peter court

I'd have liked a nice Berlebach but the cost of shipping one here, plus 35% duty meant that I had to exercise my creative skills if I wanted a stable, adjustable chair, so here it is! Made from free scraps salvaged from work plus about 5 dollars in fittings, oh and a couple of afternoons chopping out the five cross grain mortices. I didn't get the geometry quite right, hence the anti tip feet add ons but now I have a very stable and comfortable chair which has made viewing all the more pleasurable. However, it's not exactly "grab n go", unless you have a forklift doing the grabbing n going that is! Happy days and clear nights! Peter

this is getting to be pretty old hat by now but I thought I'd post my attempt to integrate a Starsense Explorer unit onto my Skytee 2. Pretty straightforward in the end, the unit was liberated from a new LT70 and, fitted to the same rail my ES reflex sight is already on, courtesy of a short length of alloy 2" flat purchased from Do It Center! The whole thing works beautifully and I am really impressed as to how easy the Starsense unit locates itself and once I'd finally got it aligned, how accurate it was. I now have a rather bereft looking, unused LT70 for sale, cheap!! Happy evenings ahead! Peter

I'm almost ashamed to post this but, on a small island sometimes you just have to improvise! So, here's my eyepiece case, a repurposed work boot box and some spare packing foam, and it does the trick. Luckily I only need to observe from home so I don't need to travel with my gear. The Oklop bag was my original eyepiece bag but , in my keenness and urge to spend money on shiny bits (!) I soon outgrew that bag. Eyepieces are a mix of ES 82 degree, Starguiders and a much used and enjoyed Nirvana 16mm in the 1.25 inch size, wide field is catered for by my new APM UFF 30mm and a WO 25mm. I also now have to make space for an incoming Baader zoom as I couldn't resist the recent sale price! Peter

Just seen this thread, sorry! My ST102 plus Crawford weighs in at 3.35kg with rings and vixen dovetail. Adding 2" StellaMira diagonal brings it up to 3.7kg. Overall weight should not be a problem for you then but I can tell you that adding the Crayford does make the rig pretty stern heavy, especially with a 2" diagonal and EP, as I have.! Good luck.

Hi Andy, Thank you for replying and sending the photos, they both look wonderful scopes. I know that you shouldn't choose a scope based on looks but that black Stellamira does look the business for sure. I should hopefully get mine before the week is out and will be trying it out so I will post some pictures and initial impressions. It is to replace my SW ST102 and will be used as a wide field "sweeper" generally, I then use the Mak 127 for higher magnification on targets. Thanks for the tip about the Oklop bag, that will be an ideal solution for when I relocate some time. Thanks again.

Thank you Michael for you response, and also to the other kind responders. Yes, I was torn between the SM 110 and a Starfield 102ED but what made me go with the SM 110 was that it will fit inside a standard 28" suitcase whereas the Starfield would be tight! Unfortunately my occupation requires that I move islands fairly regularly, sometimes at short notice so I want to buy a scope that I know I can take with me! It was a tough decision I can tell you. I will be pairing the scope with my trusty SW 127 Mak on the other end of the Skytee so I will see how it all works out. Thank you gentlemen. Peter

Evening all, Does anyone on SGL have any experience with this (relatively) new scope from FLO please? I have tried using the search engine and can only come up with the original announcement post by FLO. I have one on the way now, as a replacement for my ST 102 so I guess I'm looking for some comfort that I've made a good choice for visual only lol! Any owners out there? Peter Court

Nice job! I spent my formative Site Engineering years lugging a tripod like that, plus a Hilger Watts 20sec Theodolite in a steel case ,up and down various Motorway and Construction sites. Happy days!

Hi Philip, glad you enjoyed your stay here, the water colors have to be seen to be believed don't they! Peter

My house here is in Long Bay, the view in the picture is facing East over the Caicos Banks, toward the old stranded freighter. Was that here in your day? BCQS is still going strong, not sure about CSE as Chris moved to BVI. Small world! One question, is that Guzzi 850 Le Mans yours? That was my poster bike back in the day! Cheers, Peter

I'll be honest and say that I'm only just starting to scratch the surface of the set up potential, still on the steep face of the learning curve.

Nope, very lucky although quite humid and salt laden so pretty corrosive to delicate stuff like mirrors etc. Still, even paradise has its downside lol!

Hi All, I've finally realized a long held ambition to take up amateur astronomy. My catalyst was a science mad 10 year old daughter for whom I'd bought Celestron Starsense 102 refractor for our home in St Lucia. However, I generally work away and currently in The Turks And Caicos Islands so, to keep an interest in tandem with her and have astronomy notes to compare, I bought an older Celestron Omni 102 refractor. Well, as many on this forum will know, the bug bit and I soon found my Celestron wanting, the scope was OK but the mount wobbled and vibrated like a jelly! At the same time I discovered FLO and found that importing kit from them was easy (much to my wife's concern lol) and and so ended up with my present set up, as the photo. Almost all from FLO apart from the ES Reflex sight and the Primaluce Losmandy Clamp (bought in anticipation of my next upgrade!!) Oh and the tripod was a work freebie, stiffened and foam filled. My interests are purely visual observing and I'm still in the "wow" state as yet another cluster or something appears. I'm lucky that my house here in TCI has an almost unobstructed 360 views with only a light dome from the town centre to upset things. Now, if only I had the young eyes and sponge like memory of my daughter who reels off star names with ease! Happy times and I look forward to learning a lot from this forum. Peter Court