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mbalkham

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Everything posted by mbalkham

  1. Hi all, Just recieved my TuBlug and single beam laser. Noticed that with just the laser in the focuser rotation of the laser in ther focuser showed no obvious lateral movement. But the addition of the TuBlug introduces (or magnifies?) some movement and then rotating the TuBlug and laser shows displacement of the diffused pattern on the primary (also noticeable on the opposite wall of the tube with the secondary removed). Images show TuBlug rotated through 90 degrees in focuser no changes to primary or secondary. Question Is this normal (and due to the extra magnification of the Barlow in the TuBlug) or has my laser (or TuBlug) taken a knock in transit? Doesn't seam to be useable with such movement in rotation (unless I misunderstand something?). Thanks Matt
  2. Very happy to look at second hand. Shipping to NZ might be an issue for some though! Potentially prepared to invest a reasonable sum. Had the neq6 for about 6 years now and happy with the mods. Will be a great mount for someone with a lighter setup.
  3. I'm sure this has been asked before so very happy to be redirected. My rig is now over 20kg which is prob the limit of my neq6 (belt modded with wedge). Tracking pretty well (<1" RMS) with the right conditions. Mostly tear down each night but considering a permanent setup in the future. Looking for upgrade options. Eq8, CEM60, something else? Thanks in advance.
  4. Fixed (see separate post on homemade custom dew heater to fit around draw tube fixing screws). Pretty successful on a few hour test last night.
  5. I ended up making my own custom heater from nichrome wire, insulating tape, neoprene and velcro. Fits around the screws (cutouts in the right place on the plastic backing board) and works pretty well on the test last night!
  6. I have recently received and insatlled the Kendrick Digifire FX Pro and secondary and guidescope heaters (see setup attached). I need also to heat the Baader coma corrector mkiii and light pollution filter installed on my baader protective t-ring inside the diamond steeltrack focuser (controlled by the steeltrack focus motor). It gets dew fogged fairly regularly. Not much room to apply heat and close to the camera (want to avoid heat at the sensor!) but I'm thinking of trying to heat the draw tube on the focuser. Any ideas on narrow heater bands or ones I can make holes in the bands to accomodate the focuser grub screws? I have also improvised a passive dew shield which def helps and if I cant heat this element I might need to explore improvements to that set-up. Images below Thanks in advance
  7. After another imaging session cut short by dew at the weekend, my Kendrick FX-PRO turned up today (ordered over a month ago but Canadian postage and NZ Customs did there bit to make sure it took it's time getting to me!). Hopefully the last of my issues! Has anyone installed the secondary heater with the copper strips supplied to reduce defraction issues? Keen to see someone's install if you have any photos. Also not sure how I'll go about attaching the heater to the focus tube to keep the coma corrector clear. Thinking I'll just wrap the baader steeltrack focuser drawtube and hope it doesn't get in the way of focussing (also ordered the steeltrack motor focuser which should arrrive today).
  8. FIXED!!!!! Don't ask how I did it (I couldn't recreate it lots of forum posts and eventually it worked!) but it works and that's fine by me. Even managed to get the pi system date and time to read the gps and update. Bring on the clouds!
  9. cgps works fine after a manual start (along the lines of sudo gpsd /dev/gps -F /var/run/gpsd.sock) so I know the gps is working fine (it is this one https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HHAGST0354/GlobalSat-BU-353-S4-Weather-proof-USB-GPS-receiver). The GPS talks to the Pi which talks to KSTARS (running on the mac via wifi hotspot). The location and time in KSTARS are update from GPS. All works fine until the Pi is restarted when gpsd does not run automaticaly (I understand that is the point of the /etc/default/gpsd file and the statement START_DAEMON="true". Just can't get it to work! Work around is to run the gpsd manually each time and everyhting is fine but would be great if I can work out how to do it automatically! Next step talk to Stellarmate. Seen heaps of links and just read the one you posted. Sounds similar problem but I have tried the suggested fix and it hasn't done the trick for me. I'll take another look tonight. Maybe a couple more hours and I'll crack it!
  10. Hi All Been struggling to get the new USB GPS to play ball with the Pi. Manage to manually connect to it and it works with KSTARS but getting it to connect on boot is problematic. I've read heaps of great forum posts on configuring GPSD on boot (using something like below) to modify my /etc/default/gpsd file. Still no joy. Lost a whole night of imaging mucking up drivers and reinstalling everything and now onto about day 3! Running Stellamate OS 1.4.2 and KSTARS 3.3.3. Any pointers welcomed (new to playing with Linux and Pi). Cheers Matt /etc/default/gpsd # Default settings for gpsd. # Please do not edit this file directly - use `dpkg-reconfigure gpsd' to # change the options. START_DAEMON="true" GPSD_OPTIONS="-n" DEVICES="/dev/ttyUSB0" USBAUTO="true" GPSD_SOCKET="/var/run/gpsd.sock"
  11. Sorry just to be clear, I should say I'm very happy with the focuser and not looking go change that. Just looking for motor drive options.
  12. Hi All, Looking to add a motor focuser to my baader diamond steeltrack for newtonian focuser. I see the new SteelDrive II is available but about twice the price of the original steeldrive. Does anyone know if the new one is worth the extra investment?! Open to ideas of other makes if appropriate. Thanks in advance Matt
  13. Looking on advice regards dew heaters/shields/other options. Using Orion Optics CT10 in NZ and struggling with dew on the secondary. Also dew on Baader UHC-S filter mounted to front of Baader Coma Corrector on the t-ring infant of the Canon 6d which I guess will be hard to heat given it's inside the focuser (Baader diamond steel track focuser). Found the kendrick astro secondary dew heater. I have emailed them but emails have bounced back. Other options/ideas/advice? Thanks in advance Matt
  14. mbalkham

    New Zealand Images

  15. From the album: part processed images

    Polar alignment issue?
  16. Upgraded to NEQ6 and only had a couple of chances to use it, come on clear skies!

  17. Wow!! I think we should all give up and wait till you've finished the rest of the sky!!
  18. mbalkham

    Deep Space

    Various recent deep space photos
  19. mbalkham

    M51 V8

    From the album: Deep Space

  20. From the album: Deep Space

    43 no. 200s subs (just under 3 hrs) 15 no. darks 20 no. bias Processing still needs work!
  21. mbalkham

    M51

    From the album: Deep Space

    First image from new NEQ6. Little trouble with processing so might try again soon! 30mins lights (150s subs), 10 darks and 10 bias.
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