SkyTrak alignment angles

[shawnworth02]

I know the topic on alignment has been beaten thoroughly, but I had an interesting issue pop up and wanted to see if others have as well.

I finally spent some time over the weekend to really take time to align things and tape everything off(I break everything down and put it away in my garage so tape makes life easier). I, like others, have a SkyTrak that is angled slightly (inward) for a centered read. I had used it a couple times since then and things seemed to be going great. However, today I started having problems with shots registering so I decided to reset the ST and app. Once I was connected back in, I took a few swings and noticed the alignment was wildly off. Once i went back to chipping alignment, I realized I now have to angle the SkyTrak outward (not inward as it was).

Has anyone had this issue before? Find it a bit puzzling/confusing/frustrating that I may have to keep aligning it different ways. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[Morini]

Are you using the FMJ case? If so did it shift? Or did the height change in any way?

[shawnworth02]

It’s in a FMJ, but I have everything taped off well enough to notiCE if it has moved. Same with the height and my mat as that shifts slightly from time to time. That was my first thought as well but nothing had changed to make me go from say -3 degree angle all the way to a +3 degree angle if that makes sense. I went from an inward angle to an outward angle.

[Morini]

I have seen a few situations similar to yours ... but only lately. If you want to get to the bottom of it, align it outside the case. That should be the true alignment and should never change. There hasn't been a firmware update in years, and to the best of my knowledge, there are no off device alignment tweaks/settings.

So not sure what is going on. Since there are multiple instances of this issue lately, there is a very small possibility that they added software alignment and it is having issues. Otherwise, I don't know what it could be other than how it sits in the case or height.

But come to think of it, a significant change in lighting could affect HLA ... in theory at least.

[jpotas]

SkyTrak_Seth , have there been any updates that would cause this?

[Morini]

have there been any updates that would cause this?

Highly unlikely as it would have to be done for each of the sims and ranges. If it was done for Skytrak range, and not for TGC2019, you would have different alignment between them (though I think some users are claiming that exactly this is happening). How Skytrak is calibrated is a mystery. As we all know, it just sends two photos.

Totally guessing, but I figure that it is software calibrated, not hardware. I am guessing a calibration tool is used, maybe some apparatus with two "balls" and then some type of correction is applied to compensate for the unit particulars. It could also be done by physically adjusting hardware, but that would be expensive and complicated. But if it is done via software, how is this communicated to the image engine? Sent with along with the pictures after each shot? I could be way off on this. Skytrak is such a mystery. For example, what could explain the fact that some units need to be angled 5 degrees or more to read straight? There is zero chance that the hardware is internally misaligned that much.