My first Sky Commander started out on a 20" Dob and later moved to a 14.5" Dob. I also added encoders to a 8" Dob so that I could use the Sky Commander with it. I have been running my Sky Commander on both the 14.5" and the 8" for years.
I recently got a new Sky Commander XP4 to use on the 14.5" so that I can permanently assign the older one to the 8". The configuration is a little different on the two scopes, so having one Sky Commander for each scope is helpful.
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| Old and new Sky Commanders |
A feature was added to Deep-Sky Planner 6 that allowed users to upload an observing plan to the Sky Commander in its special objects list (entries 0-58). I have used this feature to upload coordinates for comets, asteroids and deep-sky objects that weren't in the Sky Commander database.
While testing Deep-Sky Planner with the new Sky Commander, I found that I still had to upload plans when the Sky Commander was at the Set Date prompt. That requirement never seemed right to me because I didn't see it documented anywhere.
I contacted Sky Engineering about this and we found that a firmware change would cure the problem. After some back and forth and some testing, a new firmware version emerged. I flashed the new firmware into the XP4 and the problem was solved!
Going forward, Deep-Sky Planner users with a Sky Commander having firmware prior to version 5.03 SP02 will need to upload plans when Sky Commander is at the Set Date prompt. Users that are able to update the firmware to version 5.03 SP02 or later should be able to upload plans to Sky Commander when it is at the Set Date prompt or in its normal operating mode. This is an added convenience that will make using Sky Commander with Deep-Sky Planner a little smoother.
I'd like to thank Victor McKeighan at Sky Engineering for his kind help in resolving this issue.
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