Posts Made By: Tom Mengel

I actually used the stick-on felt for mounting my 110 mm Jaegers objective as well as lining the tube. It was a "almost fit" in a 4 1/4 inch PVC coupler (this is for a very simple scope) and by using felt rings fore and aft and also around the lens' edges it made for a nice, tight but "cushioned" fit. Just be sure to compress the felt a bit for a good lens placement.

Oh yes, me too.

When I worked for IBM we learned that NO company sensitive information could ever be sent in or out of France by wire, telephone, or any other public communication methods (IBM communications standards were even more strict that our government rules). It all had to be hand carried by a IBM approved Currier and hand delivered to the recipient. The French (and many other EU countries) have a very different view of "spying" than we do, and most US citizen would scream bloody murder if out govenment even thought about doing the same. For example, corporate material get no different treatment than military/state department information and that French intelligence services by law monitor everything as routine (as an aside, their for hire civilian SPOT sat imaging system would turn over ALL data requested to the French Government no matter how sensitive it was to the client). This whole "shocked, just SHOCKED!" BS is nothing but some EU pols getting in some anti-American licks to divert the public from their all to real real economic problems.

Hi all,

Just two comments here:

One: I've never been to Mt Pinos but it sounds like an interesting place so maybe we all should celebrate the diversity of the Armature Astro population and either practice a bit more tolerance or find a more secluded place to observe/image in peace (or find a corner spot at Mt Pinos and bring some large black light blocking screens to segregate one's self from other people's light).

Two: I put that last sentence in as a gentile reminder this is the Equipment forum (I am a moderator). There are other places to bitch and moan about Astro bad behavior in public (How about "No holds barred"?)

Thanks for your tolerant reading.

Tom Mengel

It is a decidedly potent system that's been updated and modified since the late 1970's . The question is which version is Iran getting? There are quite a few variants in that system and I would question if Russia is actually sending the ones with the ABM/Stealth killer block upgrades, but that would be a good question to put to Mr. Putin next time we see him.