What did the postman bring?

[Merak]

A new diagonal plus a couple of colour filters.  

Edit: surely Royal Fail could've done better than giving a 12 hour window for delivery? It came fairly early but didn't like the idea of the possibility of staying in all day 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Merak
Edit

[Dave scutt]

17 hours ago, John said:

Hope you can bring it to focus OK. 

The Antares 1.6 has great glass in it but depending on the version, achieving focus can be challenging. 

You where right John. 

Without the barlow using the normal 1.25 and 2"  adapters I couldn't achieve focus found a 15mm adapter and it worked .

With the barlow and no adapters I had to move the barlow out 15mm to achieve focus. 

Now I need a 2"  15mm adapter 

[Ratlet]

Upgraded primary sprongs for the Dob and probably the 130pds.  Going to experiment with not having/using the lock nuts.

 

[Alan White]

A certain Lunar Atlas, held off for a while but then was told to get something in for Fathers Day, so I did.

Very nice indeed, but now removed from me until it can be presented back.

[F15Rules]

On 08/06/2023 at 16:25, josefk said:

I would find this very difficult to justify to my better half if i get caught.

Nothing wrong with the stock focuser at all but i'm hoping if this is a 1:7 gear reduction its also 1/7 the amount of turning force required and therefore less transfer of finger wobble to the scope while approaching sharpest focus...

Great little microfocuser upgrade, Josef!

I have one on my FS128 and it's excellent, makes very fine focus adjustments at high power so much easier..

Dvae

[saac]

Sort of astro related in that I can now digitise my CD and record collection and listen to it on demand while observing   I've been hankering after one of the Brennan units for a while. Went for the B3, it comes with a 2 terra bite disk and rips through the CDs in anything from 2-3 minutes. So far so good; impressed with what it does and how it integrates with my existing amp.

Jim 

 

[Ratlet]

6 hours ago, saac said:

Sort of astro related in that I can now digitise my CD and record collection and listen to it on demand while observing   I've been hankering after one of the Brennan units for a while. Went for the B3, it comes with a 2 terra bite disk and rips through the CDs in anything from 2-3 minutes. So far so good; impressed with what it does and how it integrates with my existing amp.

Jim 

 

Is the moon thing to the right a clock to show the phase of the moon?

[saac]

15 hours ago, Ratlet said:

Is the moon thing to the right a clock to show the phase of the moon?

It is, indeed, it was a birthday present a few years back. Works quite well, when I remember to replace the battery  

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/moon-phase-clocks/moon-phase-clock.html

Jim

Edited June 12, 2023 by saac

[JeremyS]

On 11/06/2023 at 19:20, saac said:

Sort of astro related in that I can now digitise my CD and record collection and listen to it on demand while observing   I've been hankering after one of the Brennan units for a while. Went for the B3, it comes with a 2 terra bite disk and rips through the CDs in anything from 2-3 minutes. So far so good; impressed with what it does and how it integrates with my existing amp.

Jim 

 

Is that a bottle (largely necked) of Aberlour I spy?

And any chance it’s my favourite A’bounadh? Cask strength. If so you are a man after my own heart Jim 🤔

[John]

23 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Is that a bottle (largely necked) of Aberlour I spy?

And any chance it’s my favourite A’bounadh? Cask strength. If so you are a man after my own heart Jim 🤔

This thread gets a bit like "Through the Keyhole" at times 😁

[saac]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

Is that a bottle (largely necked) of Aberlour I spy?

And any chance it’s my favourite A’bounadh? Cask strength. If so you are a man after my own heart Jim 🤔

Jeremy, while I always practice moderation, I do believe anything other than a largely necked bottle of Aberlour is surely a crime against humanity   On this occasion though it is a mere (still delightful) 12 year old double cask variant and not the distinguished A'bunadh (ah memories).  Tucked in behind the Aberlour however are two other cask strength 10 year olds; Mannochmore (Speyside) and a Blair Athol (Highland) from the Manager's Dram collection. The Blair Athol is in a state of "crime against humanity" but that will be remedied shortly.     Yep Aberlour is a nice whisky, one of my favourites. 

Jim 

Edited June 12, 2023 by saac

[Dave scutt]

Nice postman just brought me this .

Do the older versions have no markings on them.

[Zermelo]

Just a couple of modest bits from across the water, which happened to arrive together today.

(1)  A new dovetail, which will be replacing the (very chewed up) one on my Mak, once ADM have gotten around to making a replacement saddle for the AZ-GTiX:

 

(2)  A 50 mm finder bracket. 
I know that some people praise the regular "two screws and a sprung peg" version as "ingenious", but I've never gotten on with them.  Whenever I back off one of the screws, the finder always seems to stick, and need a nudge/wrestle.  I've also had difficulty, on a couple of scopes, in getting the finder to align with the OTA direction - it always seems to run out of adjustment (yes, I've tried shimming the shoe).
This one looks a better bet:

 

[Alan White]

Postie has just been with an import from Japan.
You will have to call me @Franklin very soon.

This is the last spend for a while now, its the last of my pressies pot.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Alan White

[IB20]

More glass for the PST. Many thanks to @wookie1965 👌🏻.

[John]

5 hours ago, Zermelo said:

(2)  A 50 mm finder bracket. 
I know that some people praise the regular "two screws and a sprung peg" version as "ingenious", but I've never gotten on with them.  Whenever I back off one of the screws, the finder always seems to stick, and need a nudge/wrestle.  I've also had difficulty, on a couple of scopes, in getting the finder to align with the OTA direction - it always seems to run out of adjustment (yes, I've tried shimming the shoe).
This one looks a better bet:

 

I have some of the "2 screws plus sprung peg" brackets and a couple of the above type, with 6 screws, 3 at each end, to hold the finder. 

I get on OK with both types but find that the 6 screw types hold the finders much more accurately in position and for much longer than the other type does. I usually need to tweak the "2 plus spring" ones a little each time I use them but the 6 screw types only rarely need any adjustment.

 

 

[Stu]

57 minutes ago, IB20 said:

More glass for the PST. Many thanks to @wookie1965 👌🏻.

That will be great in the PST, used one in mine and it’s an excellent match, nice and sharp.

[bottletopburly]

Postie arrived and I’m quite impressed looks well made and the three secondary screws has a recess for a spring which is provided 

 

[IB20]

13 hours ago, Stu said:

That will be great in the PST, used one in mine and it’s an excellent match, nice and sharp.

It was actually reports from yourself and @Highburymark that has taken me down the TV plossl road for Ha, so thanks! 👍🏻

[John]

32 minutes ago, IB20 said:

It was actually reports from yourself and @Highburymark that has taken me down the TV plossl road for Ha, so thanks! 👍🏻

It's an interesting road to follow 🙂

- solar optimised eyepieces

- planetary optimised eyepieces

- deep sky optimised eyepieces

- travel eyepieces

- outreach eyepieces

No wonder we end up with boxes of the darn things !

Over the years I've had a couple of sets of TV plossls, the older "smooth" ones and the newer design ones. If I could only shake off this lure to wide field I'm sure that I could live with a single set of TV plossls plus the Nagler zoom for all my astronomy needs 🙂

Edited June 14, 2023 by John

[StevieDvd]

Arrived today - 1 used but good condition Altair Sabre. Came with weight bar & weight bar extension and heavier & a little larger than I had pictured.

 

Planning to use my Innorel RTC90 carbon fibre tripod but will need to sort a better adapter between the M10 base of the Sabre and the Innorel base plate. An M10 bolt does go through, but the base of the sabre has a 30mm raised part that would normally sit in a recess on an EQ tripod top that also has an azimuth pin.

*** Will also try to find out if the base part of the sabre can be taken off and either reversed or switched for a 3/8 base  connection.

The above is not an option, the base is the part that holds the bearings, doh!

 

 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by StevieDvd
correct a mis-conception.

[Stu1smartcookie]

Looks great Steve 

[Paz]

On 08/06/2023 at 16:25, josefk said:

I would find this very difficult to justify to my better half if i get caught.

Always an important consideration when getting things, sometimes I wonder if this is why eyepiece collections can get so big as they are less conspicuous!

[josefk]

11 hours ago, Paz said:

Always an important consideration when getting things, sometimes I wonder if this is why eyepiece collections can get so big as they are less conspicuous!

Small boxes have always got cheap things in them. 😂

TBH I am honest domestically it’s just that some things are harder to explain the need for than others “haven’t you already got…?”

[glafnazur]

9 hours ago, josefk said:

Small boxes have always got cheap things in them. 😂

TBH I am honest domestically it’s just that some things are harder to explain the need for than others “haven’t you already got…?”

I've heard that one more than a few times