Finally added version 1 of the setting circle. Printed out onto about 8 sheets of A4, cut to size, sellotaped together and then covered in sticky backed plastic. Total cost was 64p. Spray mounted onto the top of the upper base board. Made a pointer from two pieces of metal. Time for the moment of truth!

Base was level to about +/- 0.5 degrees.

Used Altair and Polaris to check the setting circle. Not spot on when switching between the two, but mostly within about a degree or so. I am assuming it would be beter with a totally flat base.

Managed to use the Wixey, the setting circle and the co ordinates from Star Walk on my iPhone to find the following:

M13, M31, M57, M56, M27 and eventually with a lot of squinting M32. Moonrise made everyting even more washed out. Should have staed up to see moon and Jupiter clear the neighbours garden, bu it was already geting light. Looking forward to the moon in a better viewing position soon.

Nowhere as satisfying as star hopping, but less frustrating Im sure if time is limited.

Nest time, I need to have a much more level base Then time for version 2 with a better printed / laminated seting circle as well as maybe a PDA with astro software. The iPhone is OK, but you have to constantly update to get the latest co ordinates. After that, version 3 is a digital encoder, but thats for later in the year.

Also got so see a fair few Perseids as well as what looked like two passes of the ISS.

Looking forward to working on some levellers next.