Would someone in the Houston Area be willing to help me get this camera setup!

Yeah, the macro does have a little play to it, but it shouldn't take the image out of focus by any outrageous amount. If the image gets softer zoomed wide, that means the back-focus isn't properly set, though the image does get softer on the wide end, in-focus or not. Also, you should be doing the backfocus adjust really close to the chart and wide open on the lens (f/1.6) to reduce the depth of field as much as possible, and use focus assist too.
 
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  1. Place chart ~ 3m from camera. Chart should be flat-fielded to lens center - don't shoot at an off-angle.
  2. Light chart evenly. It doesn't have to be a lot - you're looking for the shallowest DOF.
  3. Camera should be set at the widest aperture. If overexposed, use an ND filter to stop down, not iris. Optimally, you should have 100% level zebras showing in some white parts of the chart.
  4. Zoom in to full telephoto and focus up on the chart. Use your pixel-for-pixel focus assist on this.
  5. Zoom out to full wide. Do not touch the focus barrel.
  6. [Re]Engage focus assist again if it's timed-out.
  7. Loosen the backfocus set screw and turn the collet until your chart pops into focus. There should be a circular shape where the points converge.
  8. Tighten the set screw until it's just snug.
  9. Zoom in to full telephoto.
  10. [Re]Engage focus assist again if it's timed-out.
  11. Using the lens barrel only re-focus.
  12. Zoom out to full wide, repeat steps 6 - 11 until you've got perfect focus.
If this method does not produce sharp results, then there is another issue in the lens or you've got some detail settings that are out of norm. Good luck, let us know how it turns out.
 
As wonderful as those sharpness charts are, they're not for setting back-focus. They are more akin to a resolution chart and aren't designed to do what you're trying to do at this moment.

The Siemens chart above is practical for the back-focus application because of the way the points interact at the precise point where you are perfectly focused - and the way they behave when you're not. Once you have this chart (and use the steps I've indicated) it should take only moments to successfully collimate the lens.

An operator should always carry a Siemens chart in his personal package and reset back-focus when there are significant changes in the weather or if the camera hasn't been adjusted to your knowledge.
 
Just to make sure... you said you had played with the lens' macro feature? Before collimating the lens, you should pop the lens into macro and then rotate the macro collet until it drops back into its channel. Once you're confident that it is seated, then you should be okay to do the back-focus procedure as indicated above.

We owned an HPX300 with the stock Fujinon lens for about 14 months and never had a focus issue that wasn't resolved through a back-focus flange adjustment. My guess is that you're not hitting the focus properly when you're zoomed out wide and focusing only on the back-focus flange. The center of the Siemens chart should pop in and out of focus with absolute clarity - there is no mistaking when it is in perfect focus. You can, if you're using your camera viewfinder, turn up the detail (in the menus, sorry!) to get the edges of the black wedges to really pop. Again, the 1:1 focus assist is great for critical focus assessment.

After you're as good as you can get (on Step 7), you must zoom into full telephoto and re-focus the camera on the focus barrel. Do not adjust the back-focus flange when at telephoto. Repeat the wide lens instructions. It shouldn't take more than a couple cycles of doing this to achieve optimal collimation.
 
Here is a thought. The chart is 3M from the lens. You zoom in and the amount of "in focus" area in front and behind the chart is X . You zoom out. Doesnt that mean the amount of "in focus" area in front and behing the chart increases significantly? Why would wiggling the backfocus or macro adjustment make that change significantly. You should still have plenty of "in focus" area in front and behind the chart.

I had the same issue. I saw the same results, i.e. wiggling the macro adjustment magically made the chart snap into sharpness in my big plasma TV. Even though that was the case, when I made someone stand next to the chart, the LCD and viewfinder said everything was sharp according the peaking indicators.

In reality I should be able to go and move the chart 2 inches closer to the camera and it still should be in focus right?

So is the camera telling me a lie? Does the camera "think" it is all in focus but really my eyeballs tell me something else? I don't know. A mystery indeed.
 
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Both shots look slightly overexposed to me, as there is diminished detail in the barrel tile roof (1 stop overexposed) and on the palm tree trunks. Maybe that palm tree shot is 1/2 stop overexposed? Those are contrasty compositions and it's hard to judge critical focus when highlights are on the verge of blowing out.
 
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