GavStar

It’s been ages (space shuttle era as a kid) since I last watched a live rocket launch. Really hope it’s goes on time today so I can see it ?

Since I got a televue fonemate for a Christmas present, I’ve been taking iPhone pictures of several of my observations. The photos aren’t great but give a decent representation of what I actually saw at the eyepiece. I have noticed that I’m referring back to the photos to review them etc. Im not a good sketcher so this is the closest I can come to making a pictorial record of my observations.

Using a cross hair eyepiece sounds a very good idea - I’ve been using an ethos 21mm and guessing the centre which has given good results but maybe I should try to get the centrering much more accurate for goto. Has anyone got a recommendations for a good cross hair eyepiece - Is this one any good? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/specialist/skywatcher-125mm-illuminated-reticle-eyepiece.html

Yes Stu, as a result of that comparison I decided to sell my DL and keep my DF since it’s easier to mount and use as a grab and go with minimal difference in the views.

Yes very easy Helen. Took me 5 mins to set up - I think it works well. I think I’m always going to be a visual person but it’s nice to be able to take the odd iPhone pic.

Thanks Stu! ? The photo is a pretty good representation of what I saw at the eyepiece but actually it was a bit better at the eyepiece. The exposure time for the photo was very short maybe 1/3 second but the iso was cranked up to around 1500 I think hence there is a fair bit of background noise on the photo which is not as noticeable when viewing directly. Really pleased to get the horsey tonight in London what with the moon being bright and close by. Sqm is reading 18.0 so not exactly a dark site.

Tonight was the first time I’ve tried my televue fonemate and iPhone. This was using my fc100d and NV eyepiece in my back garden in London. Certainly I need practice but you can see Alnitak, Flame nebula, ic434 and, I think, the horsehead.

My night vision set:

Great purchase! Tv85s are excellent grab and go scopes and can show lots of different types of objects really well.

Christmas came early for me today so I decided to do a family picture. left to right: televue tv60, Lunt LS60 double stack, televue tv85, takahashi FC100DF, Astro-physics 130GTX and then finally TEC 160FL

You just got in there first Dave, another member contacted me a mere 5 mins later!!! I'm pleased you are happy with it.

First light with my new mount - very impressed indeed.

Yes I think the vixen lvw's are very nice eyepieces. Probably the most comfortable I have used. It always surprised me that they weren't more popular when they were readily available. Second hand they used to be a real bargain. I guess that may stop now they are not available new. I know I won't be selling mine anytime soon.

Double stack filter arrived today together with the rotator as recommended by Alan. Hoping for lots of sun this weekend to try out the double tilt tune approach.

These pressure tuned scopes do seem tricky to get working ok. For this reason I plumped for the old tech tilt tuned earlier this year and in single stack mode my Lunt 60mm gives great visual views imo. I'd like to get it side by side with a pressure tuned version one day just to be able to directly compare. But I'm happy to stick with my tilt tuned for now.

Nice pics Mike. I've been installing a replacement feathertouch focuser on my FC100DF this afternoon. The first feathertouch had a bit of play in the fine focuser but replacement one is great. As per the previous thread there is loads of in focus with the feathertouch to the extent that I need to put a 2 inch extension tube in for my 2 inch diagonal. What struck me this afternoon though was how light the feathertouch focuser was in comparison to the Tak DF focuser - very material difference. I think the DC focuser is also a lot lighter. It does make the FC100 into a lovely lightweight 4 inch.

Another heavyweight case but those widefield views that these eyepieces deliver are just so addictive. The ES 92 are imo more comfortable and easy to use than the ethos. I'm looking forward to the yet to be released 6.5mm, 8.8mm and 22mm in this line. In the meantime I will be powermating the 17mm and 12mm - does create a bit of a beast though. (Normal sized eyepiece included for scale).

At less than 5kg and quite short, I think if the tripod was upgraded then it would work fine. (I use mine with a 4kg frac that's longer and it works well with that with an upgraded tripod)

AP is about 8kgs compared with TEC about 9kgs so not much in it (Hmmm maybe the AP isn't particularly light) I think it's the length of the OTA which is more of a difference 72cm for AP vs 86cm for TEC.

So I thought I'd post a further update on this (imo amazing) scope. Due to its short length and relatively low weight it's become my most used scope. Last night I had it out side by side with my Tak FC100DF. I used the Tak on the AZ-GTi mount effectively as a large finderscope. I had a lot of fun comparing the images between the two (unfair on the Tak due to the difference in aperture). On objects such as M13, double cluster and M27 the AP just showed a more beautiful view with the faint stars not really visible in the Tak making a real difference to the view. By London standards the skies were very good last night. There is obviously a good deal of crossover between the AP130GTX and the TEC140. However, my personal preference mainly due to the lovely presentation of stars is for the AP. After a good deal of thought I've decided to move my TEC140 on. However, it's been fascinating to be able to directly compare these two scopes. In summary, I'm still hooked and loving my AP130GTX!

Ahhh the T-Rex. Unique imo as an alt az with slo mo controls and ability to take 6 inch refractors with ease. Such a shame they are not being produced anymore - hopefully a near copy will be done by another manufacturer soon. I'm looking after my t-Rex very carefully.

Not to derail the thread further but I used the porta 2 on both my FC100DF and FC100DL. However I've upgraded the tripod to a vixen Hal 130 tripod which makes it significantly more stable. The DF is fine and the DL is ok but getting near the limits of the mount. I think the slo controls with flexible extensions are great on the porta 2. I'd be very interested to see how with better tripods the porta 2 and az5 compare stability wise.

Hi Mike, what is the dovetail clamp like? Does it look like it could be upgraded to say an adm clamp? Gavin

There is another possibility that I've installed it incorrectly!! Maybe next Walton meeting we can compare and check I haven't done anything silly...

Stu, I was just thinking that when I saw pictures of your scope earlier today. I had to make a special request from flo for it to get it direct from starlight instruments. Link from starlight is attached http://starlightinstruments.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&path=38_60&product_id=405