Gazabone

That's a heck of a scope but I still love my little 10" to bits. Going by this month's weather though even a 280" would be a complete waste of time in sunny (hmmmm) Cornwall. I have several scopes but I keep a SW ST 102 refractor on an EQ1 mount (legs extended) so that if I see a gap in the clouds it is the ultimate grab and go. I literally plonk it down facing north and remove the dust caps and start observing, takes about 20 seconds from deciding to go looking to actually be peering down the ep. My minute count for November so far is a whopping 20 minutes. Think I might move to Australia if the YouTube clip is anything to go by

If it's any consolation I'm having problems with ssa too. I'm using it on an AVX mount. Next time out I'm going to try running using a baadar mains lead; as another contributor has said, power source can be an issue. So far I've run it from a power tank but also been running a heated dew shield from it. I guess I've been asking for trouble! After I did the calibration, I found that the scope was pointing as if I hadn't touched the calibration.

Who needs Hubble? That is outstanding and justifys every last minute spent on it. Fantastic job.