displayed on the first line of the LCD screen. The lower left of the screen indicates the current constellation the telescope is pointing to. The lower right numbers are the current azimuth (“AZ”) and altitude (“ALT”) coordinates of the telescope; this information is generally not useful.
The Realignment Function
This function is useful for obtaining a new alignment fix during an observing session to correct for small pointing errors. Use this function only when pointing accuracy for a certain area of the sky appears to be poor compared to other areas of the sky. This is evident when objects in one area of the sky consistent- ly fall at the edge or just outside the field of view (of the 25mm eyepiece) when the numbers on the LCD screen read 0.0 0.0. This can happen if the alignment stars initially chosen during setup are somewhat close to each other (less than 60˚ apart) or if the area of sky being viewed is a considerable distance away from the alignment stars chosen.
To improve pointing accuracy in a specific area of the sky, select an object in the controller’s database from that region, and use the guide arrows to find the object. Precisely center the object in the eyepiece (preferably a high-powered one). Now, press the FCN button, and the R.A. and Dec. coordinates of the centered object will be displayed. Then, press the Enter button. The LCD screen will now display “ALIGN OBJECT 3” on the first line, and will be flashing the object currently cen- tered in the telescope on the second line. Pressing Enter again then realigns the IntelliScope system to the object centered in the telescope. The LCD screen will display a new “warp factor” associated with the new alignment. If this number is greater than ±0.5, you may want to consider resetting the controller to perform another two-star alignment. Turn the controller off, then on again (with the Power button), to do this.
If, instead of pressing Enter a second time after pressing the FCN button, you press one of the arrow buttons, the list of initial setup alignment stars will be displayed. If you wish, you can select one of these alignment stars to realign on. Do this by scrolling to the desired alignment star using the arrow but- tons, center the star in the telescope, and press Enter.
In general, it will not be necessary to use the realignment func- tion, but it is a handy feature to have at your disposal. Also, be aware that while pointing accuracy will increase in the area of sky around the object realigned on, it may decrease in other areas of the sky.
K. The “Hidden” Functions
All of the active functions of the IntelliScope Computerized Object Locator have been outlined. There are, however, some additional “hidden” functions that may be of some use to you. To access the hidden functions, press the Enter button while pressing the Power button to turn the controller on. The LCD will display its introduction screen (with software version num- ber) and then show the words “ALT AZM TEST.” This is the first hidden function. Scroll to the other hidden functions by using the arrow buttons. The other hidden functions are “ENCODER TEST,” “DOWNLOAD,” “CHECKSUM,” “RE-WRITE,” and “CLOCK.” When the hidden function you wish to use is dis- played, press Enter to select it. To exit the currently chosen
hidden function, press any button except for the Enter or arrow buttons. To completely exit the hidden functions section of the controller, you will need to hold the Power button down until the controller turns off.
The rest of this section gives the details and purpose of each hidden function.
Altitude and Azimuth Test
The altitude and azimuth test (“ALT AZM TEST”) is a diagnos- tic test that gives relative altitude and azimuth positions for the telescope. This test will allow you to easily see if the encoders are “talking” to the controller, and if the encoders are accurate- ly monitoring the telescope’s motions. To effectively use this test, make sure the telescope optical tube is in the horizontal position when pressing the Enter and Power buttons to access the hidden functions.
Once “ALT AZM TEST” is chosen from the hidden function options, the LCD screen will display the telescope’s current relative altitude and azimuth position (in degrees); the relative altitude is in the upper right, while the relative azimuth is in the lower right. To begin with, both of these numbers will be +000.0. The first two sets of numbers on the upper and lower lines of the LCD screen are meaningless for the purposes of this test.
If you move the telescope counterclockwise in azimuth, the number in the lower right should increase, while if you move clockwise in azimuth, the number will decrease. If you rotate the telescope exactly 360˚ in azimuth, the readout should return to the original +000.0 reading.
If you move the telescope upwards in altitude, the number in the upper right should in-crease, while if you move downwards in altitude, the number will decrease. If the telescope tube was perfectly horizontal when you enabled the hidden functions of the controller, then the altitude will read +090.0 when the tele- scope is pointed precisely vertical.
If one, or both, of the encoders are not behaving properly when performing this diagnostic test, there may be a problem with the assembly of the system, or a problem with one of the encoder boards or discs. Also, be sure to check that all cable connections are secure.
Encoder Test
The encoder test is another diagnostic test that gives informa- tion about the performance of the encoders themselves. Select “ENCODER TEST” from the list of hidden functions using the arrow buttons and press Enter.
The LCD screen will now display two lines of data. The top line of data corresponds to the altitude encoder, while the lower line of data corresponds to the azimuth encoder. The first two digits on each line denote the amplitude of the signal from one of the magnetic sensors on the encoder board, the second two digits represent the amplitude from the other sensor on the encoder board. The numbers are in hexadecimal (base 16) digits. Therefore “A” in hexadecimal represents “11” in decimal, “B” represents “12” in decimal, “C” represents “13,” “D” repre- sents “14,” “E” represents “15,” and “F” represents “16.” When moving the telescope in altitude or azimuth, you will note that
