Specifications

Chapter 3
System Operation
After the 9() II system is installed and power is turned on one of two things happens:
1) If the hand controller is not connected to the digital controller by cable, the system remains in
the boot loader waiting for commands from a PC to update the firmware. The controller will
stay in this mode for 10 seconds. Instructions to upgrade firmware are explained in Chapter
5 -Maintenance.
2) If the hand controller is connected to the 9l)II controller by cable, the system will boot up and
become ready for normal operation
If wireless hand controller is installed, the cable may now be disconnected and the system will
operate in the wireless mode. Operation is identical in the cabled and wireless modes.
The system operation will be explained using a series of menu trees. The tree shows graphically
a sequence of button pushes and the resulting display information.
Display abbreviations are expanded in the glossary in Chapter 9.
There are two main sections of the menu tree. The first is the SETUP section, where all
parameters and operating modes are entered. All parameters in this section are stored in non-
volatile memory. When power to the controller is removed and restored the parameters
previously entered are used.
There is one command that does not fit into the normal menu tree. It is explained as follows:
To increase/decrease the brightness of the buttons on the hand controller, with the left hand
simultaneously depress the SLEW and SET buttons. With the right hand depress the UP or
DOWN button.
In the menu tree the two-line display is shown in bold outline. The push button operation is shown
in normal outline. The sequence of operation and corresponding display, flows from left to right
and top to bottom.
Three steps for successful operation of the 9()II system.
1. Polar alignment - The 9l)II system assumes that the user has performed an accurate Polar
alignment of the mount. Accurate pointing and tracking of all objects and RAlDEC references
requires this. See Chapter 4 (Making the telescope's axis of rotation parallel to the
Earth's) for information on how to polar align your system.
2. Initial SETUP parameters - The user must initialize the information in the SETUP menu. This
includes TIME, MONTH, DATE, YEAR, UT-OFFSET, LATATUDE, LONGITUDE, DISPLAY
BRIGHTNESS, RETICLE BRIGHTNESS, FOCUS SPEED, SCROLL SPEED, SLEW SPEED,
TSCOPE, DECBAK, and RABAK. See the section on (Mode Descriptions) for information
on how to use the SETUP mode.
3. Initial alignment of either a bright star or an object. This is accomplished using the A-STAR
mode for bright stars or CATLOG for NGC, IC, Planets or Messier objects.
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