Time and Location settings are critical to the proper operation of StellarMate. This is even more apparent if you're on the go with a mobile setup. For a fixed-observatory, the only factor you have to worry about synchronizing is time. On the otherhand, a mobile setup requires both location and time settings to be accurate.
The time & location settings are not only used for KStars, but also to synchrnoize the mount and any other devices with time & location dependencies. For example, some weather drivers depend on location to query and retrieve information about the current weather.
Selecting a GPS Dongle
Any U-Blox based GPS USB dongle would work with StellarMate. Here are a few from Amazon:
Most of these dongles need to be outdoor to receive any satellite signals. They can be connected to any USB slot in StellarMate. Please note that a GPS dongle may fail to obtain a fix if its antenna is placed close to an active USB3 port due to electromagnetic interferane. It is preferred for the antenna to be further away from StellarMate to reduce any unwanted interferance.
Configuring GPS in StellarMate
After plugging the USB dongle for the first time, you need to do the following:
- Use StellarMate Serial Port Assistant tool assign a permenant designation to the USB dongle.
- Configure KStars to mark GPS as the primary source for Location & Time updates.
- Create an Equipment profile with the GPSD driver selected in one of the Aux. dropdowns.
The following is a video tutorial that covers all the steps above:
