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Douglas Rollain

Lion Nebula SH2-132 - RC71

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Posts Made By: Doug Culbertson

March 4, 2005 05:33 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Red Dot Finders - How to Use

Posted By Doug Culbertson
" Hello! My original red dot finder was a $9.95 Daisy BB gun sight modified per Phil Harrington's book, "Star Ware."

The Tele Vue red dot finder (not the $200 one) actually has "Daisy" imprinted on it! Nothing new about the use of these red dot gunsights at all.



March 7, 2005 02:53 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Source for Apogee/GTO 7.4-22mm zoom?

Posted By Doug Culbertson
According to Jason, at Apogee, Inc., the 7.4mm-22mm zoom was manufactured by the same OEM that made the Nikon zoom. I must say that it certainly looks like the Nikon but, other than that, I couldn't say for sure that that was who made it. The Nikon is, of course, much more expensive than the $50 that I paid for my Apogee zoom.

Good luck in finding one, I find that it's an excellent eyepiece, and don't plan to part with mine anytime soon.

FWIW, at 22mm, the Apogee zoom also has a fairly narrow fov.

March 8, 2005 12:37 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

It is rather sad!

Posted By Doug Culbertson
[QUOTE]Floyd Blue said:

sad
I find it rather sad that a discussion on a forum such as this one can result is bad feelings, disrespect and emotional responses. This unfortunately is true of the last two threads that I started. In private messages I have been told that certain persons will no longer correspond with me or relate to me on this or any other forum. [QUOTE]

For starting a thread on optical quality, that generated a LOT of replies and opinions? Heck with 'em if they can't take a joke. If these people are so petty and childish as to take the time to send you a private message just to tell you they aren't talking to you anymore because of a difference of opinion, then they aren't worth worrying about.

Personally, I learned a lot by reading that thread and, if I knew who the folks were that said they weren't playing with you anymore, I am sure I would learn a lot about certain personalities as well.

Jeez, some people take this stuff WAY too seriously. It's a HOBBY people, it's supposed to be fun.

April 15, 2005 04:48 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

How do I mount my mak to a nexstar tripod?

Posted By Doug Culbertson
These guys have what you want, and they are Astromart sponsors too.

http://www.alpineastro.com/mounting_accessories/mounting_accessories.htm


June 21, 2005 12:53 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Tak LE EPs

Posted By Doug Culbertson
Yeah, I noticed that as well. I used to have Tak 5mm and 7.5mm LEs, but sold them when I got Radians...which I sold when I got Pentaxes, which I sold when...

I thought the LEs were very nice eyepieces, with comfortable eye relief of around 10mm. Very sharp and contrasty. I actually thought they had better contrast and less lateral color than the Radians, but the Radians were more comfortable with a wider fov. There's always a tradeoff, isn't there?

Doug
Midway, FL

June 24, 2005 12:07 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Binoviewers and barlows

Posted By Doug Culbertson
Larry,

My only experience with using a standard barlow with a binoviewer was a LOMO binoviewer I had several years ago. The 2x barlow that was included with that binoviewer provided approximately 4x.

As I recall, when TeleVue first came out with their BinoVue, they used the bottom half of a standard 2x TV barlow as a corrector, since Al hadn't yet designed the current 2x corrector. I seem to remember that the advertised magnification with that setup was around 3.8x.

Hope this helps,
Doug
Midway, FL

August 1, 2005 12:44 PM Forum: Pictures of Me and My Telescope and........

Me and the SM 14.5

Posted By Doug Culbertson
Man, that is an awesome looking observing site! Perfect observing weather too.

One question though; is that runway asphalt? If so, do you find that you have problems with heat rising off of the runway causing seeing problems?

Doug
Midway, FL

September 14, 2005 05:36 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

To Go-To or not to Go-To, that is the question?

Posted By Doug Culbertson
Floyd,
Well, I have the Starmaster "Skytracker" goto/tracking system on my 14.5" and love it. Truth be told, if you have DSCs you can "push-to" faster than these systems can actually goto. The nice thing about these systems is the fact that when they reach the target, they track the target. It's nice to have the tracking ability without having to lug out an extra piece of equipment, i.e. a platform. Besides, there is something really cool about watching a nice sized dob slewing to the target.

I will also add that if I didn't already have the Skytracker on my SM, I would probably have the ServoCat added. It has some nice features, like the spiral search.

Just my .02
Doug
Midway, FL

October 5, 2005 03:27 PM Forum: Mounts

Poncet - Dob platforms

Posted By Doug Culbertson
Try this link:
http://www.tomhole.com/EQ%20Platform.htm

It should have some useful information.

Doug
Midway, FL

November 1, 2005 12:40 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Maksutov-Newtonian opinions??

Posted By Doug Culbertson
Ralph,
I used to own an MN66 and loved it. In fact, I felt that it compared very favorably to a 5" apo (I also used to own an AP 130), so I think that a 7" MN would compare pretty well to a 6" apo. Keep in mind, however, that these scopes are heavier than the aforementioned apos, just in case that's a problem.

In fact, I miss my MN66 so much that I am contemplating the MN76 myself, especially while it's on sale at ITE. The 7" comes with the rotating rings, which are pretty much required when using a Newtonian design on a GEM.

Doug
Midway, FL

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