robbymain

Righto Thats me off to to Tenerife on Tuesday - currently typing this with rain lashing against the patio doors here in Bristol so looking forward to some warm sunshine, and of course clear high altitude skies and DSOs I also booked onto the 'Teide By Night' excursion and considering visiting the Observatory - will report back!

I really enjoyed my visit on Friday morning - my first ever astro exhibition! Spoke to lots of exhibitors but it was especially good to meet and talk with FLO's Grant and Rob plus Rowan Astronomy's Derek and Dave on the Ikarus Imaging stand. I was really impressed with the AZ100 with Nexus DSC - far more capable and high performance than I could consider just now but one day...?! The StellaMira refractors were very nice as well. The 2 talks I attended (Doomed Massive Stars and The Inspiring story of the Hubble Space Telescope) were extremely good and I would have happily attended more. Chatting to the Naglers about their Apollo 11 anniversary eyepiece was another highlight! I did lookout for any of my fellow SGLers but the only person I bumped into was Eddie, a fellow member of the Bristol Astro Society

PM sent

Conference ticket bought for Friday a.m. session

Yes I received mine - the reference on the online payment was RMI SERVICES LTD btw

It's a Manfrotto 055 Aluminium one - a chunk lighter and less bulky than the one supplied with the Porta 2

Hi All Having finished putting together a travel setup I wanted to share it with you good people on here. I know lots of folk are interested in an airline-portable travel solution so here's my take on it! The scope is a nice used William Optics Megrez 72 which only needed a little TLC - a quick dismantling, clean and reassemble plus some replacement of felt tape for getting a nice snug sliding fit for the dew shield (no lock screw on these older WO models). The mount is a Vixen Porta 2 with the saddle clamp replaced with an ADM upgrade - it's much better engineered than the Vixen original and works extremely well with the scope's short fixed mounting foot/L-bracket. The tripod is an aluminium Manfrotto 055 that I picked up new for a ridiculously low price before Xmas (25% discount from Wex plus £50 cashback from Manfrotto!!!) To mount the Porta head on the tripod, I bought the Vixen photo tripod adapter plate only to find that the centre hole is a 1/4" thread - and the tripod legs have a 3/8" stud? So, I bought the required tools and drilled and tapped the hole myself to 3/8" and I'm happy with the result. Funny that Vixen don't offer both options? Lastly, I drilled and tapped a new M5 hole in the scope for mounting the WO RDF in a sensible orientation - the provided position is correct for mounting the scope with the mounting foot/L-bracket underneath (suiting a camera/video-type tripod head, or a fork & cradle altaz mount like a Televue Sky-pod). Currently it's shown with a WO 1.25" diagonal and a TV 32mm Plossl which might be replaced with a 2" one and a Hyperion Zoom before it's off to Tenerife for the February new moon (thats the plan anyway!)

I bought the Vixen adapter not realising the mismatch and ended up drilling and tapping the hole to 3/8"-16 UNC to match the stud on my new Manfrotto 055. I wonder why Vixen chose a 1/4"-20 hole when the mount would clearly be screwed directly to a medium to heavy duty photo tripod?! Seems odd to me!

Thanks for the report Mark! I have been thinking of going to La Palma for a wee while now and I feel much better informed now. I'm thinking about a week solo in the Canaries for Feb new moon while my wife is away volunteering in South Africa and trying to decide between La Palma or Tenerife... I've been to Tenerife lots of times in the past for winter windsurf weeks and know my way up to the Parador in the crater of Teide so might do that instead and leave La Palma for another time!

Thanks for the headsup @rl I'm surprised there's not more gossip about this event considering it's less than 2 weeks away? Am I posting in the wrong forum lol

Hi All I’m seeing my wife off to South Africa at Heathrow on the 30th so I thought I would make the most of a rare trip to London and attend my first astronomy exhibition! Is anyone else going this year? I will most likely be there on Friday morning. Are FLO planning to attend? I didn’t see their name on the list of confirmed exhibitors... All the best, Rob

I have this same issue - I'm going to drill out and tap the centre hole to 3/8"-16 UNC. If I need to convert back the other way, thread adapters are cheaply available.

I'm hoping to take my new (used) Megrez 72 to La Palma or Tenerife while my wife is in South Africa volunteering at a Game Reserve.

Dates in my calendar also! Happy New Year everybody

Super writeup Gavin! I may be visiting Tenerife again in February and am planning to take my newly assembled travel kit (Megrez 72, Porta II mount and Manfrotto 055 tripod) with me for trips up to the crater. I have been past the Parador hotel a few times in the past. Is it easy to setup somewhere away from lights on their grounds or did you park nearby off the road to the Teleferico?! Cheers, Rob