the Scroll Down key and "Edit: Longitude" displays. Press ENTER.

8.Using the Number Keys, enter the longitude of your observing site and then press ENTER. "Edit: Longitude" displays again.

9.Press the Scroll Down key and "Edit: Time Zone" displays. Press ENTER. (If the site you chose from the list in step 1 has the same Time Zone as the site you are editing, just press ENTER again to go on to the next step.) "Time Zone" refers to the Greenwich Time Zone shift. Users West of Greenwich, use "-" hours (one hour per time zone) and users East of Greenwich use "+" hours. For the United States, look up the shift in Table 1, at the left.

10.After entering the shift, press ENTER. "Edit Time Zone" displays.

11.Press MODE. "Site: Edit" displays.

12.Using the Arrow keys, scroll to "Site: Select." The site you have just edited displays. Press ENTER to select the site or press MODE to exit.

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