[APML] Drift alignment problem - wedge mounted scope

["Bradley" <bhope@thorngarden.net>]

Afternoon, everyone;

I seem to have a rather curious problem doing a drift alignment for a Meade
LX200 mounted on a wedge. When adjusting the azimuth (+/- 10-15 degrees of
celestial equator - +/- 30 minutes of meridian) I can adjust until I get no
observable drift in excess of 10 minutes, at -10 degrees declination..but if
I move it up to +10 degrees declination I have a fair amount of drift
showing up again..less than 3-5 minutes. If I adjust to correct for
this..then move back to -10 degrees declination..drift is again back. Yes,
it changes direction..if I adjust east, for example at -10 degrees to
correct..then move to +10 degrees the adjustment is west to correct.

Am I missing something? Once it's been aligned it shouldn't matter whether +
or - declination..should it? I do know that when I did a drift alignment
using +20 degrees, I had a lot of field rotation showing up. Back a long
time ago when I aligned using approximately -15 degrees I wasn't seeing any
field rotation.

Right off the top of my head, I'm guessing that if the OTA isn't aligned
properly with the fork arms, it might cause something fluky like
this..maybe?

Thanks for any input.

Bradley

Thorn Garden Observatory
http://astronomy.thorngarden.net

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