Another convert :-)

[Man meade]

Hi guys and of course gals,

After many years of having an interest in the stars I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase a telescope.

I got myself a Meade (hence my user name) 125etx complete with autostar. I undertook a little research and this came out as a good starter scope with the potential to keep my interest for a few years.

It was second hand but had been well looked after and the 15 min demo (now all forgotten) on collection showed it to be in good working order.

As of yet I have not set the telescope up due to lack of knowledge and fear of doing something I shouldn't and therefore causing damage, so is there anyone out there who owns or has owned one and could advise me of some definite do's and do nots?

Apologies to everyone that my first post is a request but hopefully you can all remember your first time with your first telescope. :-)

Thanks in advance

[Bioboybill]

Welcome to SGL. I am sure somebody who has had that scope will be along soon. Might be a good idea to join a local astronomical society?

[BritAngler]

Hi and welcome to SGL

Have you checked on Yourtube to see if there's any vids on setting up your scope?

[Ruud]

Here's a manual: https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwj049-mwc_JAhXBcw8KHQRQD44QFggfMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.meade.com%2Fdownloads%2Fdl%2Ffile%2Fid%2F31%2Fproduct%2F0%2Fetx_90_105_125_ec_manual.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEv_fY5pZVx5AmOWov-pLxE5qCiqg&sig2=Av4sZiqyOqmeeiTON4mIUQ&bvm=bv.109395566,d.ZWU

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi and welcome.

[Man meade]

Many thanks to all for your advice, it is greatly appreciated.

I am in the process of joining a local society and was kindly invited to an observation night last Saturday, unfortunately it was cancelled due to the high winds and cloud cover. The secretary of the society has been really helpful and hopefully I will get to meet the members this Friday, weather permitting!!

For someone starting out it is great to know that there are so many people who understand your initial fears and problems and who will willingly offer good advice to assist you. Having read quite a few of the various posts on here on the far ranging topics, it is clear to see that there are many many knowledgeable gazers on this site, great news for myself or any other beginners :-)

Once again, thanks for the welcome and advice. :-)

[michael8554]

Hi

Get the base level, a small round bubble level is good enough

The control panel should face west

Make sure the forks are in-between the hard stops on the RA drive, or it will crash into them

With the RA lock off, slowly rotate one way by hand until you hit a stop

Then rotate the other way, counting turns of the base, until you hit the other stop

Then turn back approx half the number of turns until the scope is pointing north

Note that you need to enter the date in US format mm/dd/yyyy

Enter the time to the next whole minute and hit enter when your accurate time source gets there.

Lat and Long, you will need to edit Sites to put in your location, you only need to do that once, it remembers this, but not date and time.

Check out the Mighty ETX site, everything you will ever need to know about the ETX.

http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html

Michael

[BritAngler]

Here you go, if you haven't found it already

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eseHiV2oGCE

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL.

[Man meade]

Wow, the web sites you have recommended are fantastic, so much info ( most of it a bit gobblydeegook at the mo ) :-) but I'm sure that at sometime in the future I'll look back and wonder why I thought it all so daunting.............he says hopefully!

[Man meade]

Hi again everyone, my first ever stargazing event report.

Brilliant, frustrating, brilliant, frustrating, brilliant, frustrating and cold! :-)

Attended an event on Friday evening, was touch and go right up to the last minute due to the amount of cloud cover.

When I arrived most were already set up and were waiting for a break in the clouds.

I think I was the perverbial 'kid in a candy shop' the telescopes on display were utterly amazing. The amount of gear these guys had was so impressive, multi scopes, computer controlled etc etc.

I did not get to set up my own scope as everyone was busy trying to take advantage of even the smallest break in cloud cover and the forecast was for it to get worse.

The guys were great and let me have a gook look at what they were attempting to photograph and explained a lot of the what's and whys.

I quickly learned that this can be so frustrating as they attempted exposures in excess of 5mins, only for the cloud to sweep in and thwart them.

They were more than happy to point out some of the better known stars and constellations and to show me images that had been captured at previous events. I now realise that these are not 'one shot' photographs but rather multi shots which are then processed to obtain the best picture, very very impressive all the same.

Just for the few hous I was there I could see why so many of you are so in to this, yes it can be very frustrating and cold in equal measures but the rewards are truly fantastic and worth all the effort.

I think this could become quite addictive as just two of the gazers ther had a total of 72 years experience between them!!

Roll on the next event and hopefully I will have my own scope up and running :-)