Hi Tony welcome I am new too 6 months and 3 telescopes later lol , I was going dobs but most of the dark sites I use need a tripod to get things level so what I have is an Orion Optics VX8L on a HEQ5 go-to mount , the telescope before was a skywatcher 150/750 F5 , buying a telescope is a big thing and you need to get it right so ask loads of questions ,post links to what your looking at and the members on here will give there answers on how good it is
All my telescope are second hand first one was ok , the skywatcher 150/750 cost me £120 and was nice , the VX8L cost when new over £1300 I got it for £600 so I got a lot for very little money so was worth going second hand