What was your first Scope

[mark.of.andromeda]

mine was a tasco refractor on a very shaky wooden mount

[Ant]

Mine was a 3" F15 refractor bought when I was 11 (or maybe 10). It had a wooden tripod and an Alt Az mount.

Simple but effective! Wish I had pictures of it!

Ant

[Astronut]

A cheapo 60mm refractor from Dixons on a wooden tripod with hand controls for altitude and azimuth. I was just a kid at the time and it was all that was available for the budget - a present from my mum. Before that I had a small (almost pocket-sized) hand-held russian-made refractor (worse than half-a-pair of binos really) that folded up (3 tubes) given to me by my grandma - I made a heath-robinson table-top alt-az mount for it from some bits of wood.

I had a crack at grinding an 8" mirror once with a kit - I got as far as the polishing stage but never finished it. I remember making a device for looking at the mirror 'doughnut' shadow with a couple of razor blades and a bright bulb behind it. I can't remember the exact details of this now though - it's all faded into distant memory.

I learned alot about 'scope optics though and still have lots of notes and diagrams gleaned from books at the the library so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

First proper 'scope was an 8.75" Fullerscopes reflector on an EQ mount with a steel pier and an AC powered RA tracking motor.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

My first 'scope was a Helios 120mm f/8 that I still have. My first view through a 'scope was when I bought my boy a Jessops special offer 70mm Newt. to play with. We set it up in the sitting room and pointed it at Saturn. The first view of the rings was the single most expensive thing that I've ever looked at.

Captain Chaos

[mark RD]

Mine was a white refractor on a wooden tripod, At a guess a 60s Tasco

[centroid]

8" Celestron SCT on an EQ5 Mount.

Dave

[jonifive]

I was given a chinese 60mm frac for xmas about 30 years ago. I don't think I ever used it, but it looked good in my bedroom next to my space 1999 and ufo toys!

Then my lovely wife gave me a nice Helios 114 newt about ten years ago, which I still have but frequently loan out to friends.

[maroon bells]

space 1999 and ufo toys!

If you like that sort of thing you may like to look at this site http://homepages.tesco.net/d.sisson/index.htm , I stumbled on it a couple of weeks ago. His models are very impressive.

[jonifive]

I wish I had a time machine to go and tell my younger self not to open any of those toys, just leave them in the boxes.

[Helen]

Mine was a 6" f8 reflector on a huge undriven EQ mount. I was stunned by the size of it when it arrived in one wooden packing crate (my younger brother still tells the tale of how it arrived in a wardrobe). I'm only just 5 foot tall so a 4 foot tube and a heavy EQ mount (which I had no idea how to use and could barely carry) nearly killed my enthusiasm. But when I saw Saturn..and stumbled on the Double Cluster..well...

Helen