Physopto

Hi everyone.

A small update on the:

Autumn 2021 Galloway Scottish Star Camp

We will be limited to only 25 pitches for the foreseeable future.

The owner has stipulated this due to the following reasons:

1) Due to past damage done to the camping field over the

wet winter periods, the field just does not have time to recover

naturally and properly before the new season is upon them.

2) The added cost and time of repairing the field to a good standard.

(This affects their ability to present the camping field in a fit condition to attract visitors).

3) The Covid-19 regulations are still in force as to the cleaning regime

(4-5 times a day) for the safety of all visitors to the ablutions block.

4) If the warm room is opened up for the Star Camp it will add another

cleaning task for the owner to complete possibly several times each day.

So please, if you want to attend the 2021 Autumn Galloway Scottish Star Camp,

get your pitch requests in quickly,

as it is still......... First Come First Allocated.

As always if there are any cancellations the first on the reserve list will be contacted.

Stay Safe.

I had Starry Night version 6 many years ago. It was full of bugs and even the upgrade to version 6.1 was a pain. Try another  option. any of the above should be better.

13 hours ago, Uplooker said:

I am the chief cook (who keeps spoiling the broth), Damian is the chief washer upperer 

Well now,                         could have fooled us all there !

I will have to consult with Mike 🧐

🤣

6 minutes ago, Uplooker said:

Booked 😇, well, verbally confirmed my already assumed attendance 😁

Assumed !!! Who would do that then? 🤔

More like EXPECTED !

Damian would never survive without his Chief Cook and Bottle Washer 🤣

On 21/03/2021 at 21:37, mapstar said:

So long to the missed GSP spring 2021 here's to the Autumn meeting. Cheers 

Hmmmm!!

Are we sure this is Damian talking, or some Star Party SGL Troll  ??

Such a mesially small dram, is it even whiskey or film (tea) substitute type joke?  🤣

Talk aboout half empty, it is not even that !!

Damian you will have to buck up your ideas.........

I had the 12" Lx200. What with the 10"  lift in and out of my hut it got to much when I was really cold at the end of the night. And I'm only 5' 8". My days of weight lifting were 35 years ago 🤣. So had to sell it, well that's my excuse anyway!

I definitely would look into recoating the buttons with conductive paint rather than give up on the hand control. The LX200s have nice optics, but rubbish electronics.

You can if it is just the response from the button presses get conductive rubber paint. It is a simple job to do. Open the handset carefully and separate the rubber buttons from the case, (not a hard job). On the back of the rubber buttons you will see the either grey or black conductive pad. All you need to do is to paint on the conductive paint and wait for it to dry completely. (Give it 24 hours to be sure).  Reassemble the hand control and it should work fine. I did this with mine many years ago and it worked as if new.

So, as you have ordered up a new handset, do not throw the original one away.  If time permits repair it and keep as a spare.

The only caveat I would say is , it cost me about £20 for the paint from the USA but I was charged £25 for delivery by the "Rip Off " UK Post Office, for UK import tax (4.2%) and filling in the import tax form by them, even though all postage had already been paid by the sender!

There may be other means to get the paint over here these days.

14 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

With covid restrictions as per last year the camp was only for self contained camping i.e caravans and campervans I was asking is this still going to be the rules, I was going to book last year until I saw that no tents were allowed because of covid restrictions.  Thank you for your reply in these uncertain times I will wait for another opportunity when I know as best as possible everything will be back to normal, it would be nice to get there again I had a brilliant time last time Saturday night being exceptional. 

14 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

 

I have never and nor has Mike, the previous organiser ever said, that tents would not be allowed.

I do not know where you got that from! You are mistaken.

We have always had a mixture of caravans, motorhomes and tents at the Star  Camps. The only provisos ever made were that if the field was very wet, then motorhomes would be required to park on the hard standing as they tended to rip up the field and leave troughs in their wake. Also the same went for cars at certain times for the very same reason.

I am glad you enjoyed your previous visit. You will be welcome back anytime 😃

On 13/03/2021 at 09:24, Uplooker said:

Still here Derek 😁. Hope all is well with you and Annette.

I actually had my 1st dose of the vaccine just over 3 weeks ago.

As I said to Damian, glad you have had the covid injection. I will give you a bell in the next few days. Got a online exam tomorrow, busy at present.

8 hours ago, mapstar said:

Got my first dose yesterday 

I am very glad to hear that. Hope you are well. I will give you a call in the next few days.

6 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

Will this be open to everyone not just camper an or caravan guests please. 

Hi, not sure what you are asking. But the Star camp is open to camping,(tents), caravans and motorhomes.

The pitches are available on first come basis. BUT, at present I cannot say for sure if it will definitely go ahead due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic!

All I can say is book early to ensure a pitch.

If all goes to plan the Scottish Premier Star Camp will be held on the dates posted.

It will depend upon the Scottish Governments decision on how many pitches are/will be available and the campsite owners decisions about this.

None of which we can know at this time, as it is way to early.

I will post the relevant information as and when I am able to do so.

Hi Jim.

Hope you and Dawn have thawed out, left the cave as you realise it is Spring at last, even in the far northeast reaches of UK. I guess you are always that are bit behind up there 🤔🥃🤣

Yep just out intime to find the Spring Star Camp is not on😡😡😡😡😡😡

So I am praying that this Autumn Star Camp can go ahead, as I guess everyone else is doing.

There is a strong possibility we can have an unrestricted Full On Scottish Galloway Star Camp, 🌌🔭🌌🔭🌌🔭🌌🔭, at least that is my hope 😃

Thanks for asking, we are both fine and have had our inoculations over a month ago now, so not that long to the second one.

Have you had yours yet?

Stay safe.

Ahhhh ! So there is life in some our regular members.

I thought with no posts, you had all disappeared off to foreign climbs before lockdown and were stuck there! 🤣

Nice to see there is one or two people still watching the posts on here.

I hope you are all well. Stay that way please. Lesley says "NO REFUNDS FOR SLACKERS 😈"

😂

Welcome Andrzej, hope you enjoy the forum.

At present we do not know if we will be able to go back to the normal number of people attending the Star Camps or coming to this this event.

If we can there will be a good few more pitches available.

Please look here for all further  information on the upcoming 2021 Autumn Galloway Star Camp for future posts and information.  As soon as I can, I will let everyone know once I am confident we are good to go!!!

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Fingers crossed for you all, I wish I had managed to get booked in before it was full but hopefully next time will be okay 🙂 

Steve

Steve, at present we do not know if we will be able to go back to the normal number of people attending the Star Camps. If we can there will be a good few more pitches available. Please see the 2021 Autumn Galloway Star Camp posts for future information.

3 hours ago, estwing said:

Looking better for October people 🙂

I just hope so for all our sakes!!

I got my first anti Covid-19 inoculation  nearly 4 weeks ago, so I am a bit more confident now. By that I mean that we should all be fully inoculated and protected hopefully by the end of August/September. It is not just the first inoculation but time for the delay and for the period after the second one for the full effect to take place. So I am working on 4 months minimum from the first inoculation to hopefully full protection, ( 12 weeks plus another 3/4 weeks).

That being said I look forwards to seeing everyone who is allowed to and can attend at the Autumn Star Party. At present I am also hoping that we are not so restricted on numbers.

I also intend to re-establish the Pie and Peas Night if allowed.

So everyone reading this who wants to attend the Galloway Scottish Autumn Star Party, please start posting on the Autumn POST SITE String. Unfortunately this one is now at an end.....

In the mean time please stay safe.

There are far too many people who walk around using overly and very bright red light head torches. They tend to think it is OK because it is red light !

Not so at all. A bright Red Light  will decimate your night vision and that of any folk unfortunate enough to be within the line of the beam and even if not in the direct beam. If you use a Bright Red light torch for working on your Astro setup make sure no one is likely to be in the visible vicinity. Otherwise use a very dim red head torch to barely be able to see items around you. That way your night vision will not be as badly affected. Any light red or any other colour, will affect your and others astronomers night vision.

There are times when a white light is necessary, but please warn others before you light up or get covered to do whatever is needed. Dropping a small absolutely needed  item (screw, glass, or other item) in the grass and trying to find it by red light may be the end to your only chance of good nights astronomy.

I know it may not be a popular opinion, but for those who spend half an hour or more trying to get their night vision at its best, it only takes one brief flash of a Red or other light to have to start all over again. I have been as guilty as most of these errors and strive not to do so.  I find the worst thing is having the head torch on and it being so dim, then forgetting it is on. Then accidentally looking up a someone ! Oops!

One word, spectacular !

I just bought a shelf for a caravan fridge freezer from Australia. Cost was $40 AUD, plus $41.10 AUD shipping. But then as expected I was billed another £17.09p by our UK Post Office of which  £8.00 customs tariff now ,but used to be around £18, the remainder  was the PO handling charge.

So around £62.79 total.  Cost over here for this item is  around £70. So I saved some money. But as usual the Post Office and others charge exorbitant fees for filling in a form online.

Same happened to me when buying several items from the USA in the past. We trade with countries all over the world and accept the customs fees. Astro gear is at about 4.2% from the USA.

Hopefully once things settle down it will all become quicker from the EU.

3 hours ago, Scorpius said:

I’ve worked construction in some capacity for 40+ yrs. and have so far learned to live with the aches and pains of getting older.

Yup, getting old is no fun. 👿

A good plan from what you have said.

But be careful when working around the astro gear when it is in place. Not trying to teach granny to suck eggs but.....

I know from bitter experience about how easy it is to stumble or slip when distracted. I have damaged several items in our house trying to speed up renovations, when I thought I could get an item in without hitting something. Worst was a kitchen cupboard door. I managed to scratch right across its front. Of course it was not replaceable, as not manufactured any more. So 9 new doors and several drawer fronts to purchase!!

I also ripped my rotator cuff in my right arm trying to do a job alone when I could have waited for my wife to help when back from work. Still not right 8 years on. 😠

Looking really good. As far as the obsy walls go I would internally insulate and board it out before you put in your gear. It will make it much less prone to temperature swings between day and night, but also much more secure.

Nice!🙂

19 hours ago, petevasey said:

Aagh!  I wish I'd known about that awning when I ordered our van - a substantial saving in both weight and money!  Never mind.  What's done is done.  Once  better weather arrives, even if caravan sites are still closed I'll heave out the awning bag and give it a go in our driveway.  Hopefully straightforward - I haven't been able to find any Youtube videos on attaching it.  Generally if I'm going to use the awning there will be two of us, so help will be at hand.

Sorry to read about your teething troubles, Derek.  Sounds like you got a 'Friday afternoon' job.  Hopefully all is sorted now.  Afaik everything is shipshape on my van - only thing we haven't used is the shower, although I ran some water into the washbasin.  Probably should check that the drain is free running!

Cheers,

Peter

Definitely check out  shower by taking a shower in it before you actually go anywhere in the van. It will be too late when in the middle of a field. We spent a few days living in our van looking for problems in the back garden. It is not the first time we have found problems with a new caravan. Our Fleetwood had leaks at the roof to wall joints and a faulty electrical connector to the central heating. There was also a leaking roof vent.

The Van master had leaking shower tray to the walls. It also had central heating faults, not properly vented for air so air pockets restricting circulation.

All of these including the Swift were brand new caravans. This latest caravan had not had the battery terminals changed for the correct battery fittings I specified, I changed them out at home.

All of these caravans were supplied by different caravan dealers or actual maker (Vanmaster).  I hate sloppy, lazy, incompetent or poor workmanship, so I check everything and each system that I can think of and especially the road lights.

The first caravan we bought had had a tyre blowout. It had not been correctly repaired and had a leak where the wheel arch liner had not been fitted correctly. Not mentioned, possibly known about by the selling dealer!

Welcome Neil, hope you get all the info and help you require.🔭😃