Geoff_L

FWIW, I have a Skywatcher 150 PDS. I suspect you might be OK with an AZ5 but not an AZ4. This on the basis that I have an Explore Scientific Twilight AZ mount (similar to AZ4) that isn't up to use with the 150 PDS and also an EQ5 Pro mount that is. I can't do astronomy from home as there is too much light pollution (can't even make out half the stars in the big dipper) and so I have to drive to a dark sky site, where that 150 gets knocked out of collimation about every third trip. I suspect it would be worse if backpacked. My 'grab and go' visual setup tends to be an Orion ST80 refractor with either the Twilight mount or a sturdy photographic tripod. ST80, photo tripod and a bag of eyepieces etc. probably comes to under 10kg. One day, I aspire to having a 127 Mak, which would be a good match for both the Twilight and EQ5, but in the meantime the small 'frac is the best I have for 'grab and go' as it's light and easy to set up and use.

Got tired of kneeling down in the mud and cricking my neck trying to polar align, so bought a right-angle polarscope adapter from FLO. Also bought an illuminator -- though I'm not too happy with the off switch on that! I see that FLO now dabble in witchcraft as they affixed a sticker to the package that guaranteed a week of 100% cloud cover!

FWIW, I've just spent the weekend at a Bluegrasss picking weekend at the Baskerville Hall Hotel in the motorhome. Didn't take a 'scope because the weather forecast was pants and the weekend was about music rather than astronomy. Too busy playing on the Friday and Saturday to look up, but we had the campsite to ourselves on Sunday and the Cloud Lady was kind. Because of the number of visible stars, the "W" of Cassiopeia and the square of Pegasus didn't stand right out but once identified I also was able to see M31 with the naked eye. There are trees to the South and West of the camping field that has EHUs, but clear horizon above about 25° to the East, South and West. This field has about twenty EHUs, but they are 'low power' (probably about 5A). There is a much larger field with fewer obstructions -- but no hookups AFAICT. HTH https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=15.95&lat=52.0773&lon=-3.1552&layers=0BFFFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFFF

Another vote for BST Starguiders. FWIW, I have a 150 PDS and the 5mm Starguider is pretty good with that. Remember that the theoretical maximum magnification is twice the objective diameter in millimetres, so that's 260x for a 130mm OTA. For an f/5 'scope, this will be achieved with a 2.5mm eyepiece -- but a word of caution, below 5mm, eyepieces can be tricky. For example, I have a 3.2mm Starguider and the reflection of the blood vessels at the back of my eye can mess up the view of bright objects (like the Moon and planets). For this reason, 5mm is the smallest eyepiece I tend to use; and very occasionally, I'll add a barlow to push to the 'scope futher.

FWIW, I'm currently at Kemble Airfield for the Didmarton Bluegrass Festival and so have had a chance to sound out the Ogri Motorcycle Club. They are amenable to hosting a star party. However, I didn't mention money as that's not my place. They can run extensions from their club house if only a few want EHU or bring in generator if required. The club house can be available for talks, drinks, food, etc. The Ogri club have been superb hosts this weekend. They can be contacted initially using info on their website (https://www.ogrimcc.org/) or via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ogriclubhouse) HTH Edited to add: Unfortunately, one of the hangars had all the lights on Sunday night. This was to the North of where events are held, but it makes the airfield less suitable Sorry if I've wasted anyone's time...

FWIW, I can corroborate this after I got scammed by a Chinese 'company' I later discovered had quite a history. I ordered a couple of camping chairs, complete with canopy, which they switched for a couple of cheaply made drawstring bags and then altered their website after the fact. Since I'd taken screenshots at the time of order, I was certain that I had ordered chairs and not bags. However, Paypal sided with the scammers and insisted that I return the bags at my expense to China before they would even consider refunding me. The history I discovered also revealed that Paypal had been advised of this and several similar "switch" scams by the same 'company' and yet Paypal were still providing service to the scammers. I thus considered Paypal complicit in the scam, cancelled my account and have refused to do business with them since (even if that meant being unable to purchase something I really wanted). As a last resort, I contacted my credit card company who confirmed what @dannybgoode wrote: that I'd used my CC to pay for the service that Paypal provided and not to pay for the goods. Hence S75 of the CCA did not provide a remedy unless Paypal were in breach of their own T&Cs and hence did not provide the promised service.

FWIW, that's only a few miles away from Baskerville Hall Hotel and both sites are almost spitting distance from Lucksall. They have camping fields with some EHUs and are used to dealing with groups -- one of the Bluegrass clubs holds a couple of picking weekends there each year (Covid notwithstanding). They also have a restaurant, a bar and rooms that can be booked for meetings, presentations etc.

FWIW, I had the same issue as the OP when I first had my EQ5 Pro. In my case, it turned out that I'd entered the date in British format while Synscan expects US format. So, the 10th of February was taken to be 2nd of October!

FWIW, I have a 150PDS and that focuser is superb for the price IMO. Also, note that the 150P will probably need modification if you ever want to image with it while the 130PDS is already suitable for prime-focus astrophotography. For that, there's an entire thread dedicated to AP with the 130PDS that should give you some idea of capability. (clicky link) Good luck and HTH

From the "Facilities" section of the Eastnor Castle Deer Park Campsite web page (clicky link), it seems they don't have electric hookups or toilets and all units must be self-contained. Was the recommendation for another part of the Eastnor Castle estate?

More interaction with your local club is my advice FWIW. I wish I'd listened to what I'm now saying when I started in 2017. I made the mistake of jumping in and buying our first scope only to become quickly dissatisfied. Pretty much everyone at my local club had been there, done that and got the tee-shirt -- and they all said I needed to take my time, to look through a few of the other members' scopes, start with naked eye and maybe some binos, learn about the night sky (how to identify the constellations etc.), find my niche in astronomy and then go out and buy a scope. Not only does this increase the chance of buying the 'right' scope, but you get to save a little more to afford something better. They pretty much guaranteed that I'd be wasting money if I bought with haste -- and they were right!

That's not a bad idea. I just did a search over on UK Campsite for a somewhere with a rally field, EHU, that takes tents, caravans and motorhomes, and within a 30 mile radius of (GPS: 50.9, -2.5) and got 80 matches, many of which are in the low light pollution / many clear nights region North of Dorchester. One example (and I stress this is just the first looked at) is Oathill Farm Holiday And Touring Park (clicky link to UK Campsite entry) -- I didn't look too closely, but the photos on UK Campsite suggest that trees are limited and it seems to have reasonably open horizons. However, I have no idea whether they have street lighting within the site... Here's a clicky link to the entire search results. Hopefully, it'll be of some use to the organisers...

FWIW, my power pack would probably last a couple of days between charges. However, I have solar on the motorhome roof and 220Ah of leisure batteries to top it up. That said, Kemble Airfied has 240v and so recharging should be possible. That said, it was only a suggestion in the absence of better venues...

Wish I'd seen this thread earlier because I suffered similar woes. Firstly, there are two cogs on each motor and it's possible to mesh either. See my plea for help from 2017 linked below. The other issue for me is that I entered the date into the Synscan handset in UK format but it was expecting US. i.e. I entered the tenth of February 2017 as "10/02/2017" and Synscan took this as 2nd October and offered Vega as an alignment star even though it was below the horizon at the time.

Sorry, I didn't understand that. FWIW (and albeit that I'm a novice imager) my imaging rig runs entirely off a 12v power pack and a USB power brick -- even when I have 240v available. I know that Kemble Airfield has 240v because the Bluegrass festival had mains-powered PA and lighting and mains was provided for business stalls and those who needed it for medical reasons (e.g. rely on CPAP etc.) So it probably would be possible to at least recharge battery packs.

It's a tricky one indeed since many campsites are surrounded by trees and value the shelter from winds they provide and campsites with dark skies and open horizons seem almost as rare as hen's teeth! Are hookups essential? I ask because if not perhaps Kemble Airfield might be a possibility. Like Lucksall, it's Bortle 4, has open horizons and they're used to hosting large groups in a mix of caravans, motorhomes and tents. For example, they're hosting the Didmarton Bluegrass Festival first weekend in September. AFAICT, the organisation to contact about booking the site would be the Ogri Motorcycle Club (https://www.ogrimcc.org/).

The best telescope for you and your daughter very much depends on what takes your interest and your budget. The best telescope for deep sky objects (DSOs) is probably not going to be the best for planets. Also consider practicality -- e.g. a largish Dobsonian might be great if you only have to move it a few feet to use it but a small refractor on a relatively light tripod might be best if you've got to put it in a backpack and hike out to somewhere with lower light pollution. It doesn't matter how impressive the specifications are, a telescope is not going to show you the night sky unless you actually use it and many a 'scope lies gathering dust because its owner didn't put practicality before performance. Another factor to consider is whether you're fine with navigating the night sky using using star charts or a planisphere or whether you need a goto mount. Are there any astronomy groups near you that hold 'star parties'? If so, that's probably your best port of call. Astronomers are a friendly bunch in general and happy to talk to the public -- you'll also get to look at and through some telescopes and so better understand the differences. Another source of info is YouTube; searching for "best beginner telescope" returns dozens of videos that will give you an idea of what is available and should help your decision. Sorry for rambling on, but I hope this helps.

I'm responding here just for clarity as others have given much better info than I can. Back in 2017, I'd only just acquired my EQ5 Pro mount and didn't understand that there are two types of 'direct' cable. The one I have is a serial cable that plugs into the dedicated port at the bottom of the handset. However, there is another type (that I haven't tried) that plugs into the control box in place of the handset. So richyrich_one and I were actually talking about two, different cables.

I wonder whether the secondary mirror of a 150 PDS is available from SW as a spare part that can be employed to get around this issue. However, the position of prime focus and secondary mirror size aren't the only differences as the 150 PDS also has a reasonable 2-speed Crayford focuser. FWIW, I sometimes find it difficult to get focus in my DSLR with that and suspect it would be worse with the R&P focuser of a 150P. I note that SW Explorer PDS reflectors have come down in price at FLO since I bought my 150 PDS (£229 for the 150 and £176 for the 130 at time of writing), which makes me wonder whether the conversion makes financial sense. That said, tinkering with adaptations always makes sense from a 'blokes in sheds' perspective!

I have a cheap laptop bag into which I inserted two layers of foam, one thick and the other thin. The thin layer provides protection at the 'bottom' of the case while I cut pockets in the thick layer to fit my eyepieces, finders, etc. I also have a couple of BST Starguiders in their boxes, Bahtinov masks, etc. stored in the various outer pockets.

This is what they say in the small print on the page: That said, I agree it's a bit misleading for them to only mention that once but say it has Win 10 in multiple other locations.

FWIW, I got an EOS 450D with a 50mm kit lens and low shutter count from Camera Jungle and can't fault them. I use just the body with my 150PDS, connecting it to the focuser via a T-ring and nose piece. If you don't want to use the DSLR for conventional photography, you may be able to use the funds you'd otherwise spend on one or more lenses to 'upgrade' your camera choice or to have the camera astro-modded. HTH, Geoff

I guess that storage depends on the camper. A typical panel van conversion (PVC) might have an issue, but this probably isn't the case with most coachbuilts and A-classes. We're lucky as two of us rattle around in a 7m coachbuilt. However, even with a PVC, you can load up the habitation area with mount, scopes, and accessories as they'll be outside the van once you're set up on site, and can be stored in the front of the van when you're not doing astro and want to use the habitation area. That said, I agree about the binos -- we keep a pair of 8x50's in the van. We often also take an ST80 with us just in case we get a clear night when we're using the van for something other than astro. FWIW, folks were queuing to view Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon at the last couple of music festivals we went to!

FWIW we use our campervan as a mobile observatory. The camper is nice and warm inside and has a reasonable supply of 12v electricity. So the mount and telescope go outside in the cold and a couple of cables connect that to a laptop inside the van. Once the rig is set up, we can come in from the cold and spend the night imaging in the warm. Even if you only want to do visual obs now and/or your budget doesn't run to imaging, you might want to consider the comfort that a camper can provide and buy equipment that can be used or upgraded for imaging later.

FWIW, I checked how much it would cost for First Light Optics to ship some eyepieces to Australia when we were over there earlier this year. It turned out that I could buy BST Starguider EPs and have them shipped to Aus for less than it would to buy and have delivered to UK. I suspect that the removal of VAT more than made up for the increased shipping costs. That said, you might need to pay taxes etc. in the destination country and it depends on where you are in Asia as to whether FLO can deliver to you: check out the map on this page. HTH, Geoff