QHY Pole Master Routine

PoleMaster is a fairly new Camera that aids in polar alignment. The Camera connects to most mounts in front of the polar scope. The Routine is very simple and easy to follow. The QHY program provides step by step procedures. Ill run thorough those procedures and offer some tips in between.

QHY recommends when the camera is installed that the USB port is facing the left side of the mount.

Once you start the PoleMaster program and connect to the camera you will see a screen that wants you to adjust the Exposure and Gain of the camera to help you increase the stars in your FOV. Also make sure to check the box for which hemisphere you are in. 

Once you can see the stars get Polaris as centered in the FOV as possible. Once you have Polaris visible double click on Polaris. When clicking on Polaris you will see a small cross hair +. Try to center that + on the star as best as you can. The more accurate you are the better your alignment will be. After you have completed that  5 circles will appear in the window. You want to use the left and right arrows move the 5 circles until you have stars as close to center in all of them. if you don't have all the circles filled with stars then you arent centered on Polaris

Once you have aligned the circles click success and you will be asked to double click on one of the circled stars. You will now rotate you FOV clockwise, with the hand paddle or control software, until the star moves approximately 30 degrees. The west button typically rotates the FOV Clockwise. After you make the first move you click ok and you will be asked to double click on the same star and move the star again for another 30 degrees and click finished.

Once you move the star a second time you will be asked to return the star to the home position. You will need to park your scope to the home position or move the star manually to the original position with the hand paddle or control software and click Correct once finished. Make sure to unpark the scope after parking has finished. If you see the star going off the green line the most likely issue is that your polemaster is not seated properly and needs to be adjusted

Then you will be instructed to double click on Polaris and rotate the slider so the circled are once again with the outer stars centered within the circles and click success. You will then be asked to move Polaris using the Alt/AZ knobs into the broken circle with the cross hair. Make sure to center Polaris as best as possible and click Finished.

After you move Polaris on the cross hair you will again be asked to double click Polaris and rotate the circles to center the stars and click success. After that is complete you will be asked to start the Monitor. When you start the monitor you will see a Red circle cross hair (Axis) and a green square cross hair (Pole). The Green will be moving around the red circle. Again you want to move the Alt/AZ knobs until the Green Square is mostly fixed on the red circle. Be as precise as possible and click finished. Once you have done this you have completed the PoleMaster Routine.