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Meade LX200GPS Manual
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Motofocus for Meade LX200GPS Telescope Focusers Focusing is made easy with the JMI Motofocus MFLXGPS for the Meade LX200GPS telescopes. This Motofocus requires no drilling or tapping for mounting. It is a user friendly hand control with an electric focus motor that attaches to the shaft of a focuser knob (or the knob itself). It is battery operated and comes with the 9-volt battery. The Motofocus offers precise vibration-free focusing without the need to touch the telescope. This unit features v... Read more
Brand: JMI Telescopes
Part Number: MFLXGPS
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Meade LX200GPS SMT UHTC 10 inch 1
User reviews and opinions
|10:01am on Thursday, October 7th, 2010
|Nico from palo alto, California I got this for my 10th birthday, its awesome. Has great optics StreetPilot 7500 This is a great GPS navigator system. Especially when it come to navigate without the satellite, it is great. However.
|Roland Cheppe
|12:08am on Friday, September 10th, 2010
|good product - better price adorama camera had fantastic price on this product and more than a few others I noticed while browsing.
|4:07pm on Sunday, June 13th, 2010
|I first got RollerCoaster tycoon 1 around seven years ago with my first computer. When I first played on it I loved it.
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F Want to learn how to
attach the microfocuser assembly to the rear cell port of your LX200GPS telescope? See HOW TO ASSEMBLE YOUR TELESCOPE, pages 13 and 14.
G Want to learn more
about focusing your telescope? See pages 17 and 31.
Want to learn how to install the batteries? See page 13.
Want to learn more about the primary mirror lock? See MIRROR MIRROR, page 38.
Want to learn more about the Right Ascension and Declination setting circles? See page 50.
Right Ascension (R.A.) Setting Circle: See APPENDIX A, page 50, for detailed information. Right Ascension (R.A.) Lock: Controls the manual horizontal rotation of the telescope. Turning the R.A. lock counterclockwise unlocks the telescope, enabling it to be freely rotated by hand about the horizontal axis. Turning the R.A. lock clockwise locks the telescope, prevents the telescope from being rotated manually, and engages the horizontal motor drive for Autostar II operation. Computer Control Panel (see Fig. 1 inset): A. ON/OFF Switch: Turns the computer control panel and Autostar II ON or OFF. The red power indicator LED next to the switch illuminates when power is supplied to the Autostar II handbox, the microfocuser, and to the telescopes motor drives (the LED can be turned off in the Panel Light menu; see page 27).
Definitions Throughout this manual, you will notice the terms "Alt/Az," "Right Ascension," and "Declination." Alt/Az or more properly, altazimuth, is frequently used to refer to altitude or Declination (the up-and-down vertical movement of the telescope) and azimuth or Right Ascension (the side-to-side horizontal movement of the telescope). Right Ascension is abbreviated as "R.A." and Declination as "Dec."
Important Note: After the telescope is aligned (see page 18), the Dec. slow motion control 1^ may be used and the telescope will remain in alignment. However, if the R.A. slow motion control 1) is used after the telescope has been aligned, alignment will be lost and the telescope will need to be realigned.
1$ 1% 1^ 1&
B. 12vDC Power Connector: Provides a connection so that the telescope assembly may be powered from a standard 115v AC home outlet using the optional #547 Power Adapter with Cable or the optional 12v DC #607 Cigarette Lighter Adapter. See OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES, page 43. C. Focus Port: Plug the microfocuser into this port. Control the microfocuser through the Autostar II menus. See HOT BUTTON MENUS, page 31, and 2$ below. D. Reticle Port: Plug the optional reticle eyepiece into this port. Control the reticle through the Autostar II menus. See HOT BUTTON MENUS page 31. Also see OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES, page 42. Note: See the instruction sheets that are included with the focuser, the reticle, and the autoguider for more details. E. 12vDC Output: Use the 12vDC output to power telescope accessories and the Maksutov fan on the 7" LX200GPS model. F. Handbox (HBX) Port: Plug the Autostar II coil cord into this port. G. RS232 Ports (2): Provides connection with a PC and for current and future Meade accessories. Your PC can control your LX200GPS telescope using serial commands. Go to the Meade website (www.meade.com) to download the latest serial commands and device pinouts. H. Autoguider Port: Plug the optional autoguider into this port. See the instruction sheet that came with your autoguider for more information. Tiltable Autostar II Holder: Attach to fork handles (see 1% below). Holds your handbox in a convenient location. Fork Handles: Use to lift optical tube assembly or to rotate the telescope when attached to the tripod. Declination (Dec.) Slow-Motion Control: Make fine adjustments in Declination (altitude) by turning this control with the Dec. Lock (see 1& below) in the locked position. In order for this control to operate properly, power must be off. Dec. Lock: Controls the manual vertical movement of the telescope. Turning the Dec. lock counterclockwise unlocks the telescope enabling it to be freely rotated by hand about the vertical axis. Turning the Dec. lock clockwise (to a firm feel only) prevents the telescope from being moved manually, but engages the vertical motor drive for Autostar II operation. Dust Cover: Gently pry the dust cover from the front lens of the telescope. Note: The dust cover should be replaced after each observing session and the power turned off to the telescope. Verify that any dew that might have collected during the observing session has evaporated prior to replacing the dust cover.
Caution: When loosening the Dec. lock, be sure to support the optical tube (19, Fig. 1). The weight of the tube could cause the tube to swing through the fork arms suddenly.
1( 2) 2! 2@ 2# 2$
Optical Tube: The main optical component that gathers the light from distant objects and brings this light to a focus for examination through the eyepiece. Declination (Dec.) Setting Circle (on left fork arm): See APPENDIX A, page 50, for detailed information. Viewfinder Collimation Screws: Use these six screws to adjust the alignment of the viewfinder. 8 x 50mm Viewfinder: A low-power, wide-field sighting scope with crosshairs that enables easy centering of objects in the telescope eyepiece. GPS Receiver (see page 21 for photo): Receives information transmitted from Global Positioning System satellites. See pages 18, 19, and 21 for more information. 4-Speed Zero Image-Shift Microfocuser: Allows precise image focus during visual, CCD, and astrophotographic applications. Maintains precise image centering on even the smallest CCD chips. Operates at four speeds: Fine to fast using the Arrow keys of the Autostar II hand controller. Plug microfocuser into the Focus port (13C, Fig. 1). Tube Adapters: The optical and mechanical axes of the LX200GPS telescope have been carefully aligned at the factory to ensure accurate object pointing. Do not loosen or remove the optical tube assembly from the tube adapters. The resulting misalignment of the axes will result in inaccurate slewing of the telescope in the GO TO mode.
2! Want to learn more about
attaching and aligning the viewfinder? See page 15.
2$ Want to learn more
about the Zero Image Shift Microfocuser? See pages 13, 14, and 31.
Fig. 2: The Autostar II Handbox.
Tour the Cosmos with Just the Push of a Button
Control of the LX200GPS telescope models is through the operation of the standard Autostar II system. Nearly all functions of the telescope are accomplished with just a few pushes of Autostar IIs buttons.
Want to learn more about downloading the latest updates of Autostar II software from the Meade website? See page 31.
Because the Autostar II system uses flash (rewritable) memory, your system will be able to grow when new features and enhancements become available. Download the latest satellite data, star and object catalogs, tours, serial commands list, and software revisions, directly from the Meade website (www.meade.com). (Requires the optional LX200 Interface Cable. See OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES, page 43.) Some of the major features of the Autostar II system are: s Automatically move the telescope to any of the more than 145,000 objects stored in the object library, including: Library # of Objects New General Catalog (NGC): 7,840 Index Catalog (IC): 5,386 Messier Catalog (M): 110 Caldwell Catalog: 109 Named Objects: 227 Herschel Catalog: 400 Abell Catalog of Galaxy Clusters: 2,712 Arp Catalog of Irregular Galaxies: 645 Uppsala Galaxy Catalog: 12,940 Morphological Catalog of Galaxies: 12,939 General Catalog of Variable Stars: 28,484 SAO: 17,191 Hipparcos Star Catalog: 17,325
Note: 14" LX200GPS model users, see page 66 for information on battery installation.
Fig. 5: Battery installation.
Note: The microfocuser is shipped with the microfocuser adapter (B) threaded to the SC accessory adapter (L). Unthread the adapters from each other before attaching the microfocuser.
Tip: Although you can set up the telescope to face any direction to perform Automatic Alignment, you will achieve optimal performance when the computer control panel faces South.
Fig. 6: Microfocuser and eyepiece assembly. (A) Rear cell of telescope (shown separate from the telescope assembly for the sake of clarity, see 5, Fig. 1); (B) Microfocuser adapter; (C) Microfocuser; (D) 1.25" accessory adapter. SC accessory adapter (L) may be used in this position instead if Schmidt-Cassegrain accessories are being used. Do not use either adapter if using a 2" diagonal diagonal mirror; (E) Eyepiece holder thumbscrew; (F) Eyepiece; (G) 1.25 "Diagonal Prism. 2" diagonal mirror may also be used in this position (12" models); (H) Adapter Thumbscrew; (I) Microfocuser Thumbscrews; (J) Microfocuser bearings; (K) Hex screws; (L) Microfocuser SC Accessory Adapter (see margin note).
Attach microfocuser: Remove the dust cap from the rear cell port (5, Fig. 1) of the telescope. Thread the microfocuser adapter (B, Fig. 6) onto the rear cell port thread. Slide the microfocuser (C, Fig. 6) over the microfocuser adapter and tighten the three hex screws (K, Fig. 6) using the provided hex key.
Attach Diagonal (or accessories) 1.25" Diagonal Prism Users: If using the 1.25" diagonal prism (G, Fig. 6), slide the 1.25" adapter (D, Fig. 6) into the microfocuser. Line up the thumbscrew into the groove in the microfocuser (Fig. 7a and 7b). Tighten the microfocuser thumbscrews (I, Fig. 6) to a firm feel only. Slide the 1.25" diagonal prism into the adapter (D, Fig. 6). Tighten the accessory adapter thumbscrew (H, Fig. 6) to a firm feel only. SC Optional Accessory Users: If using any of the optional accessories (such as the Off-Axis Guider, T-Adapter, etc.; see page 42) with the LX200GPS SC models, slide the supplied SC accessory adapter (L, Fig. 6) into the microfocuser. Line up the groove on the side of the adapter with either of the microfocuser thumbscrews (Fig. 8a and 8b) and tighten that thumbscrew to a firm feel only. Slide the optional accessory into the accessory adapter. Tighten the other microfocuser thumbscrew to a firm feel only. 2.0" Diagonal Mirror Users: If using the 2.0" diagonal mirror, slide the mirror directly into the microfocuser. The adapters (H and L, Fig. 6) are not required. Tighten the thumbscrews (I, Fig. 6) to a firm feel only. Plug in the microfocuser: Plug the microfocuser into the Focus port (13C, Fig. 1). Note: If you wish to mount a camera directly to the microfocuser, you need to attach an optional T-Adapter to the microfocuser. See OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES, page 42. Important Note: The microfocuser is carefully adjusted at the factory. If it become necessary to adjust the microfocuser, it must be performed by factory trained technicians. If the microfocuser is improperly adjusted, performance will degrade and damage will result. Damage due to improper adjustments not authorized by the factory will not be covered under warranty.
Select Item: Event
Sunrise Sun Transit Sunset Moonrise Moon Transit Moonset Moon Phases Next Full Moon Next New Moon Next 1st Qtr Next 3rd Qtr Meteor Showers Quadrantids Lyrids Etc. Solar Eclipses Lunar Eclipses Min. of Algol Autumn Equinox Vernal Equinox Winter Solstice Summer Solstice
Select Item: Guided Tour
Tour Objects Tonight's Best How Far is Far Etc.
A. Accretion Disk Etc. B. C. Etc.
Select Item: Utilities
Timer Set Start & Stop Alarm Set On & Off Eyepiece Calc. Field of View Magnification Suggest Sun Warning Brightness Adj. Contrast Adj. Panel Light Aux Port Power Beep Temperature Battery Alarm Landmark Survey Sleep Scope Park Scope
Select Item: Setup
Align Automatic Easy One Star Two Star Align on Home Date Time Daylight Saving Smart Mount Configuration Off On Train Update Load Save As Delete Erase Telescope Mount Model Focal Length Max Slew Rate Mount Upper Limit Mount Lower Limit Park Position Calibrate Home Anti-Backlash Train Drive Calibrate Sensors Tracking Rate Guiding Rate Reverse L/R Reverse Up/Dn Home Sensors GPS Alignment R.A. PEC Dec. PEC High Precision Targets Astronomical Terrestrial Site Select Add Delete Edit Owner Info Clone Download Statistics Reset
Moon Overview Landing Sites Apollo 11 Etc. Craters Abbot Etc. Mountains Mons Bradley Etc. Mare, Lakes Lacus Aestatis Etc. Valley, Rills Rima Agatharchid Etc.
Figure 18: The Complete Autostar II Menu Tree Structure.
Object Menu
Almost all observing with Autostar II is performed using the Object menu category. (Note: Exceptions include Guided Tour and Landmark Survey.) See GO TO SATURN, page 20, for an example of observing using the Object menu. Also see USING THE GUIDED TOUR, page 20. Autostar II contains many libraries of viewable objects, such as stars, planets, comets, nebulae and so forth. When one of these objects is selected from a library, Autostar II moves your telescope (if properly aligned) and points it at the selected object. Six of the most popular libraries can be accessed directly using the hot buttons. The Object Menu options include: Solar System: A library of the eight planets (Earth is not included) in order out from the Sun, followed by the Moon, asteroids, and comets. Constellation: A library of all 88 Northern and Southern Hemisphere constellations. When this menu option is chosen and a constellation name appears on the first line of the screen, press GO TO once to change the second line to the name of the brightest star in the constellation. Press GO TO a second time to slew the telescope to that star. Use the Scroll keys to cycle through the list of stars in the constellation, from brightest to dimmest. Deep Sky: A library of objects outside our Solar System such as nebulae, star clusters, galaxies, and quasars. Star: A catalog of stars listed in different categories such as named, double, variable, or nearby. Also included are the Hipparcos, SAO, HD, and HR catalogs. The Star catalog may also be accessed directly by pressing the Number key "6."
Want to learn more about Observing Satellites? See page 34.
Satellite: A library of Earth-orbiting objects such as the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, and geosynchronous orbit satellites. Other Catalogs are accessed directly using the Autostar II "hot keys": Caldwell (key "2"), Messier catalog ("3"), Solar System ("5"), IC ("8"), and NGC ("9"). To slew the telescope to catalog objects: Enter the catalog number of the object using the Number keys and then press ENTER. For example: To slew to NGC 6720, press Number Key "9," then using the Number keys, enter the digits "6-7-2-0." Then press ENTER. Autostar II displays the common name and alternate names of the object, if available. Press one of the Scroll keys to display some or all of the following information about that object: Type of object (galaxy, nebula, etc.), Dec. and R.A. coordinates, constellation it is located within, magnitude, size, distance, and star-type classification, if the object is a star. If further information is available, it displays as scrolling text. Press GO TO. The telescope, if aligned (see AUTOMATIC ALIGNMENT, page 18), will slew to that chosen object. Press MODE repeatedly to return to previous menu levels. User Objects: Allows the user to define and store in memory deep-sky objects of specific interest that are not currently in the Autostar II libraries. See CREATING USER OBJECTS, page 33, for more information.
Want to learn more about Landmarks? See page 34.
Landmarks: Stores the location of terrestrial points of interest in the permanent Autostar II database. This function works with a telescope that remains in one fixed spot or can be setup in the exact same spot each time it is used.
Select: To select a Landmark already in the database (see ADD below), choose the "Select" option and scroll through the list. Press ENTER to select a Landmark, then press GO TO and the telescope slews to the object. Add: To add a Landmark, choose the "Add" option. Enter a name for the Landmark. Locate and center the Landmark in the eyepiece, then press ENTER. Important Note: To add objects to the Landmark database, the telescope must be located and aligned exactly as when the original objects were added to the database.
Reverse L/R: Reverses the functions of the Left and Right Arrow keys for controlling the telescope's motion (i.e., the Right key moves the telescope to the left). Reverse U/D: Reverses the functions of the Up and Down Arrow keys for controlling the telescope's motion (i.e., the Up key moves the telescope down). Home Sensors: Turns off or on the True North and True Level sensors, if preferred, for Easy, One-Star, and Two-Star alignment. User must then manually level the telescope and point the telescope to True North during alignment. Default setting is "On." GPS Alignment: Allows three options. Select "Off" if you wish to align the telescope manually (turns off GPS). Select "On" (default setting) if you wish to automatically align your telescope and want the telescope to get the GPS fix when it is needed during alignment. Select "At Start Up" if you want the telescope to get a GPS fix when the telescope is powered ip. Dec. PEC: Allows you to perform periodic error correction on the Dec. drive worm gear. Must be performed with a high-power reticle (eg., 9mm). R.A. PEC: Allows you to perform periodic error correction on the R.A. drive worm gear. Must be performed with a high-power reticle (eg., 9mm). High Precision: If High Precision is turned on, when looking for a faint celestial object (e.g., a nebula or galaxy), Autostar II first slews to a nearby bright star and displays "ENTER to Sync." Center the star in the eyepiece, then press ENTER. At that point the telescope has a high precision alignment to that part of the sky and it then slews to the object that was originally requested.
Do you want to learn how to perform the periodic error correction procedure? See PERIODIC ERROR CORRECTION, page 39.
Tip: If the "ENTER to Sync" feature is accessed by mistake (holding the ENTER key for more than 2 seconds), press MODE to return to the previous screen.
Targets: Switches between Astronomical targets and Terrestrial targets. If "Astronomical" is selected, the telescope tracking motor is activated and any object you observe will remain centered in the eyepiece. If "Terrestrial" is selected, the tracking motor is turned off. See TO TRACK AN OBJECT AUTOMATICALLY, page 18. Site provides access to several options including: s Select: Displays the currently selected observing site. Use the Scroll keys to cycle through all available sites (see ADD below). Press ENTER when the site you wish to select displays. Use this option when you move to a different geographic location.
Dec. Setting Circle
Level Base
Fig. 19: Alt/Az Home Position.
4. Star Alignment. Autostar II chooses two stars to align upon. The telescope slews to the first star for alignment. Should the alignment star not appear in the field of view in the eyepiece, it should be easily recognized: It will be the brightest star in the area of the sky where the telescope is pointing. Use the Arrow keys to move the telescope until the star is visible and centered in the eyepiece. Press ENTER. Repeat the procedure for the second alignment star. Note: See WHICH ONE'S THE ALIGNMENT STAR, page 19, for some important tips concerning alignments stars and using your viewfinder.
Fig. 20: Dec. Setting Circle at 0.
When the procedure is performed correctly, "Alignment Successful" displays. If Autostar II does not display this message, perform this procedure again. (Keep pressing MODE until "Align: Easy" displays and repeat the procedure.)
Two-Star Alt/Az Alignment
Two-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. Autostar II provides a library of bright stars and two stars from this library are chosen by the observer for alignment. In this procedure, Autostar II does not automatically find home, level, or North. 1. Alignment Option Screen. "Align: Automatic" displays. 2. Select Alignment. Press the Scroll keys until "Align: Two Star" displays. Press ENTER.
Set Home Position. Place the telescope in the home position. To Set the Home Position Manually: a. See Figs. 19 and 20, page 37. Loosen the telescopes Dec. lock (17, Fig. 1). Set the optical tube to 0 on the Dec. setting circle (Fig. 20). b. Tighten the Dec. lock (17, Fig. 1) to a firm feel only. c. Level the tripod base. d. Move the base of the telescope so that the computer control panel (13, Fig. 1) approximately faces South. e. Unlock the R.A. lock (12, Fig. 1) and turn the telescope's optical tube horizontally until it points North. See Fig. 37, page 52, for more information. f. Re-lock the R.A. lock (12, Fig. 1). Press ENTER. g. Press ENTER.
Note: Autostar II locates alignment stars based on the date, time, and location entered. The alignment stars may change from night to night. All that is required is for the observer to center the selected stars in the eyepiece when prompted.
4. Star Alignment. "Select Star" displays. Autostar II then displays a library of stars for the observer to choose from. Use the Scroll keys to scroll to a star on the list that you wish to align upon. Select a star that you can easily locate in the night sky. Press ENTER. 5. Center Star. The telescope slews to the star. Use the Arrow keys to move the telescope until the star is centered in the eyepiece. Press ENTER. Center Star. Repeat procedure for the second alignment star. The telescope is aligned and you are now ready to use Autostar II's GO TO capabilities for a night of observing.
Do not, for any reason, remove the correcting plate from its machined housing for cleaning or other purposes. You will almost certainly not be able to replace the corrector in its proper rotational orientation and serious degradation of optical performance will result. Meade Instruments assumes no liability for damage incurred to the telescope in this way. If the LX200GPS is used outdoors on a humid night, water condensation on the telescope surfaces will probably result. While such condensation does not normally cause any damage to the telescope, it is recommended that the entire telescope be wiped down with a dry cloth before the telescope is packed away. Do not, however, wipe any of the optical surfaces. Rather, simply allow the telescope to sit for some time in the warm indoor air, so that the wet optical surfaces can dry unattended. If your LX200GPS is not to be used for an extended period, perhaps for one month or more, it is advisable to remove the batteries from the telescope. Batteries left in the telescope for prolonged periods may leak, causing damage to the telescopes electronic circuitry. Do not leave your LX200GPS inside a sealed car on a warm summer day; excessive ambient temperatures can damage the telescopes internal lubrication and electronic circuitry. The microfocuser is carefully adjusted at the factory. If it becomes necessary to adjust the microfocuser ball bearings (see Fig. 30), it must be performed by factory trained technicians. If the microfocuser is improperly adjusted, performance will degrade and damage will result. Damage due to improper adjustments not authorized by the factory will not be covered under warranty.
Fig. 30: Microfocuser ball bearings.
The optical collimation (alignment) of any astronomical telescope used for serious purposes is important, but in the case of the Schmidt-Cassegrain design of the 8", 10", and 12" LX200GPS models, such collimation is absolutely essential for good performance. (Note: The 7" model, a Maksutov-Cassegrain, does not need to be collimated.) Take special care to read and understand this section well so that your LX200GPS will give you the best optical performance. As part of final optical testing, every Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain is precisely collimated at the Meade factory before shipment. However, vibrations in shipping can cause the optical system to become misaligned. Re-aligning the optics is, however, a straightforward process. To check the collimation of your LX200GPS, center a bright star that is overhead, or use a hot spot of reflected Sunlight from a chrome car bumper, with the supplied 26mm eyepiece. Allow the telescope to adjust to the temperature of your observation site before proceeding; temperature differences between the optics and the outside air can cause distortion in the images.
Using setting circles requires a developed technique. When using the circles for the first time, try hopping from one bright star (the calibration star) to another bright star of known coordinates. Practice moving the telescope from one easy-to-find object to another. In this way, the precision required for accurate object location becomes evident. Note You may also enter an object's R.A. and Dec. coordinates using the "User: Objects" option of Autostar II's Object menu. Autostar II then automatically slews the telescope to the entered coordinates. Note that the R.A. circle is double-indexed (i.e., there are two series of numbers running in opposite directions around the circumference of the R.A. circle). The upper series of numbers (increasing counterclockwise) applies to observers located in the Earths Northern Hemisphere; the lower series of numbers (increasing clockwise) applies to observers located in the Earths Southern Hemisphere. To use the setting circles to locate an object not easily found by direct visual observation:
Fig. 35: Declination Setting Circle.
With the telescope aligned to the Celestial Pole, first look up the celestial coordinates (R.A. and Dec.) of the object in a star atlas. Then loosen the R.A. lock and move the telescope to read the correct R.A. of the desired object; lock the R.A. lock onto the coordinate. Next, move the telescope in Declination to read the correct Declination of the object. If the procedure has been followed carefully, and if the telescope was wellaligned with the pole, the desired object should now be in the telescopic field of a lowpower eyepiece. If you do not immediately see the object you are seeking, try searching the adjacent sky area. Keep in mind that, with the 26mm eyepiece, the field of view of the LX200GPS is about 0.5. Because of its much wider field, the viewfinder may be of significant assistance in locating and centering objects, after the setting circles have been used to locate the approximate position of the object.
Fig. 36: Section of Right Ascension Setting Circle.
Pinpoint application of the setting circles requires that the telescope be precisely aligned with the pole. See PRECISE POLAR ALIGNMENTS, page 53.
Equatorial Wedge
An optional equatorial wedge is required for equatorial (polar) alignment. Note: The Meade Superwedge is available for models using the giant tripod. Contact the factory for more information. Caution (14" model users only): An adapter plate is required to mount the Superwedge with 14" models. It is recommended that you only mount the Superwedge using the adapter plate; failure to use the adapter plate may result in damage to the telescope or injury to the user. Contact the factory for more information. The equatorial wedge permits use in an astronomical, or equatorial, mode. The wedge fits onto the field tripod. Equatorial alignment allows you to take longer exposure photographs with your LX200GPS. See the instruction sheet supplied with the wedge for installation and setup information. Note: For almost all astronomical observing requirements, approximate settings of the telescopes latitude and polar axis are acceptable. Do not allow undue attention to precise polar alignment of the telescope to interfere with your basic enjoyment of the instrument. Note: The Meade equatorial wedge is designed solely for use in conjunction with your Meade tripod. The wedge should never be used without the tripod (e.g., by placing the wedge alone on a table top and then mounting the telescope on the wedgethe wedge may become seriously unbalanced, to the point where the telescope may actually tip over. Included features: s Attachment of the wedge to the tripod by means of only one manual knob. s Quick azimuth adjustment by loosening the manual knob. s Bubble level for rapid tripod/wedge leveling. s Etched latitude scale for fast adjustment of the latitude angle.
Fig. 40: LX200GPS mounted on an equatorial wedge.
The above procedure results in very accurate polar alignment, and minimizes the need for tracking corrections during astrophotography.
Autostar II Polar Alignment
Autostar II provides three different (manual) methods for polar alignment: Easy, OneStar and Two-Star.
Important Note: In order to select any of Autostar II's three polar alignment options, you must first select "Polar" in the "Mount" option of the "Setup: Telescope" menu.
Easy Polar Alignment
Two alignment stars are chosen by Autostar II based on the date, time, and location. First, choose "Polar" from the "Setup: Telescope: Mount" menu. The rest of the procedure is identical to the (Alt/Az) EASY (TWO-STAR) ALIGN, page 37.
One-Star Polar Alignment
Polar One-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. Autostar II provides a library of bright stars and one star from this library is chosen by the observer for alignment. Polaris is chosen by Autostar II. First, choose "Polar" from the "Setup: Telescope: Mount" menu. The rest of the procedure is almost identical to the (Alt/Az) ONE STAR ALT/AZ ALIGNMENT, page 38, except that Autostar II prompts you to point the telescope at Polaris and center it in the telescope eyepiece.
Two-Star Polar Alignment
Polar Two-Star Alignment requires some knowledge of the night sky. Autostar II provides a library of bright stars and two stars from this library are chosen by the observer for alignment. First, choose "Polar" from the "Setup: Telescope: Mount" menu. The rest of the procedure is almost identical to the (Alt/Az) TWO STAR ALT/AZ ALIGNMENT, page 37.
LX200GPS TIPS Surf the Web
One of the most exciting resources for astronomy is the internet. The internet is full of websites with new images, discoveries, and the latest astronomical information. For example: When comet Hale-Bopp made its approach to our Sun in 1998, astronomers around the world posted new photos daily. On the internet, you can find websites for almost any topic relating to astronomy. Try the following key word searches: NASA, Hubble, HST, astronomy, Messier, satellite, nebula, black hole, variable stars, etc. Check Meades website for the latest product and technical information. You can download the latest software revisions, links to other astronomical sites, coordinates of celestial objects and the latest satellite tracking information for your Autostar II handset. See page 31 for more information. Youll find our website at: www.meade.com/ Here are some other sites you might find interesting: Sky & Telescope: http://www.SkyandTelescope.com Astronomy: http://www.astronomy.com The Starfield: http://users.nac.net/gburke/ Astronomy Picture of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.goc/apod Heavens Above (satellite observing information): http://www.heavens-above.com Photographic Atlas of the Moon: http://www.lpi.ursa.edu/research/lunar_orbiter Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html
Fig. 45: The Super Giant Field Tripod collapsed.
Fig. 46: Tighten the tripod spreader bar with the tension knob.
Fig. 47: Remove the pointed bolts from the drive base.
To collapse the tripod (after removing the telescope) for storage, follow these steps: a. Loosen the tension knob and rotate the spreader bar 60 from its assembled position, so that one spreader bar arm is located between each adjacent pair of tripod legs. b. Move the spreader bar to the top of the threaded rod. Tighten the tension knob, locking the bar. c. Working one leg at a time, gradually collapse the legs of the field tripod until the tension hub is positioned onto the threaded rod. Use the second tension knob to secure the tension hub in place. Attaching the 16 Drive Base a. Remove the three pointed bolts that hold the packing material in place. These bolts are used only for shipping purposes and not used in the telescope assembly procedure. See Fig. 47. b. Rotate the field tripod so that one leg is pointing approximately South (it need not point exactly South). c. Position the 16 drive base onto the field tripod, with the power panel facing South. Secure the drive base using the three 1/2-13x1-1/2 long bolts. Thread these bolts up through the underside of the tripod head into the drive base using the supplied hex key. Firmly tighten these bolts. See Fig. 48. c. Level the drive base by loosening the six lock-knobs (5, Fig. 44) and sliding out the inner tripod legs. d. Note the DB-15 connector at the center of the base. Attaching the Fork a. Place the single-piece fork onto the top of the drive base. One side of the base of the fork has a cutout to allow clearance for the R.A. lock (12, Fig. 1) and R.A. slowmotion control (10, Fig. 1), which are located on top of the drive base. b. Bolt the fork to the drive base using the four 3/8-16x3/4 long bolts (Fig. 49). Using the supplied hex key, tighten to a firm feel only. c. Unscrew and remove the four thumbscrews from the rectangular plate (Fig. 50) in the center of the fork base. Remove the plate. Note the DB-15 plug under the fork base. d. Connect the DB-15 plug to the DB-15 connector underneath the plate. Tighten the two thumbscrews onto the connector to a firm feel. See Fig. 51. e. A fifth 3/8-16x3/4 long bolt is supplied with the telescope. Just using your fingers, loosely tighten this bolt under the plate. See Fig. 51. This bolt acts as a safety feature to prevent the DB-15 connector and cable from being damaged when you disassemble the telescope. You will not be able to disassemble the telescope until the bolt is removed. The bolt is located near the DB-15 assembly in the base as a reminder to unplug the connector before removing the fork from the drive base. Mounting the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) This step requires two people who can lift up to 70 pounds each (Note: See Caution on page 62). The optical tube assembly (OTA) weighs about 125 lbs. and it must be positioned accurately in order to mount to the fork.
If you find that you cannot see a star because there is an obstruction blocking your view: Press MODE briefly to skip this star. Another star will be chosen.
To exit the training sequence before it is completed: Press and hold MODE for about two seconds and then release it.
When you have completed training: Save your model, using a good, descriptive name, using the Save As menu. Upon completion of the training, Smart Mount is enabled and remains on until you choose Off from the Smart Mount Configuration menu.
Permanently Mounted Scopes For permanently mounted telescopes, it is not necessary to have more than one model unless the weight and balance of auxiliary equipment introduces balance or flexure changes that significantly affect pointing. The best practice is to train the Smart Mount and then run a couple of sessions with Update enabled. Thereafter, simply leave Smart Mount On as the installation default. Other Menus Options Save As and Load The Smart Mount system allows you to save several models you have created (see TRAINING on the previous page) using the Save As command. Choose which model will be the "Current Model using the Load command. Update The Update mode allows you to update training for the current model you have enabled. You will sync on several stars as previously described, which will further refine the pointing of your telescope. Save your model after running in update mode, otherwise the update will be lost when the telescope is powered off. On Load a model from memory (see SAVE AS AND LOAD above) and then Select Smart On. When Smart Mount is "On," the telescope will use the currently loaded model to refine you telescope's pointing, but will not update the model (see SMART MOUNT UPDATE above). If Smart Mount was "On" when you last powered off your telescope, it will be "On" when you start the next session. Off When Smart Mount is "Off," the telescope will not use any model you have created to refine pointing accuracy. Erase The Erase command clears the Current Smart Mount table values to allow a new model to be created. Delete The Delete command allows you to delete any model from memory. To delete a model, just scroll through the names and select the model to you wish to delete and press ENTER. You will be asked to confirm your choice. Press ENTER again and it will be removed from memory.
In the early 17th century Italian Scientist Galileo, using a telescope smaller than your LX200GPS, turned it skyward instead of looking at the distant trees and mountains. What he saw, and what he realized about what he saw, has forever changed the way mankind thinks about the universe. Imagine what it must have been like being the first human to see moons revolve around the planet Jupiter or to see the changing phases of Venus! Because of his observations, Galileo correctly realized Earth's movement and position around the Sun, and in doing so, gave birth to modern astronomy. Yet Galileo's telescope was so crude, he could not clearly make out the rings of Saturn. Galileo's discoveries laid the foundation for understanding the motion and nature of the planets, stars, and galaxies. Building on his foundation, Henrietta Leavitt determined how to measure the distance to stars, Edwin Hubble gave us a glimpse into the possible origin of the universe, Albert Einstein unraveled the crucial relationship of time and light, and 21st-century astronomers are currently discovering planets around stars outside our solar system. Almost daily, using sophisticated successors to Galileo's telescope, such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Telescope, more and more mysteries of the universe are being probed and understood. We are living in the golden age of astronomy. Unlike other sciences, astronomy welcomes contributions from amateurs. Much of the knowledge we have on subjects such as comets, meteor showers, double and variable stars, the Moon, and our solar system comes from observations made by amateur astronomers. So as you look through your Meade LX200GPS telescope, keep in mind Galileo. To him, a telescope was not merely a machine made of glass and metal, but something far morea window of incredible discovery. Autostar II Glossary Be sure to make use of Autostar IIs Glossary feature. The Glossary menu provides an alphabetical listing of definitions and descriptions of common astronomical terms. Access directly through the Glossary menu or through hypertext words embedded in Autostar II. See GLOSSARY MENU, page 27, for more information. Objects in Space Listed below are some of the many astronomical objects that can be seen with your LX200GPS: The Moon The Moon is, on average, a distance of 239,000 miles (380,000km) from Earth and is best observed during its crescent or half phase when Sunlight strikes the Moons surface at an angle. It casts shadows and adds a sense of depth to the view (Fig. 61). No shadows are seen during a full Moon, causing the overly bright Moon to appear flat and rather uninteresting through the telescope. Be sure to use a neutral Moon filter when observing the Moon. Not only does it protect your eyes from the bright glare of the Moon, but it also helps enhance contrast, providing a more dramatic image. Using your LX200GPS, brilliant detail can be observed on the Moon, including hundreds of lunar craters and maria, described below. Craters are round meteor impact sites covering most of the Moons surface. With no atmosphere on the Moon, no weather conditions exist, so the only erosive force is meteor strikes. Under these conditions, lunar craters can last for millions of years. Maria (plural for mare) are smooth, dark areas scattered across the lunar surface. These dark areas are large ancient impact basins that were filled with lava from the interior of the Moon by the depth and force of a meteor or comet impact. Twelve Apollo astronauts left their bootprints on the Moon in the late 1960's and early 1970's. However, no telescope on Earth is able to see these footprints or any other artifacts. In fact, the smallest lunar features that may be seen with the largest telescope on Earth are about one-half mile across.
Fig. 61: The Moon. Note the deep shadows in the craters.
Fig. 62: The planet Jupiter. Jupiter's four largest moons can be observed in a different position every night.
Fig. 63: Saturn has the most extensive ring structure in our Solar System.
Tip: Enter a date in the Date menu and you can determine if a planet(s) will be visible during the night of the entered date by checking its rise and set times.
Planets Planets change positions in the sky as they orbit around the Sun. To locate the planets on a given day or month, consult a monthly astronomy magazine, such as Sky and Telescope or Astronomy. You can also consult Autostar II for information about planets. Scroll to the "Object: Solar System" menu and scroll through the lists of planets. When a planet you are interested in displays, press ENTER. Use the Scroll keys to display information about the planet, such as the planet's coordinates, and the rise and set times. Listed below are the best planets for viewing through the LX200GPS. Venus is about nine-tenths the diameter of Earth. As Venus orbits the Sun, observers can see it go through phases (crescent, half, and full) much like those of the Moon. The disk of Venus appears white as Sunlight is reflected off the thick cloud cover that completely obscures any surface detail. Mars is about half the diameter of Earth, and appears through the telescope as a tiny reddish-orange disk. It may be possible to see a hint of white at one of the planets polar ice caps. Approximately every two years, when Mars is closest to Earth in its orbit, additional detail and coloring on the planet's surface may be visible. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system and is 11 times the diameter of Earth. Jupiter (Fig. 62) appears as a disk with dark lines stretching across the surface. These lines are cloud bands in the atmosphere. Four of Jupiters moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto) can be seen as star-like points of light when using even the lowest magnification. These moons orbit Jupiter so that the number of moons visible on any given night changes as they circle around the giant planet. Saturn is nine times the diameter of Earth and appears as a small, round disk with rings extending out from either side (Fig. 63). In 1610, Galileo, the first person to observe Saturn through a telescope, did not understand that what he was seeing were rings. Instead, he believed that Saturn had ears. Saturns rings are composed of billions of ice particles ranging in size from a speck of dust to the size of a house. The major division in Saturn's rings, called the Cassini Division, is occasionally visible through the LX200GPS. Titan, the largest of Saturns moons can also be seen as a bright, star-like object near the planet. Deep-Sky Objects Star charts can be used to locate constellations, individual stars and deep-sky objects. Examples of just some of the deep-sky objects you'll be able to observe with your LX200GPS are given below:
Meade Telescope Serial Command Protocol
Revision L 9 October 2002 Introduction This paper documents the Meade Telescope Serial Control Protocol utilized to remotely command and control Meade Telescopes. This command language contains a core of common commands supported by all telescope. Due to different implementation and technological advances the command has extension that are not supported by all model. The differences are noted in the descriptive text for the commands. Finally, there are a series of new commands proposed for the LX200GPS. These commands are indicated in the Appendix A at the end of this document. As an extension to the Telescope Protocol beginning with the LX200GPS, a possible response to any command is ASCII NAK (0x15). Should the telescope control chain be busy and unable to accept an process the command, a NAK will be sent within 10 msec of the receipt of the # terminating the command. In this event, the controller should wait a reasonable interval and retry the command. Telescope Command Groupings: ------------------ Supported -----------Command Group Command Designator Symbol AutoStar LX200<16" LX 16" Alignment Query <ACK> x x x Alignment* A x x x Active Backlash $B Reticule Control* B x p p Sync Control C p p p Distance Bars D x x x Fan* f p Focus Control Commands F p p p GPS Commands g Get Information G x x x Home Position Commands* h x x Hour H x x x Initialize Telescope I Library L p p p Movement M x p x High Precision P x x x Smart Drive Control* $Q x x x Quit Command Q x x x Field De-rotator r p Rate Control R p p p Set Information S x x x Tracking Frequency T p p p User Format Control U p x x Way point (Site) W x x x Help Commands ? x x Notes: Commands accepted by the telescopes are shown in the table above indicated by an x entry. This means that the telescope will accept these commands and respond with a syntactically valid response where required. A "p" indicated only a subset of this command class is supported. Due to the differing implementations of the telescopes, some of the commands may provide static responses or may do nothing in response to the command. See the detailed description of the commands below to determine the exact behavior. ACK - Alignment Query ACK <0x06> Query of alignment mounting mode. Returns: A If scope in AltAz Mode L If scope in Land Mode P If scope in Polar Mode LX200GPS x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x -
Meade Telescope Protocol A - Alignment Commands :Aa# Start Telescope Automatic Alignment Sequence [LX200GPS only] Returns: 1: When complete (can take several minutes). 0: If scope not AzEl Mounted or align fails :AL# :AP# :AA# Sets telescope to Land alignment mode Returns: nothing Sets telescope to Polar alignment mode Returns: nothing Sets telescope the AltAz alignment mode Returns: nothing
$B Active Backlash Compensation :$BAdd# Set Altitude/Dec Antibacklash Returns Nothing :$BZdd# Set Azimuth/RA Antibacklash Returns Nothing B - Reticule/Accessory Control :B+# Increase reticule Brightness Return: Nothing :B-# Decrease Reticule Brightness Return: Nothing
:B<n># Set Reticle flash rate to <n> (an ASCII expressed number) <n> Values of 0.3 for LX200 series <n> Values of 0.9 for Autostar and LX200GPS Return: Nothing :BDn# Set Reticule Duty flash duty cycle to <n> (an ASCII expressed digit) [LX200 GPS Only] <n> Values: 0 = On, 1.15 flash rate Return: Nothing
C - Sync Control :CL# Synchonize the telescope with the current Selenographic coordinates. :CM# Synchronizes the telescope's position with the currently selected database object's coordinates. Returns: LX200's - a "#" terminated string with the name of the object that was synced. Autostars & LX200GPS - At static string: " M31 EX GAL MAG 3.5 SZ178.0'#"
D - Distnace Bars :D# Requests a string of bars indicating the distance to the current library object. Returns: LX200's a string of bar characters indicating the distance. Autostars and LX200GPS a string containing one bar until a slew is complete, then a null string is returned.
Meade Telescope Protocol f - Fan Command :f+# LX 16 Turn on the tube exhaust fan LX200GPS Turn on power to accessor panel Autostar & LX200 < 16 Not Supported Returns: nothing :f-# LX 16 Turn off tube exhaust fan LX200GPS - Turn off power to accessory panel Autostar & LX200 < 16 Not Supported Returns: Nothing LX200GPS Return Optical Tube Assembly Temperature Returns <sdd.ddd># - a # terminated signed ASCII real number indicating the Celsius ambient temperature. All others Not supported
F Focuser Control :F+# Start Focuser moving inward (toward objective) Returns: None :F-# :FQ# :FF# :FS# Start Focuser moving outward (away from objective) Returns: None Halt Focuser Motion Returns: Notrhing Set Focus speed to fastest setting Returns: Nothing Set Focus speed to slowest setting Returns: Nothing
:F<n># Autostar & LX200GPS set focuser speed to <n> where <n> is an ASCII digit 1.4 Returns: Nothing LX200 Not Supported g GPS/Magnetometer commands :g+# LX200GPS Only - Turn on GPS Returns: Nothing :g-# :gps# :gT# LX200GPS Only - Turn off GPS LX200GPS Only Turns on NMEA GPS data stream. Returns: The next string from the GPS in standard NEMA format followed by a # key Powers up the GPS and updates the system time from the GPS stream. The process my take several minutes to complete. During GPS update, normal handbox operations are interrupted. [LX200gps only] Returns: 0 In the event that the user interrupts the process, or the GPS times out. Returns: 1 After successful updates
G Get Telescope Information :G0# Get Alignment Menu Entry 0 Returns: A # Terminated ASCII string. [LX200 legacy command] :G1# Get Alignment Menu Entry 0 Returns: A # Terminated ASCII string. [LX200 legacy command]
Meade Telescope Protocol :G2# :GA# Get Alignment Menu Entry 0 Returns: A # Terminated ASCII string. [LX200 legacy command] Get Telescope Altitude Returns: sDD*MM# or sDD*MMSS# The current scope altitude. The returned format depending on the current precision setting. Get Local Telescope Time In 12 Hour Format Returns: HH:MM:SS# The time in 12 format Get Browse Brighter Magnitude Limit Returns: sMM.M# The magnitude of the faintest object to be returned from the telescope FIND/BROWSE command. Command when searching for objects in the Deep Sky database. Get current date. Returns: MM/DD/YY# The current local calendar date for the telescope. Get Calendar Format Returns: 12# or 24# Depending on the current telescope format setting. Get Telescope Declination. Returns: sDD*MM# or sDD*MMSS# Depending upon the current precision setting for the telescope. Get Currently Selected Object/Target Declination Returns: sDD*MM# or sDD*MMSS# Depending upon the current precision setting for the telescope. Get Find Field Diameter Returns: NNN# An ASCIi interger expressing the diameter of the field search used in the IDENTIFY/FIND commands. Get Browse Faint Magnitude Limit Returns: sMM.M# The magnitude or the birghtest object to be returned from the telescope FIND/BROWSE command. Get UTC offset time Returns: sHH# or sHH.H# The number of decimal hours to add to local time to convert it to UTC. If the number is a whole number the sHH# form is returned, otherwise the longer form is return. On Autostar and LX200GPS, the daylight savings setting in effect is factored into returned value. Get Current Site Longitude Returns: sDDD*MM# The current site Longitude. East Longitudes are expressed as negative Get High Limit Returns: sDD* The minimum elevation of an object above the horizon to which the telescope will slew with reporting a Below Horizon error. Get Local Time in 24 hour format Returns: HH:MM:SS#
Meade Telescope Protocol The Local Time in 24-hour Format :Gl# Get Larger Size Limit Returns: NNN# The size of the smallest object to be returned by a search of the telescope using the BROWSE/FIND commands. Get Site 1 Name Returns: <string># A # terminated string with the name of the requested site. Get Site 2 Name Returns: <string># A # terminated string with the name of the requested site. Get Site 3 Name Returns: <string># A # terminated string with the name of the requested site. Get Site 4 Name Returns: <string># A # terminated string with the name of the requested site. Get Lower Limit Returns: DD*# The highest elevation above the horizon that the telescope will be allowed to slew to without a warning message. Get Minimum Quality For Find Operation Returns: SU# Super EX# Excellent VG# Very Good GD# Good FR# Fair PR# Poor VP# Very Poor The mimum quality of object returned by the FIND command. Get Telescope RA Returns: HH:MM.T# or HH:MM:SS# Depending which precision is set for the telescope Get current/target object RA Returns: HH:MM.T# or HH:MM:SS Depending upon which precision is set for the telescope Get the Sidereal Time Returns: HH:MM:SS# The Sidereal Time as an ASCII Sexidecimal value in 24 hour format Get Smaller Size Limit Returns: NNN'# The size of the largest object returned by the FIND command expressed in arcminutes. Get tracking rate Returns: TT.T# Current Track Frequency expressed in hertz assuming a synchonous motor design where a 60.0 Hz motor clock would produce 1 revolution of the telescope in 24 hours.
Meade Telescope Protocol :Gt# Get Current Site Latitdue Returns: sDD*MM# The latitude of the current site. Positive inplies North latitude.
:GVD# Get Telescope Firmware Date Returns: mmm dd yyyy# :GVN# Get Telescope Firmware Number Returns: dd.d# :GVP# Get Telescope Product Name Returns: <string># :GVT# Get Telescope Firmware Time returns: HH:MM:SS# :Gy# Get deepsky object search string Returns: GPDCO# A string indicaing the class of objects that should be returned by the FIND/BROWSE command. If the character is upper case, the object class is return. If the character is lowercase, objects of this class are ignored. The character meanings are as follws: G Galaxies P Planetary Nebulas D Diffuse Nebulas C Globular Clusters O Open Clusters Get telescope azimuth Returns: DDD*MM#T or DDD*MMSS# The current telescope Azimuth depending on the selected precision.
h Home Position Commands :hS# LX200GPS and LX 16 Seeks Home Position and stores the encoder values from the aligned telescope at the home position in the nonvolatile memory of the scope. Returns: Nothing Autostar,LX200 Ignored :hF# LX200GPS and LX 16 Seeks the Home Position of the scope and sets/aligns the scope based on the encoder values stored in non-volatile memory Returns: Nothing Autostar,LX200 - Igrnored LX200GPS only: Sleep Telescope. Power off motors, encoders, displays and lights. Scope remains in minimum power mode until a keystroke is received or a wake command is sent. Autostar, LX200GPS and LX 16Slew to Park Position Returns: Nothing LX200 GPS Only: Wake up sleeping telescope. Autostar, LX200GPS and LX 16 Query Home Status Returns: 0 Home Search Failed 1 Home Search Found 2 Home Search in Progress
:hN# :hP# :hW# :h?#
Meade Telescope Protocol LX200 Not Supported H Time Format Command :H# Toggle Between 24 and 12 hour time format Returns: Nothing I Initialize Telescope Command :I# LX200 GPS Only - Causes the telescope to cease current operations and restart at its power on initialization. L Object Library Commands :LB# Find previous object and set it as the current target object. Returns: Nothing LX200GPS & Autostar Performs no function :LCNNNN# Set current target object to deep sky catalog object number NNNN Returns : Nothing LX200GPS & Autostar Implemented in later firmware revisions :LF# Find Object using the current Size, Type, Upper limit, lower limt and Quality contraints and set it as current target object. Returns: Nothing LX200GPS & Autostar Performs no function Identify object in current field. Returns: <string># Where the string contains the number of objects in field & object in center field. LX200GPS & Autostar Performs no function. Returns static string 0 - Objects found. Get Object Information Returns: <string># Returns a string containing the current target objects name and object type. LX200GPS & Autostar performs no operation. Returns static description of Andromeda Galaxy.
:LMNNNN# Set current target object to Messier Object NNNN, an ASCII expressed decimal number. Returns: Nothing. LX200GPS and Autostar Implemented in later versions. :LN# :LoD# Find next deep sky target object subject to the current constraints. LX200GPS & AutoStar Performs no function Select deep sky Library where D specifices 0 - Objects CNGC / NGC in Autostar & LX200GPS 1 - Objects IC 2 UGC 3 Caldwell (Autostar & LX200GPS) 4 Arp (LX200 GPS) 5 Abell (LX200 GPS) Returns: 1 Catalog available 0 Catalog Not found LX200GPS & AutoStar Performs no function always returns 1 Select star catalog D, an ASCII integer where D specifies: 0 STAR library (Not supported on Autostar I & II) 1 SAO library 2 GCVS library
Meade Telescope Protocol 5 Returns: Catalog Available Catalog Not Found Hipparcos (Autostar I & 2) HR (Autostar I & 2) HD (Autostar I & 2)
:LSNNNN# Select star NNNN as the current target object from the currently selected catalog Returns: Nothing LX200GPS & AutoStar Available in later firmwares M Telescope Movement Commands :MA# Autostar, LX 16, LX200GPS Slew to target Alt and Az Returns: 0 - No fault 1 Fault LX200 Not supported :Me# :Mn# :Ms# :Mw# :MS# Move Telescope East at current slew rate Returns: Nothing Move Telescope North at current slew rate Returns: Nothing Move Telescope South at current slew rate Returns: Nothing Move Telescope West at current slew rate Returns: Nothing Slew to Target Object Returns: 0 1<string># 2<string>#
Slew is Possible Object Below Horizon w/string message Object Below Higher w/string message
P - High Precision Toggle :P# Toggles High Precsion Pointing. When High precision pointing is enabled scope will first allow the operator to center a nearby bright star before moving to the actual taget. Returns: <string> HIGH PRECISION Current setting after this command. LOW PRECISION Current setting after this command. $Q Smart Drive Control $Q# Toggles Smart Drive PEC on and off for both axis Returns: Nothing Not supported on Autostar :$QA+ Enable Dec/Alt PEC [LX200gps only] Returns: Nothing :$QA:$QZ+ Enable Dec/Alt PEC [LX200gps only] Returns: Nothing Enable RA/AZ PEC compensation [LX200gps only]
Meade Telescope Protocol Returns: Nothing :$QZDisable RA/AZ PEC Compensation [LX200gpgs only] Return: Nothing
Q Movement Commands :Q# Halt all current slewing Returns:Nothing :Qe# :Qn# :Qs# :Qw# Halt eastward Slews Returns: Nothing Halt northward Slews Returns: Nothing Halt southward Slews Returns: Nothing Halt westward Slews Returns: Nothing
r Field Derotator Commands :r+# Turn on Field Derotator [LX 16 and LX200GPS] Returns: Nothing :r-# Turn off Field Derotator, halt slew in progress. [Lx 16 and LX200GPS] Returns Nothing
R Slew Rate Commands :RC# Set Slew rate to Centering rate (2nd slowest) Returns: Nothing :RG# :RM# :RS# Set Slew rate to Guiding Rate (slowest) Returns: Nothing Set Slew rate to Find Rate (2nd Fastest) Returns: Nothing Set Slew rate to max (fastest) Returns: Nothing
:RADD.D# Set RA/Azimuth Slew rate to DD.D degrees per second [LX200GPS Only] Returns: Nothing :REDD.D# Set Dec/Elevation Slew rate to DD.D degrees per second [ LX200GPS only] Returns: Nothing :RgSS.S# Set guide rate to +/- SS.S to arc seconds per second. This rate is added to or subtracted from the current tracking Rates when the CCD guider or handbox guider buttons are pressed when the guide rate is selected. Rate shall not exceed sidereal speed (approx 15.0417/sec)[ LX200GPS only] Returns: Nothing
Meade Telescope Protocol S Telescope Set Commands :SasDD*MM# Set target object altitude to sDD*MM# or sDD*MMSS# [LX 16, Autostar, LX200GPS] Returns: 0 Object within slew range 1 Object out of slew range :SbsMM.M# Set Brighter limit to the ASCII decimal magnitude string. SMM.M Returns: 0 - Valid 1 invalid number :SBn# Set Baud Rate n, where n is an ASCII digit (1.9) with the following interpertation 1 56.7K 2 38.4K 3 28.8K 4 19.2K 5 14.4K Returns: 1 At the current baud rate and then changes to the new rate for further communication
:SCMM/DD/YY# Change Handbox Date to MM/DD/YY Returns: <D><string> D = 0 if the date is invalid. The string is the null string. D = 1 for valid dates and the string is Updating Planetary Data# Note: For LX200GPS this is the UTC data! :SdsDD*MM# Set target object declination to sDD*MM or sDD*MM:SS depending on the current precision setting Returns: 1 - Dec Accepted 0 Dec invalid :SEsDD*MM# Sets target object to the specificed selenographic latitude on the Moon. Returns 1- If moon is up and coordinates are accepted. 0 If the coordinates are invalid :SesDDD*MM# Sets the target object to the specified selenogrphic longitude on the Moon Returns 1 If the Moon is up and coordinates are accepted. 0 If the coordinates are invalid for any reason. :SfsMM.M# Set faint magnitude limit to sMM.M Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SFNNN# Set FIELD/IDENTIFY field diamter to NNNN arc minutes.
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Meade Telescope Protocol Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SgDDD*MM# Set current sites longitude to DDD*MM an ASCII position string Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SGsHH.H# Set the number of hours added to local time to yield UTC Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :ShDD# Set the minimum object elevation limit to DD# Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SlNNN# Set the size of the smallest object returned by FIND/BROWSE to NNNN arc minutes Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SLHH:MM:SS# Set the local Time Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SM<string># Set site 1s name to be <string>. LX200s only accept 3 character strings. Other scopes accept up to 15 characters. Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SN<string># Set site 2s name to be <string>. LX200s only accept 3 character strings. Other scopes accept up to 15 characters. Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SO<string># Set site 3s name to be <string>. LX200s only accept 3 character strings. Other scopes accept up to 15 characters. Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SP<string># Set site 4s name to be <string>. LX200s only accept 3 character strings. Other scopes accept up to 15 characters. Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid
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Meade Telescope Protocol :SoDD*# Set highest elevation to which the telescope will slew Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :Sq# Step the quality of limit used in FIND/BROWSE through its cycle of VP SU. Current setting can be queried with :Gq# Returns: Nothing :SrHH:MM.T# :SrHH:MM:SS# Set target object RA to HH:MM.T or HH:MM:SS depending on the current precision setting. Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SsNNN# Set the size of the largest object the FIND/BROWSE command will return to NNNN arc minutes Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SSHH:MM:SS# Sets the local sideral time to HH:MM:SS Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :StsDD*MM# Sets the current site latitdue to sDD*MM# Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :STTT.T# Sets the current tracking rate to TTT.T hertz, assuming a model where a 60.0 Hertz synchronous motor will cause the RA axis to make exactly one revolution in 24 hours. Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SwN# Set maximum slew rate to N degrees per second. N is the range (2.8) Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SyGPDCO# Sets the object selection string used by the FIND/BROWSE command. Returns: 0 Invalid 1 - Valid :SzDDD*MM# Sets the target Object Azimuth [LX 16 and LX200GPS only] Returns:
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Meade Telescope Protocol 0 Invalid 1 - Valid T Tracking Commands :T+# Increment Manual rate by 0.1 Hz Returns: Nothing :T-# :TL# :TM# :TQ# Decrement Manual rate by 0.1 Hz Returns: Nothing Set Lunar Tracking Rage Returns: Nothing Select custom tracking rate Returns: Nothing Select default tracking rate Returns: Nothing
:TDDD.DDD# Set Manual rate do the ASCII expressed decimal DDD.DD Returns: 1 U - Precision Toggle :U# Toggle between low/hi precision positions Low - RA displays and messages HH:MM.T sDD*MM High - Dec/Az/El displays and messages HH:MM:SS sDD*MM:SS Returns Nothing W Site Select :W<n># Set current site to <n>, an ASCII digit in the range 0.3 Returns: Nothing ? Help Text Retrieval :??# Set help text cursor to the start of the first line. Returns: <string># The <string> contains first string of the general handbox help file. :?+# Retrieve the next line of help text Returns: <string># The <string> contains the next string of general handbox help file Retreive previos line of the handbox help text file. Returns: <string># The <string> contains the next string of general handbox help file
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Meade Telescope Protocol Appendix A: LX200GPS Command Extensions :Aa# Automatically align scope :$BAdd# Set Altitude/Dec Antibacklash :$BZdd# Set Azimuth/RA Antibacklash :BD<n># Programmable Reticule Duty Cycle :F<n># Set Focuer Speed :g+# Turn on GPS power :g-# Turn off GPS power :gps# Stream GPS data :gT# Updates Time of Day from GPS :I# Initialize Telescope :$QZ+# RA PEC Enable :$QZ-# RA PEC Disable :$QA+# Dec PEC Enable :$QA-# Dec PEC Disable :RADD.D# Programmable Slew Rates :REDD.D# Programmable Slew Rates :RgSS.S# Programmable Guiding Rates :SBn# Set Baud Rate
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Technical specifications
Full description
Motofocus for Meade LX200GPS Telescope Focusers Focusing is made easy with the JMI Motofocus MFLXGPS for the Meade LX200GPS telescopes. This Motofocus requires no drilling or tapping for mounting. It is a user friendly hand control with an electric focus motor that attaches to the shaft of a focuser knob (or the knob itself). It is battery operated and comes with the 9-volt battery. The Motofocus offers precise vibration-free focusing without the need to touch the telescope. This unit features variable speed for course and fine adjustments. Optional Digital Read Out (DRO) or Digital Focus Counter (DFC) can be added to improve focusing accuracy and repeatability.
LE46A551p2R HAC4PRO EL-2135 Rotofluid Reviews Megane GT 2003 CI PRS-505 LS-K2463HL W 500 K700I DVR-950 KD-LX3 Accessories Ux-105 175 D100 IC-3FX CGX171CCA X500plus Adventure Yamaha SY55 VPC-CG65 Travelmate-2700 SPA-3 Matra 540R Gigaset A2 LD-1204M1 DSC-P51 6 1 Server VR530 Monopoly Deal Telescope DSP-Z11 HT-Z110T 160IS-MB RB-1080 KLV-23HR1 Uhtc Zeos Cmax Deere 7330 SCC-C7455P DVD-P170 Software MA-12C Alesis DG8 Armada 4100 Computer LAV 6200 TXL32C20ES XR-C7300 ICN 635 L246WHX-BN MF102 SD-P5000 Motor 2HG AVA 450 Headset H680 2 1 8 21GR2554 Polaroid X530 Smt SHX-V56-57CUC Grill NS-125F EMP-1815 SGH-T479B OT-980 VGN-FZ19VN Xenyx1002B 88800 HBR657 Backlight FAX-837MC DE-824TP S1PRO M5-S4331 SB-24 Kxtg6411 Rotary Iron ZWF-1400 Speedlight SPP-A2770 16 DUO 3214 AVR 630 2410-304 SUB-zero 501F 600 PRO KX-T7020E Antivirus DEH-2300UB TXP42GT20E 350 360 TEL 2 Navigator TLA-01911C M430TR YP-S3JAW P-870M-i V2 Contour-1997 Touch 510 TSS200 VX-60R Dvds54 74630 GA15DE
manuel d'instructions, Guide de l'utilisateur | Manual de instrucciones, Instrucciones de uso | Bedienungsanleitung, Bedienungsanleitung | Manual de Instruções, guia do usuário | инструкция | návod na použitie, Užívateľská príručka, návod k použití | bruksanvisningen | instrukcja, podręcznik użytkownika | kullanım kılavuzu, Kullanım | kézikönyv, használati útmutató | manuale di istruzioni, istruzioni d'uso | handleiding, gebruikershandleiding
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Images: Eager Lion 2014 [Image 3 of 8]
Photo by Sgt. James Hall
1st Lt. Benjamin Hepler, platoon commander for Battalion Landing Team 1/6 , Charlie Company, 2nd Platoon, instructs his Marines during a squad assault during the CALFEX demonstration in support of Exercise Eager Lion 2014, June 5, at Jebel Petra, Jordan. Eager Lion is a recurring, multinational exercise designed to strengthen military-to-military relationships, increase interoperability between partner nations and enhance regional security and stability. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by; Sgt James A. Hall, CE MARFOR CENTCOM (FWD) Combat Camera/Released)
This work, Eager Lion 2014 [Image 1 of 8], by Sgt James Hall, identified by DVIDS, is free of known copyright restrictions under U.S. copyright law.
Date Taken:06.05.2014
Date Posted:06.08.2014 02:02
Photo ID:1386341
Size:218.06 KB
Location:JEBEL PETRA, JO

subset: commoncrawl


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10 Internet Marketing Trends and Predictions for 2014
1) Link building services will continue to lose value
Building links defeats the purpose of search engine optimization. Good sites should naturally get links because people want to link to their content. SEO companies that build links for websites are cheating the system and artificially ranking websites that should not be ranked as high based solely on their content value and design alone. Google has made a strong effort to penalize unnatural link building efforts, and with social media and other data becoming more prominent they can also rely less heavily on link data to determine a websites value. I have seen several major articles on reputable SEO websites such as Search Engine Land stating that link building will soon be a thing of the past.
2) Mobile growth will make mobile or responsive sites a necessity.
Mobile traffic is exploding and will continue to grow at a faster pace than traditional traffic because of how easy and convenient it is to get a legitimate smartphone in addition to the fact that you can access the internet from anywhere with a smartphone. Apps are also launching like crazy making mobile more and more useful. Why take a taxi when you can Lyft, Uber, or Halo all on your phone for cheaper? A study by Mashable shows mobile ads will beat Radio by 2017. The growth in mobile is so strong that restaurants and retail businesses depending on consumers searching for them on the go will have no choice but to build their sites for mobile, and the ones that don't will struggle to compete with users leaving to mobilie friendly sites that cater to their on the go needs.
3) Yahoo search will continue to struggle compared to Bing and Google
Yahoo's search value is now down below 11 percent and is still falling. Why use Yahoo search when there is Bing and Google. Users that still use internet explorer or a windows smartphone will often use Bing for convenience, and of course Google continues to dominate because it is simply the best search engine of the three. That leaves Yahoo, and unless you use their site consistently for news or other media, most users will have more reason than ever to use Bing and Google over Yahoo. This is a huge problem for the tech giant. Yahoo would really be plummeting in stock value if it weren't for their huge stake in Alibaba, worth an estimated 24 billion dollars.
4) Social media & blogging will rule SEO
Excellent content and a growing social media campaign will overpower other SEO strategies. Now don't get me wrong, proper on page SEO and things like claiming all of your local listings are important but without a good content strategy and social campaign it will be tough to rank high in search in 2014. My previous blog post on this topic depicts why social and blogging are better for measuring a websites SEO value.
5) Social media advertising will eat into Google advertising for the first time.
I have clients that are only advertising on social media that have no Google ads running. At times, we at Trellis have only advertised on social media, not Google. That may sound a bit crazy but let me explain in more detail. When you advertise your social media pages on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin you are building long term value for your company. Building your likes from 1k to 5k can add tremendous value to your company because you can always post to those people at any time for free. Advertising on Google may bring the most direct sales, but if those sales are not worth more than your spend you could be losing money. With social media it is harder to lose money because at the very least you are building a social following, which in itself has value, whereas with Google search you could run ads and simply not get any sales and come away with nothing.
6) eCommerce will become a necessity for more and more businesses.
Over the past year almost all my purchases have been online, except for items I need that day, and I see that trend increasing as it is becoming easier and easier to find what I want online with low or no shipping cost. A company we work with Midnight Munchies even allows you to order snacks online, so why even bother going to a convenience store when you can have them delivered to you for practically the same price. The convenience of online shopping will continue to accelerate, as businesses become more tech savvy, ramping up their online stores. This will make it increasingly difficult to compete with a brick and mortar location alone, forcing more and more businesses to go online. eCommerce topped 1 trillion in sales in 2012 and will grow well beyond that in 2014.
7) WordPress will start to cut into Drupal and Joomla downloads.
WordPress is used by over 19% of websites compared to Drupal and Joomla only reaching 3.3% and 2% of the web each. Its dominance on the internet is most attributed to the fact that it is more user friendly and easier to develop on than the other two major CMS platforms. As the community around WordPress grows, the need to use Drupal and Joomla will diminish because there will be more plugins and uses for WordPress that make Drupal or Joomla unnecessary.
8) Magento will solidify its stranglehold as the number one eCommerce platform.
Magento has earned the number one position as the leading eCommerce platform on the web. With over 15% of ecommerce sites on Magento including its enterprise edition of the top one million eCommerce sites, Magento is a great solution for small, mid, and larger companies. Magento is free to use, but offers the enterprise capabilities of major platforms making it a platform you can start out with as a small company but also grow with, without being forced to rebuild because of a lack of enterprise features.
9) Internet advertising will creep up on television advertising faster than expected.
Internet advertising exploded over the past decade to become the number two advertising medium behind television, pushing it ahead of print. You cannot track your metrics on Television or Print very effectively relative to the plethora of information from internet marketing platforms like Facebook Insights, and Google analytics. With so many online advertising platforms like Google search, Youtube, Facebook and more to advertise to hundreds of millions if not billions online there is really less and less of a need to spend money on advertising outside of the internet.
10) Email marketing will become a necessary growth strategy for smaller companies.
Email marketing rarely gets attention compared to social media or search but some studies show it has an ROI of 40 to 1. 40 to 1! Are you kidding me? If you can even get a 5 to 1 return than you should absolutely be using email marketing. With platforms like Mailchimp, Constant Contact, and Hubspot, it is easier than every to build up an email list and email out to your subscribers news or updates about your companies offerings. At this point very few companies have an excuse to not engage in some form of email marketing; that is except for newer companies with low revenue and more important areas of focus like building up their product/services or local networking and sales priorities.
6 Comments
Its really a great post great article, I am totally agree with you that Social media and blogging will rule SEO. Websites like facebook, twitter, pinterest and specially "Google Plus" are playing very important role in top page ranking. Google plus is most important because its always have do-follow link, no other site has do-follow link which I mention above.
Great list – have to agree with everything here!
No offence, but I doubt that many of this predictions will become trends. Have to disagree with many of this statements. Link building will always be necessary, link popularity weight is nearly 40% in Google algorithm. Social media, certainly can't rule SEO, as social media ROI is pathetic for 50% of niche. Social media advertising can't eat AdWords, as people don't go shopping in Facebook, but to hangout with their friends. WordPress probably will lose markets from Drupal and Joomla, not the opposite.
With the rest I agree.
I think it's safe to predict that link building will continue to be the largest factor in Google's algorithm, but I think over time it'll lose some of it's percentage (but not any time too soon). Link building will never stop ranking #1 for increasing your site's authority.
But I think the first one should have been headlined "Guest blogging will decrease it's value" rather than link building. Guest blogging has gotten so spammy and I get several emails a day at EnMast from SEO companies making terrible, inauthentic, poorly copy-and-pasted pitches just hungry for a link presenting crappy content. It's annoying. I'm getting really frustrated with it. I don't even bother replying anymore. I just delete the emails as soon as I get them.
Matt Cutts recently wrote a blog post that you should check out — it outlined how spammy guest blogging has become, and I think he hit it dead on. SEOs should approach guest blogging not for link building, but rather building a larger audience. But 90% don't. And they're ruining it for the rest of us — Google's catching on it.


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In terms of average speed, how much faster (if any) are you when you ride on your geared bike?
I average a little of 16 mph on my SS (42x18) on my longer rides and was just wondering how much faster (if any) I might be on a geared bike.
In terms of average speed, how much faster (if any) are you when you ride on your geared bike?
I average a little of 16 mph on my SS (42x18) on my longer rides and was just wondering how much faster (if any) I might be on a geared bike.
You're using a very low gear, so you will undoubtedly be faster with gears. Others with more all-around gears on their SS/FG bikes may be a little faster to a lot faster or not at all faster - kinda depends how and where you ride. Although, average speed isn't very useful, gears will make it easier to achieve the same average speed.
I should have mentioned that this is my SS CX bike. The ratio is pretty good for the CX rides/races around here, but obviously not ideal for the street.
If you are coming from riding a CX bike on the road you should be looking to get a road oriented SS or geared bike (or possibly another wheelset with 23-28mm tires_ if you want to increase your average speed on longer road rides. When I compare my road oriented ss and geared bikes I don't notice any meaningful difference in average speed.
Last edited by Charlie_Zulu; 11-30-11 at 08:21 PM. Reason: extra info
Lately I've been switching back and forth between my SS and my geared roadie. My SS is geared 46x16. Both have 700x23's.
I've been logging my rides for the last 2 1/2 months. You may find it interesting that my average speed is about the same with both bikes. Some of my higher averages have been with the SS. The loops I typically ride range from 12-24 miles.
The big differences I see are, with gears I can attain higher momentary (a few seconds to a few minutes) speeds on flats and/or with tail winds. I'm working on my spinning and I can do 120 rpms for short bursts without bouncing all over the place. If I could improvement on that, there is my opportunity for increasing speed on flats. On downhills, once a grade reaches a certain pitch I stop pedaling and tuck in to reach 35-40 mph or more, so gears don't help me there.
I may try my SS on a 30 mile group ride this weekend, one where everybody uses gears. It will be an interesting experiment, but I think I can keep up as well as I would with my geared bike. We'll see...
Not taking into account hills/wind/etc you have the following:
With a 42x18 gear ratio you are developing about 61 gear inches of travel (very low), @ 88rpm avg you would get your 16mph avg (since this is an average, I take it you spin much faster than that at times)
Typically, my workhorse gear is a 50x16 @ 82 gear inches of travel. At 88rpm (what seems to be your average) that's 21mph avg.
Of course that is pretty unsustainable over long distances. So far, my fastest solo average over a 40mi, almost entirely flat section, is 19.8mph.
Anyway, there are WAY TOO many factors that affect your average speed to use it as a valid basis for comparison. That being said the fact is a) you are using a pretty small gear ratio b) you would spin out before being able to reach the upper-end speeds you could achieve with gears.
For distance riding I don't normally notice a real difference (not that I'm really looking for it). I wonder if that is because the gearing I select is probably close to the average gearing I use on a multi-speed bike.
Thart being said, my fastest century was on a fixed gear though, but it was also by far the flattest course I've ridden.
I ride faster with my FG than I do on my geared bike. I think it's because I have to mash up hills as quickly as possible to avoid stalling out (with a geared bike I just put it in a lower gear and spin out, but it takes longer to get up the hill).
well that's a fault of your own and not the equipment you employed.
I'm not saying your part of this camp, but too many people fail to realize that your equipment is independent of your effort. Lots of people in the 41 fall in to this camp.
You know, the kind of people that think climbing on a heavier bike will make you stronger.
That's some bull****.
You want to know what makes you stronger? Riding your bike hard. Your speed will be dictated (in a very small part) by your equipment, among other things ofc.
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
the real question is
how much faster are you on a bike with brakes?
When I tried brakeless I pretty much didnt go over 15 if I could help it and crawled down hills. I felt confident but I did not have the nerve to go fast at all
In Vancouver (hilly city) if I want to do a + 5 km trip I take my roadie. It's significantly faster and tires me out less due to hills.
For short distances, though, my fixie is faster. Also, it's fun.
So let me ask another question. I think the smallest freewheel that I have found is 16t. Based on help from Sheldon, that will increase my GI from 63.4 to 71.3. Since freewheels are relatively cheap, and I'm poor, this is probably something I could change.
My typical ride is about 30 miles and it is lumpy; some flats, some rolling hills, no major climbs. I've been riding since August, and I feel pretty good on these rides. Is going from 63.4 to 71.3 doable? Should I go to a 17t freewheel first?
this is all up to you, your riding style, routes and body, no one can really answer that, except maybe the people you actually ride with.
that said, SS chainrings are also pretty cheap, which is another easy way to change the GI you're using. Also - depending on what type of rear wheel you have, if it's a flip-flop hub, you can maybe get a 16t and 17t cog for either side, and switch as the conditions dictate. (or any other combination your chain length will accommodate.
Also, why are you changing you gear? Are you spinning out too much down those "lumps" and having a relatively easy time ascending them?
If so, maybe gear up, 1t in the rear at at time (if you can afford to).
Don't fall into some machismo mode up gearing up just because you can. Cycling shouldn't be a penis measuring contest.
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
I do tend to spin out on the longer flat sections and on most descents. As for the ascents, I can maintain a pretty good pace up most of the ones that I have tried. I do think I am at the point where I can swith to a different ratio. I'm just not sure what the recommended approach is.
BTW, I measure my junk with a ruler.
I just thought your post was a good example for me to illustrate something that I find to be an interesting topic: the disparty between bike equipment, performance and effort.
I apologize if I didn't make my disclaimer more clear: "I'm not saying that you fall into this camp..."
Last edited by TMonk; 12-01-11 at 09:28 AM.
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste


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Meet and Communicate with Fun Singles Near You on JDate
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text:
We know that Harry Styles likes women of a certain age, but we're still picking our jaws off the floor after hearing that he once sent 80s 'Blue Peter' presenter Yvette Fielding mucky text messages.
The 'Most Haunted' star has revealed the One Directioner sent her filthy texts when he was just 16 - and while his mum was sat across the table too!
Yvette Fielding and Harry Styles
In an interview with Woman magazine, Yvette told of how the singer was a pal of her son Will, and they had all once enjoyed a meal out with her husband Karl, his mum Anne Cox and her partner Robin, when Harry whipped out his mobile and started sending her texts.
"Harry was sending me disgusting texts from across the table. I can't even repeat the words, they were so rude!" she said.
Dirty Harry.
"The first time I met Harry, he did a sweeping bow and got down on his knees on the road. I thought, 'what a joker, we'll get on well'," she said.
Explaining how he became close to her, she said: "He called me his second mum and he and Will lived in each other's pockets, dressing and talking the same.
"Harry confessed that he wanted to be a singer, but thought he couldn't make it. I told him to follow his dream."
She added: "He's a Romeo, he's very romantic. When there's a love interest, Harry will go all out to get the girl. He's totally obsessed.
"I think that's what Simon Cowell saw in him, the cheeky chappie charm."
Harry and his mum Anne Cox
However, Yvette claimed Harry abandoned his friendship with Will when he found fame with One Direction on 'The X Factor' in 2010.
His spokesperson has since denied Yvette's claims he sent her messages, but he did speak about his love of a cougar during an interview with We Love Pop magazine last year, insisting he would never pursue anyone older than his mum, who is 44.
"I love cougars though. But really it comes down to what they're like. Age is nothing but a number," he said.
The full interview is in Woman magazine, out today.
1. He's got lovely, bouncy curls which we'd love to run our fingers through.
2. He's not afraid of getting naked.
3. He's got a rather nice voice, which he could serenade us with.
4. He was the cutest kid ever - just look at those cheeks!
5. His bromance with Nick 'Grimmy' Grimshaw. We heart a good bit of man love.
6. He scrubs up well in a suit. Yum!
7. He loves animals *melts*.
8. He gave Taylor Swift enough material for about 10 more albums during their relationship.
9. He has tattoos. Lots of tattoos. OK, many are questionable but it just adds to his allure.
10. He loves his mum. Bless!
11. He always gets the best girls (we love Flacko almost as much as Harry).
12. He's part of our favouritest band ever (ok, this week) - One Direction.
13. He's got a filthy mouth.
14. He's got some flashy cars. And a Capri. This is very cool indeed.
15. He's not afraid to make a fool of himself (yes, that is him inside that thing).
16. He's touchy feely. Especially when it comes to his bandmate's bits.
17. He's the Robbie of 1D.
18. He's charitable - 1D are releasing this year's Comic Relief single.
19. He'd be an amazing mate. We are sure of this.


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What techniques could I use to make my "jar" file Reverse Engineer proof?
You are looking for an "obfuscator" (if you want to ship jars) . Many exist:
You should be aware that many obfuscation techniques removes information you may want to keep for troubleshooting purposes - think of the value of a stack trace from an irreproducible situation - or actual debugging sessions. Regardless of what you do, your quality testing should be done on the jars-to-be-shipped since the obfuscator may introduce subtle bugs.
If you really want to hide things, consider compiling to an native binary with gcj.
You can't make it reverse engineer proof. If the java runtime can read the instructions, so can the user.
There are obfuscators which make the disassembled code less readable/understandable to make reverse engineering it harder, but you can't make it impossible.
Don't release it.
There is no such thing as hacker proof. Sorry.
The unfortunate truth is that no matter what barricade you put in the way, if the honestly want in, they'll get in. Simply because if they're persistent enough they'll be looking at your code from an Assembly level. Not a thing on earth you can do about it.
What you can look at doing is Obfuscating code, packing the jar and merging all externals packages into a single to make life harder. However no matter how high the hurdle, my comment in the previous paragraph still applies.
I think this is more about hardening the access path to the jar, more than anything else.
I have seen one case where a company wrote a custom classloader, that could decrypt an encrypted jar file. The classloader itself used compiled JNI code, so that the decryption key and algorithm were fairly deeply obfuscated in the binary libary.
Definitely avoid placing any sensitive data in the code. For example:
One option would be to encrypt these (using industry-standard encryption routines; avoid rolling your own) and place them in an external configuration file or database.
As others have stated, any algorithms in deployed code can be reverse-engineered.
Sensitive algorithms could be placed in a web service or other server-side code if desired.


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Things to see and do - Andros Island
Leaving for the Bahamas
Andros Barrier Reef
Andros Barrier Reef : Michelin's recommendations
Andros is sheltered by the world's third largest barrier reef which forms a wall between the island and the ocean trench extending off the coast. The two underwater sites comprise an exceptional environment full of wildlife and beautiful landscapes.
Useful Information
- Address : Côte Est BHS - Twin LakesTwin Lakes


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Patterson trains, shares burdens of women in Ukraine
Keith Collier
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary
FORT WORTH, Texas – During a recent visit to Ukraine, March 10-12, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary First Lady Dorothy Patterson provided biblical training for women from across the country and empathized with the struggles of these women at such a critical time in their nation's history.
Ukranian Baptist Theological Seminary in Lviv, Ukraine, invited Patterson to speak to women about themes of biblical womanhood. Seminary president and Southwestern Seminary graduate Yarslov Pyzh has led the seminary to start a women's studies track.
"We're working on helping them develop a certificate of study that will give them courses helpful in their woman-to-woman ministries," Patterson said.
"We're hoping and praying that the Lord will enable them to get this program off the ground so the women in the churches will have some trained leadership."
Candi Finch, assistant professor of theology in women's studies at Southwestern, accompanied Patterson and helped with curriculum design and teaching. She also enjoyed opportunities for informal conversations on how to connect older women and younger women in churches.
"The program is very new, so we met with Yaroslav to talk through what type of classes to offer and brought copies of our programs for women at Southwestern," Finch said.
"In our class sessions, we covered several passages and topics that we cover in our Biblical Theology of Womanhood class at Southwestern. One of the students told me that the very fact that the seminary there in Lviv would offer programs specifically geared to women's ministry in the church was really encouraging to them."
During their time in Eastern Europe, Patterson and Finch also visited the Republic of Georgia at the request of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, which has a Festival of Hope crusade scheduled there in June.
"They asked me to come in and do a rally for women from across Georgia in preparation for this crusade," said Patterson, who spoke multiple times to approximately 700 women during a one-day meeting.
"The idea was to encourage women to be fervent in prayer to support this crusade."
Both Patterson and Finch came away from the trip encouraged and challenged by the faith and resolve of the Ukrainian and Georgian women, especially in the face of current hostility with Russia.
"I was reminded in a very poignant way that women who are caught in a situation like those who are in the Republic of Georgia as well as Ukraine have a very great burden to bear," Patterson said.
"They are facing some real challenges. Because of the threat to the nation, almost every woman in that country is going to have a brother, a husband, a father, or a son in the military—they're all going to be affected by this, and that's a huge burden. This is a very difficult time in the lives of our brothers and sisters in that Eastern European region."
At the same time, Patterson recognized the complex nature of tensions between Russia and these other countries. While she is grieved over Russia's encroachment on sovereign nations, she is thankful for the ongoing progress Russian Christians have made in preserving the sanctity of life and championing the biblical design for marriage and family in the country.
For this reason, Patterson sensed a burden and responsibility to pray for believers in all of these Eastern European countries.
"I felt when I returned home that I had a responsibility to the kingdom and to my Christian brethren in Ukraine and Georgia," Patterson said. "That primary responsibility is to pray everyday that the Lord would intervene because ultimately He's the only one who can bring peace."
As she continues to lift up these fellow Christians in prayer, Patterson cannot help but be reminded of the Christlike attitudes and humble hearts of the women she met.
"I cannot help but be overwhelmingly encouraged to see these women, at a time like this with all the pressures, coming in to get training, opening their Bibles and just being so excited to study God's Word," Patterson said. "In spite of all their hurting, they were there, and they were faithful."
Keith Collier is director of news and information for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.


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GTA: Liberty City Stories For PS2, x_x
GTA: Liberty City Stories For PS2, x_x
Jan 5 2006, 08:56 PM
Post #1
Upstanding Citizen
Group: Gold Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 1-August 04
From: Mod/Admin Board
Member No.: 2
Thanks to Miami13 and GTAPSP for this very odd tidbit...
"Additional products expected for fiscal 2006 include the newly announced Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories for Playstation 2, tentatively planned for release in the second quarter, Bully for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, two new titles for the PSP handheld system, including an all-new Grand Theft Auto, a title based on a new brand for the Xbox 360 and a sequel of a Rockstar brand, all from Rockstar Games".
All I want to know is what is the point of re-releasing GTA: LCS on a console? It would obviously be dwarfed by the likes of San Andreas. Goddamnit, Rockstar!
At least we know there will be a new GTA game for the PSP.
Edit The original post was correct. Liberty City Stories WILL be released for the PS2 for the second quarter of 2006. More details here.
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QUOTE (Heartless on GTA4.TV)
Unlike the mainstream forums, we're gritty, crazy sociopaths. And still approved by Rockstar. Most GTA Sites cater to a younger, softer audience (Zidane?), as opposed to this forum, which caters to bi-polar grandmothers with too many cats (Pyro?).
Jan 12 2006, 04:49 AM
Post #2
Upstanding Citizen
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Joined: 1-July 05
From: I try to be directly above the center of the earth
Member No.: 17,310
I love the idea! I hate it when the rich bitches with their PSP's think they're the best bastards out there because they and they only could play LCS. Now, I can play LCS, and it will superior to their version (it better be for a console game).
It was] exclusive for PSP for that time, but R* knew better...they gotta bring in some extra cash to work on GTA:IV, right?
Besides, I have a habit to collect things, and LCS left a nice hole in my GTA's right next to the spot where GTA:I should be...
Also, like Deko said, when SA came out for PC and XBox (bah!), PS2 owners weren't pissed now, were they? So why are the PSP owners all PMS-y about it. Personally, not aiming at anyone in particular, if you bought a PSP for the soul reason of being able to get LCS, you are a jackass with too much money. If there were other initiatives, fine with me; I'm just saying about people that bought it just for the game and the game alone.
This post has been edited by Un-Amärakin Bastard: Jan 12 2006, 04:54 AM
Dancin' on a landmine baby one leg left, I can still crawl and I'm not dead yet. You better get a bigger gun, I'm not dead yet.
QUOTE(K. M. Munshi)
Have a scripture to recite, but make your own path.
|Lo-Fi Version
|Time is now: 25th May 2016 - 01:41 AM


text:
One family took some time out of their Saturday to raise awareness about lupus.
The family of Myra Payne Martinez Foundation held a fundraising event at 50s Classic Car Wash on East Highway 80 and Judge Ely.
50s Classic Car Wash agreed to donate $1 per car wash for the entire month of august to the foundation.
They will donate $2 for every full service wash.
"My mom has lupus, my aunt, and I had an aunt pass from it a few years ago, so it really means a lot to our family to get the word out and to have so much support and honoring my aunt Myra as well," said Arica Espinoca who was helping out at the car wash Saturday.
About $1.5 million Americans live with some form of lupus. The disease ranges from mild to life-threatening.