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Posts Made By: Bernard Kean

September 28, 2005 09:02 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

"Analogue setting circles" on an alt-az tripod

Posted By Bernard Kean
Darlene
The compass arrow never points to Polaris, it points to the magnetic north and your heading line would point to true north. Another possible problem is in your adjustment between magnetic north and true north may have been to the wrong side of magnetic north...easy mistake to do.
Hope this helps
Buck

September 28, 2005 11:18 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

"Analogue setting circles" on an alt-az tripod

Posted By Bernard Kean
Darlene
On a second reading I see you tried the East/west flip. Are you sure you have the correct degree of declination of change, you may want to check here:

http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/jsp/Declination.jsp

I know Brunton makes a great compass, but have you compared it to another to see if it does in fact point to magnetic north. Occasionally a compass can go out of adjustment and the arrow does not point to where the magnet is pointing and some compass' can be adjusted for this. I had a friend set his compass by this method to account for the dec adjustment which made his arrow point to true north, which was all well and good while he was using it. However, he sent a another hunting friend off with a map and told him to walk for an hour at this heading to get to some rutting marks and forgot to tell him of the change. You guessed it, our friend got lost and didn't get back until late and dark. Needless to say he was p*#$ed.
Buck

October 7, 2005 07:21 PM Forum: Reflectors

Is this a good Idea?

Posted By Bernard Kean
Hi Gerry
A bulb should work, however another option is to get a dehumidifying rod. They are available from most gun shops and are used to dehumidify gun safes. If you can find the 8" model should be big enough and would be ideal for this application. Very low voltage, do not get hot, just warm and dont break.
Just a thought
Buck

October 9, 2005 01:01 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

TV-76/TV-85 vs. 6" Reflector w/Royce Mirror

Posted By Bernard Kean
Hi Joe
From the replies you have recieved there is no doubt the reflector will beat the smaller refractors. However, you made 2 statements that may bugger up the works, "grab and go" and "3rd floor apartment balcony". While the Ute may not be too bad concerning grab and go, set up and cool down will be a bit longer, your decision here. The other statement brings to mind guard rails on apartment balconies. Because of the position of the Uti, will the guard rails or other limitations cause problems while viewing? Only you will know. Obviously from your experience you know a refractor setting higher on top of a tripod works and is OK from the balcony.
Just a thought
Buck

October 14, 2005 11:09 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Swift 831 picture wanted.

Posted By Bernard Kean
Hi David
You might try this site, but you may have to sigh up.

http://www.freelists.org/list/swift-telescopes

Hope this helps
Buck

October 19, 2005 09:01 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

How many degrees to rotate Dob focuser?

Posted By Bernard Kean
Erik
I have an older SM11"F5.4 and the focuser is about at 55* to 60*.
Buck

October 24, 2005 04:18 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Eyepiece caps

Posted By Bernard Kean
Ken try here http://www.scopestuff.com/
Buck

October 27, 2005 12:00 AM Forum: Home Observatories

Observatory Destroyed...

Posted By Bernard Kean
Jeez Ivan, sorry to hear this. But lets look at the bright side, you and your family are alive and well and you know what not to do when you rebuild the observatory.
Buck

November 6, 2005 07:19 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

FOLLOWUP- Damaged Optics Need Assistance

Posted By Bernard Kean
Demetrios
Bummer, I'd be sweating bullets if I had done that to a familier SM11. I just went back and reread the thread and didn't see any mention if there was any damage to the Swayze mirror?
Buck

November 7, 2005 06:35 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Changing collimation

Posted By Bernard Kean
Ed
As I understand it most all truss dobs will do this to some degree. That's why most folks recommend collimating at the position you are going to use the most. However if you are collimating at about a 45* and the dot moves outside the ring while moving to zenith or the horizon then that would be too much IMO. I have a SM11" f5.4 model and I collimate at about 60* and when I move to zenith or down to 45* the dot will move off center a bit (less than the width of the laser) and may need a touch up if I want the best I can get on any particular target.
Hope this helps
Buck

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