StarryEyed

It's easy to think that there are problems when in fact there are not. You say you need to get to grips with your current scope. Then this is exactly what you need to do. This sounds like you have everything you need but one thing and that's experience in using your telescope and really good conditions. I once owned a Sky watcher 127 Mak Cass a not so dissimilar scope. In the five years I owned it gave me bad views and good views depending on the conditions. Only on one night mid January when it was minus five and one o'clock in the morning did I get a view of the moon that was clearly outstanding. it's burnt into memory. Maybe there were a few other nights but it became clear to me that sometimes you can wait months even years for the everything to be right. There are lots of nights when this is true but you have to be out there using the scope. A good target is the moon you will quickly see how the sky conditions effect things. You will quickly see if it worthwhile moving onto more difficult targets. Even if it's not such a good night the moon rarely disappoints. So get to grips with your scope, save your money and get your eldest involved. Kevin.

yeah a bigger monitor and a faster internet connection look at the work of those with better skies and bigger scopes.

We have guys who worked on projects from the late 70's. We are often doing jobs now around the work done back then and its far more useful and fun talking to these guys than paperwork. They're getting old but but once you fire them up.

I have been using computer from age 12 and professionally and been looking through telescopes from the same age. I have a full amature radio licence. This is the best video I think I have ever seen to encompass all these things. Amazing.

They fired one back up not long ago ! Scott has a lot of videos but this one is just amazing to watch for anyone that has an interest in computers.

welcome. The best thing you can do is keep your kids involved. They might develope an interest but depending on their age they will come across the whole subject matter at school. Both my boys came home with extra house points and the like. So there is both educational benifit and a natural desire to explorer to be had. It's win win with kids. Resists the urge to spend and invest some time with observing the moon and planets. They are ideal for a refractor. Kevin

I went to royal Albert hall and the orchestra all started to play at some age. something like this I imagine.

Yes it got more complicated and I one morning about three years ago I grabbed an 80mm on and EQ5 with a home made wooden tripod by the neck, dragged it out in to the back garden to view Jupiter while it was still dark before I went to work. One of the best views I had because it was spontaneous and a great sky. when I was on the train later I realised I had a massive grin on my face which seemed to bother some other passengers and I realised I didn't need all that other stuff. It was in fact a distraction that got in the way of actually having some kind of a connection with the night sky. I am still slimming it all down. I just got a light weight tripod and AZ GTI. So I won't be dragging anything anymore. Still a couple more changes. I am on holiday and it's all in one cabin case and the tripod in a bigger cases. Had a couple of looks this last week and hoping for a couple more in the next. Tak. FC100DF, APM UFF 30, Delite 9mm, Vixen LV 7.5m, 2.5 powermate.

Forty years ago one telescope one eyepiece built-in zoom Tasco 60mm. Today one telescope three eyepieces one powermate. As happy as I have ever been.

I have used one of these for the last thirty years. In fact I think it's the same chair. A draughtsman's chair has a very large range of height nearly as low as an office chair but it will get you to the same height as standing but sitting down. Being adjustable also to any height over its travel just pulling of the lever. It's nice to be able to lean back too and look up. spin around, hop out, cushioned, straight back and neck. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. I promise you that for the price it will have the biggest impact on you observing that any other accessory you can buy. You can find them anywhere but this is the first link that popped up. https://www.viking-direct.co.uk/en/office-furniture-seating-c-104/office-chairs-office-seating-c-10403/draughtsman-checkout-chairs-c-10403002

When I was twelve my mother used to let me stay up by myself until midnight on a Sunday night so I could watch the sky at night which started at 11:00. I had to beg and plead with her and offer a rock solid guarantee I would get up in the morning. She was often already gone to work but I was never late for school and rarely missed an episode.

Bolted to existing base with slots to allow a little direction. polar axis tube sits in a cradle less stress.the connection between the tubes is a standard structurally and for welds. one change of direction one welded connection less chance of getting it wrong. less vibration less like half a tuning fork ! add bolted plates as a counter balance to keep the cog over the base. you can vary the load. none of the bolted plates have to be circular. plate is cheap cuting square plate is cheapest. lower to the ground lower cog. easier access. smaller bracing plates smaller foot print.

If you used SOLIDWORKS did you run a vibration analysis? what's the wall thickness? what type and size weld? weld type? what's the weight? these greatly effects the cost and meeting and inherent stiffness you might have planned for. big plates by the way. I know plate is cheap but..... Always ask why it's so expensive.

to find that on eBay you must have been pressing refresh every second for months.

Ohhhh first line of code happy days ! Next is linear algebra.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p07922lr/the Watch this.

a small mount about 3000 feet so I could build an Observatory on top of it.

Make sure its below the maximum size for an airline, doesnt have to be on the limit for size, less of a target for airline staff. Make sure it hard plastic with some strength. There are plenty of cases that arnt much stronger than a t-shirt. Make sure it has a lock. Dont be cheap its not worth it as it will just cause you to worry. I refer to the construction. Dont be afraid of the idea of breaking the scope into a couple of bits. READ THE SMALL PRINT CHECK FOR CLOUDY SKIES NOT INCLUDED ✨

The article here. https://www.neutronstar.joataman.net/amateur_challenges/ Talks about gain later on and suggests that arrays in the ghz offer more gain for a smaller antenna than bigger dishes in the mhz. This based on smaller yagis with higher gain in arrays all more easily mounted. Plus it doubles up for eme were its tuning and operating can be refined and practiced. Maybe not intuitive but listed on the site are amateurs getting results this way. Personally I find this idea more compelling, practical and its potential given its amature radio origin. But lets be honest none of these things are easy or cheap. As I am currently painting the shack (back room to the garage) with everything in boxes it has dawned on me I have more ideas than time to be able to fullfill them!! Holidays for a start. Kevin. M0LKJ

The diagram for gain shows about 11db for one wave length. For hydrogen its recive only I would rather make a 1.2 ghz yagi make an array and a RSP2.

Yes thats all true but the ariel isnt in free space its on the earth and so it ends up close to 50. Keep it simple.

Oh and with the perseids in august look up meteor scatter french transmitter. There was a great article on it in the RSGB magazine Radcom earlier this year. Britastro has some great pdfs https://www.britastro.org/radio/projects/Detection_of_meteors_by_RADAR.pdf Did you know amature radio guys bounce radio waves of meteor tails to talk to each other! Really a radio should be on even if its cloudy.

1. There is a relationship between the length of an ariel and its resistance (impedance) a half wave length gives 50 ohms so the coax that connects the ariel to the radio must also be 50ohms. TV coax is 75ohms...... 3. With wire inbetween 4. Yes it can be bolted to a plate and the ntype conected through the plate. 5. Ideally yes. 6. No its not that kind of earth given the sides are acting as reflectors. This is more like a yagi or satellite dish. You sometimes see TV ariels with a V shaped reflector at the back rather than the flat plate like reflector. Its a similar thing. It looks like a pain in the rear end to make and direct. Robin astro. Probably nothing if the ariel has the same impedance as the coax and radio. Otherwise a couple of components to change the impedance. To make it match.

Alan. Radio is an interesting area of astronomy. Particulary given that it also can be used during the day. Valiv's link is for the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers. So in there is Amature Radio. The Radio Society of Great Britain is responsible for us here in the UK. Also the British Astronomical Association has a radio section. All of these have nice sections. A good starting project is lightning detection here on earth usung a radio. You can tune in anytime! This is useful so you can identify it later as something earth originated. Plenty to play with if you have a SDRplay your ready to go. Good luck. Kevin Call sign MOLKJ. 😉

I was doing some the other day to test out my diagonals. This was on a terestial target. Stright through a TAK FC100 was much better than a 2" William Optics dielectric which was better than an old 1.25" Intes dielectric. I was wondering with the planets so low if I should bother. But it all depends on the seeing. Not a lot of atmosphere between me and one of my neighbours chimneys!