The "quiet" paradox

[Peco4321]

New research and experiments (by me the other night) proves the "quiet" paradox does exist, at least when trying to pack away at 02:00.

It basically goes like this, the later in the night you pack away, and the quieter you try to be, the narrower the passageway to the shed becomes, the tripod legs get more attracted to brickwork, the squeakier the shed door becomes, the gravel path crunches more, ones balance is reduced when taking warm over trousers off and all the implements in the shed become more unstable, resulting in a tenfold increase in expletives, both in volume and strength. 

Anyone have similar findings?  

[Uplooker]

I concur ?

[cotterless45]

It's a vacuum of silence , waiting to be filled ! Made worse by your best efforts to avoid friction, falling over or dropping things. Then you find things go in threes !

Nick.

[Paul73]

Try singing!

Or, covering scope & tripod, then bringing it in the next morning. Less chance of tripping over in the dark!

Paul

[xtreemchaos]

that sounds about right, you can hear a mouse let wind at that time in the morning. charl.

[Floater]

'The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls ..."

[Paz]

This sounds familiar.

My family recently decided to get guinea pigs (I didn't want any but was outvoted). The later I go out the more of a racket they make thinking it's feeding time.

[Peco4321]

8 minutes ago, Paz said:

This sounds familiar.

My family recently decided to get guinea pigs (I didn't want any but was outvoted). The later I go out the more of a racket they make thinking it's feeding time.

We have 2 guinea pigs as well, I call them my stargazing buddies as they always scuttle around when I'm out. Great pets though, we love em. 

[ollypenrice]

I know what you mean but, not having neighbours in the normal sense, it hardly matters! I do have one eccentric neighbour (I'm not even slightly eccentric myself...) who sleeps in a hammock outside her house in the hot weather and she occasionally says she can hear us cursing USB connections but there's no big deal...

Olly

[tomato]

I have an extension lead that is totally silent when being unwound but makes a high pitched whine when being wound in, unless I do it at 5 rpm, not what I want when packing up and work later in the morning....

[Peco4321]

10 hours ago, tomato said:

I have an extension lead that is totally silent when being unwound but makes a high pitched whine when being wound in, unless I do it at 5 rpm, not what I want when packing up and work later in the morning....

Similar to my washing line reel, that I use to prop up as a light shield. I can reel it in during the day quickly and quietly but at night I try to go slower, but it gets louder - quick and done with, or slow and a bit louder, what a dilemma. 

[Ouroboros]

It sounds like I'm playing Tubular Bells on my tripod legs as I'm putting them away at 2:00 am. 

[mikeDnight]

I'm glad there's now an official term for this problem. It now relieves me of any blame! I'm sure some brighter spark than me will come up with some equation to prove the paradox to be true, but it would have to include, why it is that the hearing acuity of ones spouse also increases, even though she is supposedly fast asleep?

Mike

[steppenwolf]

My observatory de-humidifier will be my undoing with the neighbours . After an imaging session, I always turn it on to protect my gear from dew the next morning BUT, it has a very loud 'squeaky' fan at start-up. The banshee wail that is emitted from the unit catches me out every time in the close confines of the dome where the curved roof focuses the sound downwards at me. I dread the neighbours hearing the same noise .......

[davehawkins]

The box my scope and mount are stored in has a smooth and silent lid during the day. Anytime after 10pm it developes a loud creak and an ear piercing crack at the top of its travel and this sets next doors dog off barking. My wife gets bat like hearing when shes gone to bed as well.

[iPeace]

As if it matters. When I return to bed, my body temperature, having taken an Arctic turn, tends to awaken anyone who happens to be there.

[Stu]

'Tis a well know phenomenon! Everything you do seems designed to make maximum noise!

Ones I remember specifically are screwing the metal end cap onto a TV85, which makes a wonderful, high pitched screeching noise!

Also, locking myself out of my car (and all my scope kit in) on a camp site and the clueless RAC man setting the alarm off repeatedly at 9.30pm, waking up all the children who had been painstaking out to bed. I was popular next morning, NOT!

[iPeace]

Just now, Stu said:

Ones I remember specifically are screwing the metal end cap onto a TV85, which makes a wonderful, high pitched screeching noise!

A feature built into more than one of them, I attest.

[tomato]

I thought a permenant observatory would sort this problem but clearly it can still catch you out. How loud is a roll on roll off roof?

Another item that catches me out, I leave the Sitech speech switched on and forget that I have left the volume up on my Astro laptop so I get a very distinct "SLEW ENDED" exclamation from the back garden, good job it's at the start of the session ?

[Phil Fargaze]

Yes the dreaded roll on/off roof! Your paradox explains why the roof has to squeal as much as possible when I'm closing it at 3am in the morning.

[Stub Mandrel]

It's the internal doors that suddenly become noisy...

I have also been told I need a quieter keyboard!

[Helen]

Completely agree....  dismantling an Obsession UC last night.... all the poles were clanking, but I reached a point of no return and then just tried to decide whether quicker and noisier was better than long drawn out.....  and then a motorbike goes past, and someone slams a car door, and I wondered why I was worrying 

Helen

[Hawksmoor]

We have a very small backyard. Our neighbours are so close when I'm out stargazing I can hear them snoring. If I can hear them, they must be able to hear me!

Why after midnight does my NEQ 6 make even more noise, it is hard to believe, but it's true. Is it better to slew fast over a short period of time or slow over a long period of time?

Why at 3.00 am. has my light box which I use for taking flats suddenly become so very bright that it's visible from low earth orbit and why have I tried once again to walk through the glass patio door without opening it?

Worst of all and when I finally pack it in at stupid o' clock which sadist put the added rustling in my telegizmo cover. When I took it off in daylight it was silent but at 4 in the morning it's louder than fifty bags of toffees in the front row of the cinema.

You are absolutely right, a paradox it is! 

George with disturbed neighbours in Lowestoft.

 

[Peco4321]

Also, camera shutters become louder after midnight, it's programmed into them. Especially when taking a load of bias shots at the end of the session ??

[SonnyE]

I don't worry about it. But my tear down is rather minimal, too. I think my noisiest post-star time is to slew the mount to home.

I only remove my telescope assembly from my mounts Vixen clamp, cover the mount up and disconnect my battery. Then pack the telescope in the house. Done. My mount lives under my 32 gallon plastic trash bin observatory dome. I only bring it in during storms.

I think the Volume Anomaly of the Night () is really due to the lack of the noise we are bombarded with during the day. Like traffic noise, human noise, and what-have-you. When all that background noise goes away, we become more aware of ourselves, and even our breathing sounds louder.

Nobody has ever yelled at me to be quiet yet. But then, I'm the type to yell back at them to shut up.