Mach1 GTO from Astro-Physics - Night 1

And of course, tonight it's NOT clear. Clouds moved in!!! But at least there were enough holes in the sky until 11pm to try some things out:

• Get outside, rough polar alignment (turn mount on top of eagle pier such that it points to north when I align the eagile legs with our pavement - that will make setup faster!)
  Worked really well.
• Polar alignment through polar scope
  Worked not so well :-( I have to move the scope all the way to the grass - otherwise Polaris is just below the roof of our house.
• Polar alignment with 2 star alignment
  Not so successful. I tried to follow the instructions, but couldn't get polar alignment really close. This will probably require more practice.
• Sync
  Easy
• Try some slews
  Not so good - I guess I need to do a better job with polar alignment.
• Check orthogonality (cone error)
  Couldn't do without a good polar alignment.
• Use with TheSkyX
  Worked really well.

The mount was pretty loud indeed, but also very fast to slew. And no wobbling or such. I can't wait to use it for real!