Upgrading my PST?

[Notty]

I was warned this was going to get expensive...

i'm already looking wi green eyes at some of the super sharp images you guys post here and arou d and have started investigating squeezing more resolution from my little PST. I've come across 2 different paths, and wondered if anyone particularly here in the UK had experience of the, (perhaps they know where I can get them as most of it seems to be US based.

the first is double stacking with the Coronado double stack adapter. Around the £500 mark if I decided to import it. That's a lot of money!

secondly the Denkmeier Spectrum 60 upgrade

http://telescopes.net/store/s60-pst-spectrum-60-upgrade-for-coronado-pst.html

Which increases aperture but leaves the bandwidth alone. It looks like I'd have to ship my PST to the US to get it done, probably more like £700 by the time shipping etc is done.

does anyone have any experience of these, or any other ideas?

many thanks

andy

[JB80]

Ooh there are other options and especially if you are handy with a bit of DIY.

Essentially you can mod it yourself but you will require a few parts, Ken(Merlin66) has an excellent write up on how this can be done. It shouldn't cost £500 but then that's down to the parts you get.

Try googling Stage 1 or Stage 2 PST Mod.

Hopefully he can come by and explain things further.

Sorry about the rushed response but lunch is burning.

[keithatrochdale]

Hi, this is a picture of a nice conversion using a TAL100RS;

And I believe Peter may well have one for sale.

Also you will find lots of info and discussions on this site;

http://solarchat.nat...t/index.php/en/

.

[Notty]

Thanks guys, veery interesting! Are your pictures both of the phase 1 mod? How fiddly is it exactly, and is there any risk of the process being irreversible? I'm not a total DIY numpty but I am however of a nervous disposition regarding disassembling something this expensive.

And yes I'd potentially be interested in a 2nd hand one... Which I could part finance by selling mine!

[Pete Presland]

i have thought about doing this mod since the day i bought my PST. how much of an improvement are the views?

[keithatrochdale]

i have thought about doing this mod since the day i bought my PST. how much of an improvement are the views?

Well worth it IMHO and you can remove the PST from the TAL and use it as a standard PST.

[Pete Presland]

Well worth it IMHO and you can remove the PST from the TAL and use it as a standard PST.

nothing to loose then really! have you done any imaging through it?

[Merlin66]

Check out the best dedicated solar site in the world!

http://solarchat.solarastronomy.org/index.php/en/

We have many, many images taken by the "basic" PST, Lunt scopes and various different versions of PST mods....

They work very well!

[Pete Presland]

thanks for the link a very informative website, with some great images!