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Posts Made By: David Simons

June 8, 2004 05:21 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

back

Posted By David Simons
Wow,

That's a lot of dropped messages. Are they gone forever?

David

June 12, 2004 07:43 AM Forum: Chinese Optics Imports

Burgess Finder

Posted By David Simons
Mark,

I just stumbled across the 50mm finder I received with the 1278 scope which I had not used yet since it had a very loose eyepiece thread, and had become cross threaded during shipping. I forced it back in place, and tried it out tonight. Very sharp views to the edge and good eye relief. I was pleasantly surprised !

David Simons

June 15, 2004 04:29 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Calling all small refractor owners!

Posted By David Simons
Hi Joe,

I have used these three scopes in the picture, and enjoyed them all. The Pronto can be had for a reasonable price used, and the case holds a number of eyepieces which is very convenient. The Traveller weighs a lot, and although goes onto an airplane easily, is just plain heavy to lug around. My current favorite is the Sky90. Lightweight, and does a good job of pretending to be a 4" refractor. It handles wide fields and high power with ease.

I also have the Telepod and really like it. It turns an ordinary photo tripod into a balanced alt-az mount. But high power planetary views will drive you crazy trying to track anything over about 80X on these : )

Can't comment on the SV or TV76,85scopes, but have heard many good things, and they also come up very reasonably on the used market.

David Simons

June 16, 2004 02:24 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Dob mount

Posted By David Simons
Cecil,

Maybe this will get you started:

http://members.aol.com/sfsidewalk/tenin.htm

Or you can try my quick and dirty old fashioned pipe style:

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=219645&poll_id=&news_id=&page=

Although I recommend a bigger base smile

David Simons


June 18, 2004 02:05 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Surplus Shed worth a visit?

Posted By David Simons
Hi Charles,

Give them a call !

Give us the lowdown.

I would go smile

David Simons

June 29, 2004 04:45 AM Forum: Telescope Making

Power Source

Posted By David Simons
Hi David,

You can certainly make these type of things, but I think a place like Radio Shack would sell 12V to whatever voltage you want converters. But I suspect after you bought all these items, the cost would approach the Power Tanks cost : )

If you have one of the 12V to 120VAC converters that are so cheap now, you could then just plug in inexpensive "wall wart" type 3 and 6V converters. Again see Radio Shack or maybe a hardware store.

David Simons

July 5, 2004 07:12 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Serious question about Meade Cats.

Posted By David Simons
Hi Tom,

Most of the problems I have heard about or have had personally on Meade and Celestron scopes, can be fixed by a person who is competent with a screwdriver. Although I have had to use my soldering iron once. I have owned at one time or another around 6 Celestron and 2 Meade Cats. One of the 10" early LX200 scopes I thought at the time was too heavy, had some of the best SCT optics I have seen since, and I wish a had that scope today. I currently have an older 12" LX200 and it is a workhorse. It has seen a lot of action, and will most likely keep going for many more years.

If one of your club members has experience with these type of scopes, then I think the 14" is a good purchase (Meade or Celestron). I'm not sure I would advise this for a persons first scope with no one else around to help "tweak" it in unless they are reasonably mechanically inclined.

Another item is the Meade 14"SCT is very heavy and awkward. Will this be an issue?


David Simons

July 15, 2004 02:06 AM Forum: Deep Sky Observing

Viewing limits

Posted By David Simons
I think this graph has been posted before, but I found it interesting. I just took the first column of your data (98%)and plotted it against the aperture.

The first few inches really make a big difference. (Extrapolate 6 mag at 7mm aperture)

I would like to see another chart that shows the typical number of galaxies visible, plotted against aperture.

Any takers smile

David Simons


July 16, 2004 09:52 PM Forum: Telescope Making

Bearings for Alt Az

Posted By David Simons
Hi Ian,

This pipe mount was cheap and fast to make. Although my ground board is too small.

David Simons


July 19, 2004 04:12 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Only the millionth sn-10 for sale

Posted By David Simons
Hi Chris,

Gosh, same thing with the Starmaster Dobs, these things are getting dumped wink

Seriously, I have the SN10 and love it, although I think the scope works much better in an alt-az mount, because it makes a great Milky Way sweeper. Especially now that we have the Sagittarius clouds.

I've posted this picture maybe a few too many times, but here is my "conversion" to an alt-az mount (needs a bigger base though). It took about an hour, with about $39 in materials. Now I use it much more than the LXD55 setup, which when it was fully aligned, worked reasonably well. The LXD55 mount was slightly past it's limit though.

David Simons


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