Heq5 Polar scope advice for a complete novice

[lifeonmars]

Hello

First of all I would like to say hello to everyone on this forum this is my first post and look forward to learning a lot from the wealth of experience here.

I have bought a used HEQ5 mount and just been fiddling with the polarscope.can someone tell me if the view through the scope should have a mottled appearance with lots of black dots in the field of view is that normal?

I also have in the field of view a vertical line which covers about a 1/4 of the field of view and whatever i do moving the mount etc i cannot get it to disappear,and leave an un obstructed view of the etched reticule,am i doing something wrong or is something misaligned in the mount?

Something else I find quite puzzling is when i take out the black blanking cap at the objective end of the polarscope i expected to see the objective end of the polar scope through the axis but all i can see is a black plastic bush with a hole in it and the shaft running through the bush but no light entry into the scope but you still see a field of view through the scope.

Another problem is the eyepiece doesn`t seem to focus very well am i expecting to much?

Sorry about the number of questions but eithier something is drastically wrong or I`m a bit of a dummy(probably the latter is true!! Thanks for your help in anticipation!!

HOLD THE BUS!! JUST SORTED IT I AM THE LATTER ! FORGOT TO RELEASE COUNTERWEIGHT SHAFT PROBLEM SOLVED

[jflowers]

This is what you should see through it with the declination axis horizontal so you can see the hole in the bush through the objective end...

[Martin 2]

PM'd you

martin

[jflowers]

HOLD THE BUS!! JUST SORTED IT I AM THE LATTER ! FORGOT TO RELEASE COUNTERWEIGHT SHAFT PROBLEM SOLVED

Glad you got it sorted, its a brilliant mount once you get used to it