I just purchased an Argo Navis which is now on its way to me. The reason for this purchase is to allow me to control my Dobsonian, which already has a ServoCAT version 3, by a PC using an ASCOM driver. My goal is to do to EAA with this scope and find targets using a PC planetarium program and then the Platesolve (Sync Mount and Re-centre target) function of Sharpcap.
Reading the AN manual, I understand that I can connect one of the AN serial ports to an LX-200 ASCOM driver on my PC by using the “meade” startup command in the AN’s SETUP SERIAL function. While I can then fill in the AN’s “FROM PLANETARIUM” catalog entry from a pc planetarium program, in an earlier post on this forum, Gary says that in order to then initiate a GOTO to those coordinates I would have to “press the GoTo button on the ServoCAT handpad.”
https://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au/forum/posts/list/61.page Since I can get a wireless handpad for the ServoCAT. I can live with that.
The ASCOM drivers I have seen often come with a “virtual handpad” that will allow you to move the scope directly from the PC. Does anyone know whether I will have such functionality if I am using an LX-200 ASCOM driver connected to the AN? Or will I again have to the use the movement buttons on the ServoCAT handpad?
And if, after I do the GOTO, I then use Sharpcap’s Platesolve function and want Sharpcap to send an ASCOM Sync command to the AN/SC based on the plate solving results and then perform a re-GOTO to the original co-ordinates, will this work? If all I would have to do is press the GoTo button on the SC handpad after the platesolve, I could live with that.
If the Sharpcap Platesolve function will not work with the LX-200 ASCOM driver, then I know I can connect the USB port on my ServoCAT to a USB port on my PC and then use one of the two available ServoCAT ASCOM drivers. But I would like to use a wireless connection between the scope and the PC, and I am wondering if and how I can use the AN to make the connection with the ServoCAT ASCOM driver on the PC (by attaching a serial to Bluetooth adapter to the end of the AN serial cable).
So, my last question is whether any of the startup commands in the AN’s SETUP SERIAL function (in particular, “servocat” or “navis”) would allow me to use the AN as a “conduit” between the ServoCAT ASCOM driver and the ServoCAT?
Thanks in advance for any assistance!
Paul