Posts Made By: Don Wyman

Yes, but you'll need to do some machining or buy a gear set. I have converted my GP to use DS motors and Autostar. Works very nicely. There's a Roboscope forum on Yahoo that I co-moderate that has tons of info on this conversion. Come on in for a visit.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RoboScope/?yguid=8961062

Don Wyman
Moderator Team, Yahoo Roboscope Forum

Several club members and I have had similar problems with their Beral coatings, also humidity related. These were both homemade and commercial mirrors. I don't know if these problems have been fixed or not, but we take our business elsewhere now.

Don Wyman

If you liked your SM40, you will love the PST. I have both and feel that the PST shows prominences a bit better. The SM40, on the other hand shows surface features better. For the best of both worlds the SM40 screws on the PST and gives excellent views of prominences and surface features.

I give the PST a big thumbs up. The build quality is wonderful. I don't know how they can sell it so cheap.

Don Wyman

That is indeed a Coulter Odyssey II, 17.5". The mirror in the one I bought was astigmatic. Gave decent views of deep sky stuff but could hardly split any doubles and planest were awful. Tossed away everything but the primary and remounted it in a truss tube dob. Never did perform. Sold the mirror and replaced it with an 18" f/5.5 Galaxy. Excellent mirror.

DonW

(quote)
My 2 cents? Why not just KEEP IT SIMPLE? There are some other very-well run, and almost D-I-Y basic star parties put on by various groups nationwide... among my favourites have been WOW, NSP, and IDSP...
there's a lesson there somewhere. (endquote)

Thanks, Mike. From time to time, someone in our club wants to have more and more stuff at WOW. For the most part, we've kept a lid on it. I firmly believe in KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Don Wyman
Past President and Co-Founder of NEWSTAR, host of WOW

They do pretty much the same thing, but use them both anyway. It works.

Don Wyman

Good to see I'm not alone, Mike and Doug. I was feeling pretty lonesome out here.

Don W

You saw prominences, not flares. Flares are mainly surface features usually of short duration. They are areas that brighten very rapidly. The 'flamelike' features on the edge of the sun are prominences. When the filaments you saw rotate to the edge they appear as prominences.

That being said, the PST is an incredible value. How they can make a very capable H-Alpha system for $499 is beyond me.

Don Wyman
SolarMax 40
P.S.T.

A couple weeks ago I picked up an 18" Obsession from Dave Kriege at Astrofest. Last weekend I delivered it to my friend in Michigan (I'm in Wisconsin). This was all OKed by Dave, we're old dob building buddies from the late 80's. I had a chance to use the 18" at Astrofest through some sucker holes and it performed beautifully. I was very impressed by it since it was an f/4.5 mirror (Torus). The views were wonderful. Had a hard time giving it up to the new owner. As an aside here, I was buying the new Obsession owner's used Starsplitter 15" f/5 dob. I've had it in the back yard a couple of times and it handles very nicely too. The Swayze mirror is excellent.

I would not hesitate to buy a new dob from either company or the others you have mentioned. And to echo another's advice, put Starmaster on your list too.

I will say this about Obsessions. Dave tries to keep mirrors in stock so his turn around time is very fast. My friend ordered his 18" about two weeks before Astrofest. Another person at Astrofest ordered a new 18" and Dave told him he could pick it up the following week.

Don Wyman

I suppose, but why? Good old warm water with a bit of liquid dish soap has always worked for me on mirrors up to 20". Then a rinse with distilled water with a couple drops of Photoflo (wetting agent used in washing film negatives) and stand it on edge to dry. Depending on size, I've done it in the kitchen sink or a bathtub. Put several towels on the bottom first for the mirror to lay on.

Don Wyman