F15Rules

Some beautiful Vixen based setups you have there Brian. That little Newt looks just so "right" on the Vixen SP, thanks for sharing! Dave

It's an "Eikow" made scope I think, pretty much the same as a Swift 831, a well regarded old scope. There is a lot of info on the Swift 831 on the net, so do have a delve and digest as much as you can. Here's a link to start you off.. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/578091-swift-831-restoration-advice/ If you scroll down you will see a few photos, the similarity to yours is striking☺. Dave

That makes a bit more sense now, thanks David. Take a look at this thread on this forum.. New vintage 1960s SYW Yamamoto 60mm F13 refractor It looks very like the Eikow/Swift design but was made by Yamamoto, who I believe were bought up by one Mr Takahashi at one point. This one had wonderful optics and went north eventually to be used as a solar scope..I believe the buyer still has it.. Your Hilkin should perform very well..Would be good to see photos☺ Dave

Some pictures would really help☺. One of the "Old Timers"? Dave

Great band, the Winery Dogs..Billy Sheehan on bass, Richie Koetzen on lead guitar and vocals (ex-Poison among others), and Mike Portnoy, drums (ex-Dream Theatre). If you've not heard anything of them and you like rock, have a listen to "Captain Love" on YouTube ??? Dave

My first ever proper Observing Chair - Geoptik Nadira, courtesy of my 2 grown up daughters birthday cash gift?. Ordered after lunch yesterday, delivered 10am this morning, well done Rother Valley Optics?. Looks and feels small but solid, hope to give it a quick whirl this evening.. Dave

Stick with Morpheus, you can't go wrong? Dave

Bortle Class 4 for me..RAF and plane vapour trails can be a pain on some nights though.. Overall, I am thankful for my locations' skies ☺ Dave

I knew there was something "fishy" about Russian bins... I call it "Eau de Tento"..?? Dave

My FS128 last night (first clear night for weeks) with Celestron/Baader Binoviewers loaded with a pair of Morpheus 17.5mm and twin microfocusing Baader eyepiece holders. And one with the waxing moon in the background☺. Dave

Here's one of the summerhouse...It's painted in exactly the same colour as the house ..convinced now???

Well, Jeremy, the blue band on my FS128 dewshield matches quite well.with the house colour?

Thanks Alan☺. Actually the house is painted blue (it was previously green) - unless my colour vision has gone too! As I approach retirement around the end of this year, I hope, I will have to cut my Astro cloth to suit what will be my much lower income at that point. So the only piece of kit that I own that is "safe" beyond the end of this year is my FS128. By choosing this mix of eyepieces, if I absolutely have to, I can sell some of them but keep a decent core of good glass, even if only for cyclops viewing. Of course I hope it doesn't come to that, but the current political uncertainty has knocked 10% off the value of my pension fund in the past 3 months, so who knows where we will be after the end of March? But you are correct, we are very lucky to have access to a great range of kit these days. And I think the Morpheus range offers amazing performance at great prices - it would be no hardship to me to only have Morphii eps to use in the future??...Well, apart from the LVW 22 and something of 30-35mm FL! Dave

During the past few weeks due to the awful endless cloud that's gripped the east of Lincolnshire, I've been sorting out stuff including my eyepieces. As I am now using binoviewers for about half of my observing time, I've had to make some hard decisions, including letting some much prized older Japanese eyepieces go. I'm increasingly finding that 2 eyed viewing is more comfortable than cyclops, due to the marked, age related deterioration in my right (natural observing ) eye. Although I am trying to train my left eye for cyclops viewing, I still find that binoviewing is more comfortable for certain types of viewing, and so I've been putting a few pairs together for this. My current mix shown below now comprises: Back row, left to right, cyclops viewing, Morpheus 9mm, Pentax XL 10.5mm, Vixen LVW 22mm, Skywatch Aero 30mm, and Bresser/Meade 40mm. Front row, left to right, Binoviewing pairs, Fujiyama 12.5mm orthos, (7.8mm), 17.5mm Morpheus (11mm), 25mm (15.6mm), Parks Gold Series Japan (same as Celestron Ultima and Baader Eudiascopic). I have a pair of William Optics 1.6x nosepieces which change the focal lengths above to the figures shown in brackets. Oh, and I also have a lovely 30mm Parks Gold (the one pictured on its' own) which I cant bear to sell , and would love to find another of..☺ Very happy with this combination at the moment.?. The last pictures show the Morpheus 17.5mm pair ready for action in my Tak FS128 - if it ever clears, that is! Dave

Thanks Shane ?. Clear is fine, it's that yellow I couldn't put up with myself.. These look as if they would fit the bottom of most, if not all, 1.25" barrels. However, the ones I struggle with are the top ones, as so many eyepieces have different widths across the eyepiece lens end? Dave

..But are they only available in that awful yellow colour?? How about, er, black??? Dave

I've actually already got one of these, but this second one is now on its' way (thanks, Des) to make a binoviewing pair, I was sold on this by Bill Paolini's review of these ..?. Dave

A great prism Craig...Love the helical retaining ring and optically A1. Yes, annoying about the dust caps but standard ones should fit☺. Davr

Thanks Rob.."Moving stuff on" is the story of my life at times!?

I had several of these a while back, almost identical to BGOs cosmetically, and every bit as good optically. As so often is the case I regret selling them.. My little ortho set is growing, now consisting of a pair of BGO 6mm, pair of Fujiyama 12.5mm and now this solo Antares 9mm, all made in Japan?☺. Dave

Meade 5000 3x TeleXtender. Looking forward to trying with my Morpheus 17.5mm and LVW 22mm to transform them to 5.8mm and 7.33mm high power EPs with no loss of eye relief..we'll see?.. Dave

Should've gone to Eyepiecesavers?? Dave

I agree Stu, elegantly simple. And the mount can be used as an altazimuth too, which is cool? Dave

Hi Dave, Mine wasn't on eBay, so there must have been another similar one recently..? Dave

Sometimes in life you get an "itch you have to scratch", and this was one of mine... I wasn't looking for it, nor thinking about it, but I was browsing the net for something else and came across this classic beauty. It dates from 1989 and came with 6mm and 16mm Carl Zeiss Jena orthos, a 25mm Huygenian and a (non standard) diagonal) all in 0.965mm barrel size. The whole stupid is in lovely, lightly used, condition. I've already sourced a Zeiss M44 -T2 adapter so I can use 1.25" eyepieces, and tonight I had really lovely views of Saturn and Titan, glimpsing the Cassini Division to one side of the planet, (straight through viewing) and a very respectable view of Mars, with the polar cap quite distinctly seen. To be honest, the views held up very well with my FS128, which has struggled in the "low murk" recently. Sometimes conditions really do mean that "less is more"! I'm really chuffed with this classic old frac, at F13.3 it's like old times! Dave