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STV Snoop3 |
Program author: Ron Wodaski
Copyright 2002 by New Astronomy Press. All rights reserved.
This program is available for free only to readers of The New CCD Astronomy.
The STV outputs the current X,Y coordinates of the guide star during tracking. STV Snoop3 listens on the COM port you select
for this information, and captures it for you. You can copy the tracking info to the clipboard, or you can save it to
your hard disk for analysis. STV Snoop3 also allows you to control the focus,
monitor, calibration, and tracking functions of the STV remotely.
Copy the files from the ZIP archive to an empty folder. Double click on setup.exe and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
Note: STV Snoop3 can also be run as a plug-in from within MaxIm DL. To install it as a plug-in:
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The image at left shows the way that the STV Snoop3 looks when you start it up. There is a menu at the top with File, Tools, and About. The window below the menu will display the same text as the STV's window does when you are connected to the STV. The first row of buttons below the window is used to navigate the STV menus. The lower row of buttons gives you access to key STV features for focusing, calibrating, and tracking (guiding). Use the File | Listen to STV menu item to open the COM port and start listening for data from the STV. When you click this menu item, a dialog box pops up asking you for the correct COM port and baud rate for the connection. The usual choices are COM 1 and 115200. If the STV is connected to a different serial port, choose it from the drop-down list.
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If the connection is successful, you will see the same text in the STV Snoop3 as you see on the text window of the STV (see image at left). If you can't connect, check your cabling, make sure you have the right COM port selected, and verify the baud rate. |
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The upper row of buttons have functions similar
to the Parameter/ Value buttons and the two knobs on the STV. There are
two sets of <, OK, > buttons. The left set mimics the function of
the Parameter button and knob. The right set mimics the function of the
Value button and knob. Use the arrow buttons to navigate the STV menus,
and use the OK buttons to make selections.
The Turbo button controls how fast the arrow buttons move when you are doing things like selecting a guide star or adjusting the crosshairs. When the button is red, turbo mode is off. When the button is green, turbo mode is on. Turbo mode increases the speed with which the arrow buttons move boxes and cross-hairs. Note: the animation at left shows a manual calibration using the various buttons. Since the buttons here mimic the actual STV buttons, you can use the STV documentation to determine how to perform various functions such as focusing, calibrating, and tracking. The most convenient way to use this program is to connect a small video monitor to the STV. The STV can be next to the telescope (necessary due to the fixed length of the camera cable), and you can control the STV from a distance by observing the video monitor and running STV Snoop3. |
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Tools | Use Monitor for Focus menu item allows you to switch between using
Focus and Monitor functions of the STV. The lower left button text tells
you which mode you are in. The menu item toggles between the two states.
When in Focus mode, the button operates like the Focus button on the STV.
When in Monitor mode, the button operates like the Monitor button on the
STV.
Focus mode is useful for initial focus. Monitor mode (see at right) is ideal when you are doing a manual mapping run with TPoint and TheSky. The cross-hairs available in Monitor mode allow you to line up stars very precisely. For the best precision, use Monitor mode with Zoom on. |
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To stop communicating with the STV, use the File | Close COM port menu item as shown at left. |
Snooping with STV Snoop3 |
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STV Snoop3 originally got its name from the
ability to capture the data sent from the STV to your computer when the
STV is in tracking mode. This means that you only turn on capture of
tracking data when the STV is actually tracking! All other data capture
(for example, the two-line text window) is turned off when you are
capturing tracking data. When you stop capturing tracking data, capture of
other types of data comes back on automatically.
To access the tracking capture features, use the Tools | Capture Track Data menu item (see at left). |
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The window at left is the tracking capture
window. To start capturing tracking data, click the Capture button. Note
that you can check the box "Auto capture on open" and the
tracking data will begin to be captured automatically as soon as this
window opens.
There are two other checkboxes here:
To pause data collection, click the Pause button. To save the captured data to disk, click the File | Save As menu item, navigate to the folder where you want to save the data, and click the Save button. The default filename is STV_output.txt, but you can use any name you wish. When you are done capturing tracking data, and want to return to controlling the STV remotely, use the File | Close menu item to close the capture window. |
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The image at left shows what the capture window
looks like when tracking data is being captured. There are three data
items in each row, separated by commas:
These coordinates are for the actual position on the chip, not the position in the little guide window. Tip: After you save this data to disk open the file in Excel to make a graph of the data in the X and Y coordinate columns. Note: If you haven't upgraded to the latest firmware (version 1.04), you might not see the star brightness column:
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To close the program, use the File | Exit menu item. Report bugs and make suggestions via email. |
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