[SJAAboard] Compustar is not working

[Rob Hawley (SJAA)]

A second night of tests revealed the Compustar is not working. Making it
suitable as a loner scope will likely require rewiring the connectors and
may require replacing the cables.  I replaced the ROM so it no longer has a
Y2K problem. Without that level of rework it is likely that only the OTA has
value.

Lee is going to have a look at it.  Since he is more familiar with that type
of mount he can provide is own independent evaluation.

My evaluation of the OTA was that it badly needed collimation.  I could not
even spilt Polaris.  Lee is going to look at that also.

The scope is currently a GOTO.  We would lose that if we replaced the fork.
On the other hand the current design requires access to either home AC or a
large car battery as Jim states. That makes it questionable for a loaner
scope.

Remember that we are not running a museum. All of the scopes have to usable
by relatively inexperienced members without frustration.  The Ultima is the
only SCT in the program that approximates what you can buy today.  The
remainder of our SCTs are all wedge mounted which today not the usual
configuration. While they are optically similar to modern scopes they lack
the modern SCT electronics.

We are still discussing remounting one of the 8" scopes on a GEM (another
common modern configuration).


Rob Hawley