apaulo

in scotland i find Weather Radar the most accurate of them all. clear outside and many others, nope.

i started of with a homemade dob, upgraded that with a setting circle and angle gauge, now ive moved it up to a skytee2 on a tripod with a setting circle and same angle gauge, i enjoy the hunt. like the first time i saw the pup and many others. i find that more satisfying than a goto system, but its a case of everyone to their own. so its nudging for me.

forums for discussion, not insult.

personally i wouldnt say you guys are right or wrong, but i wouldnt put my life savings on you being definately right, but i would have a bet you are not 100% right

do we know what stars are made of. who has been on 1 or even near 1 to know for definate.

the only definate in astronomy is, we definately know very little. lol

if i was to start from scratch as you are, first thing i would do if possible, is join an astronomy club. you can try all types of different gear and have first hand personal advice right away. if there is no astro club, do what your doing but stick to the very basics and dont empty the bank account. i hope you enjoy your new hobby.

thanks for that bosun, i took the reducer out and got some course emery cloth on it, i am glad to say its a lot better and more reliable, not pretty but functionable, and money still in my pocket.

for £900 i am not looking perfection, just equipment that is fit for purpose. i have taken the holder out of my starfield, on examination it works on friction, however, the manufacturers have made 2 very nice , flat smooth surfaces. that is never going to hold anything tight. i cranked the clamp up in my hands and it still slipped. i am going to roughen up the surface on the reducer with emery cloth and hope that will either help or to cure the problem.

i will take a look at that craig and see if it helps. thanks for the input.

i have had a starfield 102 for a while now, i find it a nice scope to use, but for £900 it could have a much better clamp. the starfield takes a lot of tightening to grip. i have had my e/ps slipping round on several occasions, in fact a Pentax XW i have fell out, so i was not impressed, luckily there was minimal damage done to the e/p. i have seen others rightly suggesting to upgrade the offending clamp, but after spending £900 on a telescope should we really have to do that. i think not.

we are told that the great wall of china is visible from the moon. what they havnt told us is that, anywhere from lancaster to stratford upon avon neil armstrong could read the street names with a pair of 8x binos. he was dissappointed that he didnt have a solar filter with him as he was hoping to see oxford street in london.

i used a 3mm yoga mat of ebay, put a 2" self adhesive velcro strip on it and ran a sewing machine around the edge of the velcro. no problems so far after a year.

why not, ask on here , if anyone has a scope they would sell to a beginner for 100 quid. im sure there is a few about. good luck.

it depends on where and why its leaking, then its how much you want to spend on it. any obs is better than none.

if its meade and made in america it will be unf or unc thread.

i dont know about kielder but ive been to kelling heath. an amazing complex, all pitches have electric hookups and the electric is included in the price. so no worries along that line.

i wonder, mmmm if we spent 50% of the time standing on our hands, would our feet get only half as cold. lol

after seeing the price of the socks, my toes curled up. cured the frost bite though.

as for hedges getting in the road of a low finder scope, the opposite happens with a top mounted finder scope. a high finder will see targets over the roof of houses and trees lol, but your scope may not. lol. we cant win.

a big plus for bresser uk, i found them very friendly and informative to deal with.

it dosnt sound like a great advert for tele gizmos covers.

i used a hole saw , i removed the drill bit and used it in a drill switched to left hand rotation. makes a nice clean cut, but make sure its on lefthand .

with binos the only advice id give is, try before you buy. they can be chalk and cheese.

thanks for that, paul.