Sp@ce_d

After trying a few hubs in the obsy I went over to Startech a few years ago. I've got a few.. 4, 7 & 10 port & they've been great.. very stable. I also use various Lindy active extensions. If you're not aware already, as its not really documented, if you are providing external power to the hub (and you really should) there's a jumper in the hub that allows you to select whether the power for the USB ports is passed through from the computer USB port or not. By default it is, however I disable this as I power the hubs with the obsy regulated & conditioned 13.8v supply. I've found this much more stable than relying on the dubious quality of the various computer ports I've used over the years. My obsy setup also allows me to remotely cycle individual hub's power. Having the USB pass through disabled this has the benefit of simulating unplugging & re plugging a cable should a connected device lockup or disappear, my EFW2 has had a habit of doing this & it's saved me a few journeys out to the obsy just to unplug and reset a cable!

Hmm.. looks like it's heading towards 10 years since I finally gave up the lurking & had to register as no one was asking the questions I wanted answers to!!.. 🤭 I don't usually like having to stick my head above the parapet but SGL is a safe harbour. I remember, I was very proud when Helen pinned one of my early threads in the DIY Obsys section .  Congrats Helen, may there be many many more anniversaries to come.

Mick you didn't say which one, but just to add. My 2 Esprit 80's have been fine. Never worried about them with the QSI on the back & I have stuck motors on both. I've had to swap focuser's on a few of my other scopes.. with the RC8 it decided for me, split & fell to bits.. dumped it's self on the obsy floor. Luckily I'd already removed the imaging train in time. But yeah, never worried about the quality of the Esprits. Pleasant surprise as I had expected to change it when I got my first one. The 150 is on my wish list if I get around to recommissioning the obsy this year.

Just... Wow!!

Gosh, when I think back to watching Apollo as a kid this is amazingly clear coverage & in colour

and it's off the launchpad...

2 mins...

4 hours ago, Ruud said:

Too long?

The purpose of the video is not to show the fireball, but to explain it. It tells you why and how this rocket is different than many others. That takes 6 minutes.

 

Well I found it informative.. didn't realise it was the last one launched from the west coast either..  thanks..

Yours does sounds as if its tighter than usual then. I havn't been at the point of extreme force to adjust my NEQ6 or HEQ5 & I wouldn't force them either.

The other reason we have "put up" with them is the fact there wasn't anything else available at this price point that does the job as well as they do.. certainly not for AP. Next one up is the EQ8 which is fine in this regard.. after that its 5k Plus really.

It is sad to see yet another thread on this age old bendy bolts issue. I refrained from changing out to harder bolts on any of my mounts as I’ve seen too many stripped thread & even cracked mount “Threads” on here. As said before if you want to adjust fully loaded then loosen off both bolts and grab the shaft & scope & ease to general position. Then adjusting both bolts at same time tweak gently. It is a good idea to loosen the bolts right off, grab the unloaded head & move up & down to make sure it feels smooth & you have no binding elsewhere first of all. At my altitude the lower bolt is up against the polar scope so a right finger jamming pain. Also the top bolt can jam against the counter weight lock screws if they are in the centre & not checked for clearance as the arm swings past!

Its still a buzz to watch.. not as grand as the Saturn V when I was a kid but I never get tired of thinking what went behind it for those few minutes into space.. enjoyed that.. thx..

Haha.. the wife just came in & said.. "oh got my wrong specs on.. just pause it"....

2 minutes ago, Peco4321 said:

I've got a very large gin and tonic ?

.. 3rd Hendricks & Tonic here..

See if they get past T minus 4 this time

You're not missing anything... scrubbed for 24 hrs..

Ah cool...thanks.  Looks like its set for 16:59 pst (00:59) now.. That app only seems to show up as available on the phone. Don't show up as available on ipad in store

I hate not nailing root cause.. gotta be some windaes permission thing or EQMOD retaining something somewhere else. Anyway, I deleted the PEC directory & then applied the latest v2.00k EQMod.. overwriting the v2.00i. Nothing significant in release notes  between i & k but it's recreated the PEC dir and I see nothing in there but EQMod still thinks the 2 files are in there. However, my startup scripts, ACP etc are happy & EQMOD starts up & tracks sidereal only now. So without PEC applied. I know I should be posting on the yahoo grp but Yahoo is such a mess these days..

Ah.. Googles brought me here... Did you ever get to the bottom of this?.. Seems I've stumbled on this one too now. I run the Obsy on auto with ACP. EQMod V2.00i with an EQ8. I've been tracking down some odd glitchy guiding issues & noticed they smooth out when PEC isn't running. I see that PEC is automatically enabled when EQMod loads even though I've disabled all options I can find & removed it (pressing the red X) in the PEC tab. At the moment I have to do that each time it loads to disable.. a pain on an automated obsy logging in every night!.  Now.. when I hit the load button the path indicates the pec.txt & peccapture files are still there.. I'm admin & enabled hidden files etc but can't see them from windoze. Even if I remove the PEC directory they still show up in that path in EQMod after shutting down & restarting.. I wonder if they are linked somehow to somewhere? I don't see them in a file search.

See below.. I've tried deleting & recreating the PEC dir. EQMod still thinks its there after the dir is deleted & its relaunched ?

Brilliant.. I can feel the excitement leaping of the page!.. well done & congratulations 

One of the reasons I hang out "on the dark side".. I doubt my eyes are that good & waiting 40 years!!! ... Nice one

Curiosity got the better of me having been playing around with a pi recently I just got one of those Fujinon DF1.4HB-L1 Fish Eye lenses Huw linked to. Although it doesn't have the adapter mentioned & shown in the picture, I've queried the seller & still waiting a reply. Anyway, I didn't find a measurement of the back focus required in my search of the threads.  9.7mm seems to come up in a google but so far my rummage in my adapters box has drawn a blank so will probably have to order something as hovering the lense over the sensor by hand is useless ?. I'm testing with a dmkau618 & a 314l+ at the moment.

Just a quick thought.. Isn't wood less likely to have problems with condensation.. ie dripping off the roof?

31 minutes ago, Pompey Monkey said:

Well that was fourteen long pages....

....with no conclusion!

I have a SW Esprit 80 ED, flattener and extra dovetail (for balancing my filter wheel and CCD) in the basket at FLO. I'm just itching to pull the trigger but have yet, despite numerous excellent astrobin images, to be convinced of Skywatcher's QC... 

Anyone? FLO?

Go for it.. I have two of them. Both from FLO because... well.. they look after you don't they. Any issues I've ever had with anything from them over the years have been dealt with promptly or I've been refunded.. my choice & simples. I've been very happy with the Esprits performance and I've tried a few scopes & never found one around it's price bracket to beat it really. You'll probably find a few of my threads on here comparing scopes when I was trying to run a triple shooter. My first one has been permanently in the obsy now since I got it a very short time after Ginas. The only issue I've noticed is the rubber on the focuser knobs has perished & disintegrated into tiny bits. I found a pile of little bits on the obsy floor during one visit. Took me a while to work out what they were from! I operate it remotely so they are never touched as its motorised. My other ones been fine so far. The only scope I'd think of replacing them with would probably be a Tak now.

John's fantastic results & this review inspired me to move away from the SCT as my long FL weapon of choice & embrace star spikes. Although I'm still trying to work out how to get rid of those large stars showing the shape of the central obstruction!

I went for the 8" AA CF tube and been very happy with it so far. It was smaller than I expected & certainly lighter after having the SCT on the mount. Of course the one thing I overlooked when I ordered mine were the "Masters Hands". John obviously already had his... I'm not sure if they do them in my size.. or even what my size is as I'm still trying to work out how to get these Boxing Gloves off!! 

I have just one more thing to test out now - cloud 'management' - and I guess that includes a restart.

Good luck with that.. this "season" so far has been the most challenging with the CloudWatcher. I find I'm actively managing the parameters on a daily basis now... things like sky temps looking clear when mist develops low down.. the other week the obsy was opening for 10 mins then shutting then opening like a yoyo.. all night!  It kept reading wet yet the kit was dry.. I went out and the grass was as dry as a bone!!. I think it was dew forming higher up ( I moved the sensors & anemometer higher up on a pole after the false sky temp readings when the roof opened). So nearly 2 years on with it & it's still a bit of a black art tweaking it to suit the seasons. Last night (& tonight) it read totally dry.. and yet all my subs from 04:00 onwards this morning show it was foggy and the kit was still dripping wet at lunchtime when I checked,  I stupidly disabled the dehumidifier to auto start on roof close as I don't normally have a dew problem!

So yeah... the way the good 'ol british weather is going right now.... good luck with that...

Nice one Steve.. that's saved you a few bob.