RayD

You'll probably find your router at home is the DHCP server, so when you are out in the field neither of your machines will be getting an IP address, so TeamViewer won't work. You need to make one of your machines the DHCP server so it can run as a stand alone network away from the router and the 2 machines can talk to each other.

Well that's just obsessive

I must admit, I would probably have still made the effort to put them in ascending size order for that picture

Looking really good, I feel your excitement

I use APC ones at home and work, and also have an Eaton one. All are excellent but of course are premium brands so do come at a price. You can of course use a battery, but be mindful of the fact that with a charger connected, whilst using it under load, your charger will default to bulk charge which can push your voltage up to over 14v, so not ideal and not something I would do personally. The UPS also provides you with some mains surge protection when the power comes back on (the time when most tech failures occur) and generally will wait for the supply to stabilise before switching over. In my experience with servers and many other bits connected to ours, and having had many outages, lag is not and issue and we have never had any equipment fail to continue working. When selecting calculate your AC consumption as this is what they are rated at. I doubt that will be anywhere near 10A so I would have thought something like a 750 - 1000Va will give you what you are after.

That's the technical speak I was referring to

I suspect the technical optical guys when taking about reducing are talking about something entirely different, but actually meaning the same thing, but for them they are using technical speak rather than us asking do I need longer or shorter spacers.

I think some flatteners are more sensitive than others Olly. With my Esprit and the SW FF the tiniest of changes makes quite a bit of difference, but with my Hotech one on the TS80 1mm either way really isn't that noticeable. I'd say to understand it take it to extremes, and imagine a really thick filter which straightens the light by 30 mm. Your CCD sensor would need to be the 55 mm needed for the FF plus the 30 mm which has been added by the 100 mm filter straightening it for 30 mm for it to achieve focus. If you take the light cone and slice it in the middle laterally, move the bottom down 30 mm and then draw straight lines between the cut ends (similar to the drawing I posted), you will see the cone angle doesn't change, it is simply lengthened by the glass of the filter, all else remaining the same, we now need to push the CCD sensor back the 30mm to meet the focal point, which we do with additional spacers. If I now do nothing but swap the filter for a thinner one, I will need to remove spacers as the focal point will move closer to the FF as the straightened section of light is now shorter. That's my understanding and it has definitely worked for me when setting up spacing.

I looked at it in a fairly simple way. If I need to place my sensor at 55mm behind my FF then the light cone gets lengthened by 1mm I now need to place it at 56mm.

Me neither. I think it is confusion where people work out the space, then subtract the 1mm, then need to add that to the spacer. I took ages going through this as I really struggled with spacing initially.

Yes I think your diagram shows it as needing to lengthen Olly. That's what I've found too. If the focal point is pushed back the sensor needs to go back to meet it.

Simply put if you need a 16 mm spacer without factoring filters, and you have Baader filters @2 mm (just an example as I don't know how thick the Astronomik ones are), then you will need a 16.66 (or 16.7) mm spacer. As noted by @wxsatuser you need to add 1/3 of your filter thickness. Personally I would go with your 16 mm and make the difference up with delrin rings as there is no guarantee that your sensor is spot on 17.5 mm. There may be a bit of trial and error to get it spot on. Edit: Here is a simple diagram which I believe explains what I see as the theory of the filter changing the light path and pushing back the focal point, which is why you need to add a bit (this is not my image).

you may find you need a fibre specific speed test. I need a specific test for my satellite broadband due to the extended ping. See if your provider has their own portal, some do. I would also leave it at least 24 hours for the hub to synchronise fully with the switch. Even at this stage that's a ton better than your old connection

WOO HOO!!!! Welcome to the 21st Century Gina

Telescopehouse would be the best to advise on this I would have thought?

My understanding is that PC direct mode is still a bit of a "may or may not" work solution. I would try using it direct connection to the mount and ditch the handset, for nothing else at this stage than proving it is the connection mode and not the mount or handset.

Technically not a "dual" as such I guess as whilst they do point in pretty well identical places, it was pure coincidence, and they aren't used simultaneously. The C8 is used mostly for Lunar and Planetary, with the Esprit for DSO's.

Looking really good Kev. Once you've got the base and pier done the rest is really enjoyable. This, fortunately, is the hard bit.

For the sake of £8 I'd get a couple of bags of MOT 1 (sub base) from Wickes and firm it down in there with anything really heavy you can get your hands on. It's a hardcore/sand mix, so beds in really tight. You'd probably be ok, but this will lessen the likelihood of heave and movement when the clay dries. It just spreads the load more evenly over a larger area. Wickes MOT 1 All looking good.

A very novel approach with the sliders. With this type of design you would need to be careful with dew/rain/snow dripping on your kit as your roof opens and closes. The run off will be going in to the obsy, and after a night of imaging with dew build up, or even a nice clear sky after a heavy shower, you'd be surprised just how much water there is on a roof. Perhaps factor in some guttering or a drip dam of some sort so the run off is diverted to the sides instead of dripping all over your kit, or even consider swinging the apex to the other elevation.

Thanks Kev. No need to worry there, looks like you're doing a super job and planning ahead well.

Look forward to seeing it all up and running.

Ah man, that leaves it open for debate now

My Godson sent me this, which now provides conclusive evidence to the Flat Earthers that it is nonsense.

Sounds like a great idea, and for views of the moon for the Grandkids it will be ideal. Don't forget to get a moon filter, as it can get pretty bright for young sensitive eyes