Idle Scope Alt/Az (close if idle) - Paramount cannot slew alt-az

[Bob Denny]

park at a defined mechanical AZ-ALT is supported by Paramounts and TheSkyX

I am getting CanSlewAltAz = False and CanSlewAltAzAsync = False from the Paramount. It's possible that it can do it from within TheSky (including with their proprietary scripting) but at least through the ASCOM interface it seems unsupported.

A 'Park if Idle' idea won't work with scheduler, because the code would need to disable the scheduler, park the mount, then re-enable the scheduler (which in itself is nominally a beginning of night thing). You can't park while the dispatch scheduler is running.

I use universal logic via ASCOM. More than one mount goes into some sort of partial or full shutdown on Park. It is not meant to be a "position" but instead a "state of quiescence". In Scheduler, there is a "Close if Idle" and if that activates it uses the user settable Idle Alt/Az (which by request can be anything).

Snap1.png

I too have noticed that Scheduler just turns off tracking and leaves the OTA facing skywards rather than parking while waiting between scheduled tasks, often all night if no suitable objects are available.

This is exactly what the Close if Idle is for as described in the settings box above. However rather than depending on a park position, it can move the scope to any Alt/Az, including something like a "dew avoidance" position. . I should point out that it was the Paramount that, for many years , would do an uncommanded/surprise disconnect upon completion of a Park() (again this is through ASCOM not their proprietary scripting). You would not believe the slimy logic that was in ACP to handle that. Plus you had no idea if the Park actually completed because you could not check AtPark... the driver was disconnected. They finally corrected this a few years ago after multiple complaints.

You can see the smoking remains of that mess in ACP 9's settings:

Snap1.png

Anyway a mount that cannot slew to altaz is at a disadvantage with ACP Expert, ans as far as I know only the Paramount has this limitation.