john32712

Recently I started to develop many position errors in my runs. Now I can no longer get my DDM 85XL to accomplish a "Homefind". The home find screen will pop-up, but nothing occurs. It just sits there with no occurrence of blue squares moving across or mount movement. The mount will perform an "autofind", but that is it....I have rebooted, changed cables, etc. Has anybody ever experienced this? Boy am I getting frustrated... John

Hi Tim and Robert, I plan on integrating CCD Autopilot as part of my routine this year. Let's stay in touch, since any knowledge you have gained will be a real benefit to all of us. Robert, is it safe to say that the only portion of CCD AP you are not using is the autoguiding area? Best regards, John Nemcik

Really nice George, Thank you for the effort! John Nemcik

Ok Lukas, now it makes sense! Thanks, John

Michael, Sehr gut, ich hoffe das wir gute fortschritte machen! MfG, John

Lukas, Am I missing something here? I have a feeling that I will be learning something... Why would one dither on a non-repeatable image series(one that you will stack). In sequence you are moving from position to another position take single shots. You dither, to remove hot pixels during the stacking process. Is there some other purpose that I am unaware of? John

Hey Mark, I have never tried it while utilizing sequence. Only when shooting images which will require stacking. Why would you need dithering when shooting successive non-related images? Best regards, John

Great Ideas guys! Thank you, John Nemcik

I have a DDM85XL permanently mounted in an observatory. Sitting on the mount is an RCOS with Apogee U42 camera. On top of the RCOS is a Takahashi FSQ with a choice of CCD cameras. I plan to swap cameras on the FSQ since I have large chip (16803) and medium chip (KAF-8300) cameras. So now here is the question, since the two cameras I have are substantially different in weight, I am assuming that I will only need to rebalance my setup every time I change cameras. Will I have to redo my motor settings also? Do I create two separate profiles for each camera? Also, I have not seen any great documentation on setting the dec and ra motors with the newer version of sequence. Can anyone provide me with the exact routine one must do to insure perfect motor settings. I know it is automated now, but exactly what steps and order must be accomplished? Thanks, John

Hi Mark, I did not see anyone comment regarding Maxim Dl, so here goes. I use dithering through Maxim Dl. If you go to the "Camera Control" window, under "Autosave" (the feature to create a sequence run) you can select dithering via guider or mount. I use "Via Mount" with "2" (pixels). It works perfectly every time. Best regards, John Nemcik

Michael, Thank you for providing this information. If you could, please set the appropriate expectation here: When you say critical bugs will be eliminated, what do you feel is a reasonable expectation, 30 days, 60 days, ? You have provided us all, a level of excitement that we can expect substantial improvements in the near future. I think it would be wise, even if somewhat vague, to provide some level of explanation regarding accomplishment. As weeks go by, no one is aware. It is that lack of awareness that creates frustration. Thank you , John

Hey Bernard hope you're doing well, Three weeks to get a response? Do you really think it is that bad? When I read some of the commentary(on this forum) about how great things are, I wonder what standard they are comparing to? With any of my other astronomical products, I typically get a response the same day, two at the most. Take care, John

BTW, what do you think is a reasonable time to respond? A very smart man once said time is relative... I would say 1-2 days is a reasonable amount of time to respond to a customer in a forum situation. Considering that Mark last posted on Saturday morning, we will quickly exceed that expectation. Comments? John

Nice post Nigel! Agreed! John

Bernard, By crazy I mean we have paid for a technical piece of equipment which requires well written and updated documentation. To me it is like having to pay for it twice by writing it for them (ASA)... My family is from Slovakia and they say the same proverb, the only difference is we really care (God)! Best wishes Bernard, John

Ok Thanks, So now we need to know, why has everything come to a complete standstill? John

Michael, When should we expect this update? Thank you, John

Lukas, That invitation will remain open... That would be a great update (Ethernet)! Looks like we have caught Michael's attention from ASA. Lets see where it gets us? Do you know how long this beta testing for the current version of Autoslew has been going on? John

Michael, In your presentation, could you please provide the following feedback to the owners of ASA. 1. I do believe that most ASA mount owners purchased your mount because we love the technology and believe this is the right direction for the future. 2. The mount is severely compromised without equally good and up to date supporting software. How long until the next major update to Autoslew? 3. The learning curve on an ASA mount is high, that is not a problem for many (certainly we love a challenge), but the most critical piece for success is excellent documentation and procedure explanation. The company's communication is horrible on so many levels. The manuals which are extremely important, are outdated and no longer relevant, they are not concise. clear, organized effectively, or accurate. Why has ASA not updated their manuals, why are we dealing with manuals from years ago? 3. To illustrate how bad things have become, read the comments from others above. They are trying to write a ASA's manual for them. This is ridiculous, ASA is still in business, correct? 4. The company has not communicated anything about software direction, future plans, feedback requests, etc...Unlike other mounts, where all you need is their driver, we are absolutely reliant on Autoslew and to achieve long focal length usability, Sequence. 5. One integrated software package to control your mount would be ideal. Is this a possibility? 6. You keep mentioning software bugs, yes there are a few, but that is not the big problem here. The software (Autoslew/Sequence) need major updating. You have been beta testing the current version for how long now? 7. The frequency of software updates has come to a grinding halt. Is ASA abandoning their mounts? I respectfully request answers to the questions I have posed above. In fairness to ASA, I certainly understand software development and documentation management are costly. As purchasers of your mount we rely on this type of support from ASA. Just let us know something.... The current consensus from many mount owners is that ASA does not care (read Bernard's post above). They can fix this so easily and we would then have the best mount on the planet! Thank you

Hey guys, Lukas, no acreage in Namibia or New Mexico, but we are a dark sky site with very steady skies, some of the best in the states. So when you are ready for a break from those alps, come for a visit!. Thanks for the initiative you are taking to make things better for all of us! Bernard made a comment above, "ASA has no interest in improving the documentation". Are we absolutely sure of this? (I know the actions and responses of ASA have demonstrated this). Since we have all invested a substantial sum of money in our mounts, I would like to get some kind of response from ASA stating they are not planning to update their documentation or software any time soon. Here is why... What if unbeknownst to all of us, ASA is planning a software release which would antiquate our documentation and efforts? I know it is a long shot, but personally, I want ASA to officially say they will not be placing any effort in providing updated documentation to the purchasers of their mounts. Once we know that piece of information, surely we have no choice and should definitely continue on the current path. That single response will be so significant and a real litmus test, since future purchasers of ASA mounts will have one hell of a situation on their hands and it sends a clear signal... Do all of you agree? If ASA literally plans to abandon mount support, and by support I do not mean response to a personal issue you are having. I would like to know that. It just seems crazy to me for us to write/update their manual. Can you imagine people who own BMWs having to write the owner's manual for BMW? Especially considering how important the manual is to anyone buying a mount. You can get in a car and start driving right away, you are not going to do that with this mount.

Mark, Regarding your comments about correct balance and tuning. What documentation are you using to accurately describe the tuning process with the current software?

Mark, not implying anything here... I read your post several times to make sure I wasn't misreading anything. We are definitely on the same page. The one point you make that stands out for me is how imperative it is to get the "best" documentation possible. Why? Because the learning curve is so high and we all have struggled to get to a certain point. Today, how would a new ASA mount owner utilize documentation that is even more outdated then when we were learning? I appreciate your candor! Waldemar, Please spare me the BS! You started of really good until you went off on a tangent about some evolution in my thinking and you are glad that I understand now. Lol!!! Understand what? I have owned Takahashi mounts, AstroPhysics mounts, and even a Celestron mount (first mount). Additionally, I currently own 40 acres in Florida which has several Astrophotographers with permanent observatories there. One of the individuals on that property writes the mount control software for Software Bisque (Paramount ME). So what do you want me to understand here? That I am wrong in having second thoughts about my mount purchase - which would be better served with great software and outstanding documentation? Sorry, there is no evolution here... I just want the problem(s) fixed. I'll will give you credit for a nice try! Lukas, as usual, your commentary is spot on! This could be so much better, simpler, powerful, etc. If something is not improving on a timely basis, it is stagnating! Regardless of the commentary/emotion which obviously exists here, we need to keep pushing for improvements. if anything, look at the number of comments we have generated. This forum has been dead for months and for the moment, we have rejuvenated it! Best wishes, John

Ian, For some reason Mark, Tommy, and Waldemar are missing the point, which you made very eloquently. If they would read your post thoroughly rather than make the statement, "I am not having any problem", maybe they would understand... Let me illustrate further, a version or two ago, Autoslew began generating " Assertion Debug" errors. I remember the day when I upgraded and I started receiving the errors. I made a comment about the error and the response back was, "I am not having that problem". Not very helpful at all (sound familiar). As time went on, more people began experiencing the error and it was eventually resolved. It's almost like 'they" are being defensive rather than admitting, yes the documentation is horribly outdated, yes the software updates are virtually non-existent, and yes, there is room for improvement. No one is saying anything bad here except there is room for improvement and we would like the improvement to occur with more expediency. Just because you don't have a problem doesn't mean that it's non-existent. Can you imagine being a new user trying to figure out why your monitor does not match what the manual shows? I guess we all need to pretend that it's ok? The goal for all of us should be.... to get new users to buy ASA mounts and be as excited about this great technology as we are. This will insure continued improvement and as we all know, anything which does not continually improve, eventually becomes antiquated.

Michael, Thank you for finally responding! I don't believe there is a misunderstanding here and most people understand they can email ASA for support. However, if you quickly scan through the forum, you realize the issues are not of the type which can be resolved from your emailed support. They require software updates which have not been achieved. Per your example, telling Autoslew the correct side of the pier.... Honestly I feel the frustration is due to how slow these upgrades are occurring. Also, no indication from the ASA management team of what to expect and more importantly when to expect! The manuals/literature are very outdated and not reflective of the current version of software. Pictures and menus do not represent accurately what you would see on the screen. I always tell my employees, "if your are going to criticize something be prepare to offer a solution before you say anything"! I can offer no solution for the software issues. I am not a programmer. The request I would make would be to consolidate Autoslew and Sequence into one mount management package. My suggestion for the user manual would be this: One of the very first pages should be a flowchart, this flow chart should have all the necessary steps required to setup and optimize your mount. For each step in the flowchart, a page number referencing that particular step in manual with explicit directions and what you should achieve in that particular step. Thank you

Absolutely Lukas! I don't want to come off harsh or disrespectful, but we have some problems to fix here.... I think ASA has made a great product (mechanically), with improved software/communication/documentation we would have the best of the best!