Show us your Vixen Scope or mount

[Stu]

They are lovely mounts Dave, and that will be very quick and easy to use. More convenient for visual too, keeping the eyepiece in the same orientation, and with slo motion controls too….. 😱😱🤪🤪🤣🤣

[jock1958]

Must admit I do like the look of your Vixen SP mount @F15Rules Dave and being able to switch so easily from Eq to Az gives you some nice options. Can it be adapted to incorporate a motor drive? 

[vineyard]

20 minutes ago, jock1958 said:

Can it be adapted to incorporate a motor drive? 

Hi @jock1958 yes it can (I did exactly that w my old SP mount w some old Vixen clone motors on both axes).  It becomes whisper quiet & is brilliant for high power lunar or planetary (I regularly took my 102M f/10 to 333x & it did not break a sweat - rock solid, lovely views of Martian polar ice cap & of course the moon).  I used to keep mine in alt-az mode (& it really is easy to swap between the two) but after putting the motors on, switched it back to EQ b/c it was just so much easier.  And the way the cogs work, if you're ever out of power, you can just unlock a little tightener to unmesh and go back to manual slow-mo.  Ingenious.

I did actually put mine up for sale in a foolish fit of kit-guilt a few months back but luckily there were no takers so it went back into the shed to live another day.  Its just a lovely mount.  @F15RulesDave that photo of your 102M in its cradle and mounted is giving me a hankering - if I had the space I would permanently mount the 102M on the SP - a perfect combination.  Enjoy Bortle 2 with that!

[F15Rules]

Thanks Vin, for answering Jocks' query..nothing much I can add to your great reply!👍😊

Dave

[Pixies]

3 hours ago, F15Rules said:

we plan to go to the Scottish Islands later in September

Just sayin'!

[Franklin]

Talking of midges. Here's my midget Vixen, it's about all I can fit on the balcony right now.

A62SS on a Porta II with APPTL-130 tripod, I can pick it up with one finger.

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by Franklin

[jock1958]

16 minutes ago, Pixies said:

Just sayin'!

In my youth I used to spend part of my summer holidays near Gairloch on the West Coast of Scotland, what a beautiful place with fantastic views, unfortunately there are clouds of those cursed  midges especially in the evening just as the suns setting 😩

 

 

 

[Franklin]

3 hours ago, F15Rules said:

The photos show the mount loaded with my old SP102m F10 achromat

Exactly where it should be Dave, on the mount it was supplied with all those years ago. Looking good! I noticed the GP up for grabs the other day. The SP had the better setting circles and the altaz option.👍

[Fedele]

[F15Rules]

On 01/02/2022 at 23:00, jock1958 said:

In my youth I used to spend part of my summer holidays near Gairloch on the West Coast of Scotland, what a beautiful place with fantastic views, unfortunately there are clouds of those cursed  midges especially in the evening just as the suns setting 😩

Hi Iain,

I'm sadly well acquainted with the accursed midges: most of my family is from Scotland and I used to visit my grandparents in summer holidays when I was just 10..I loved messing about in the local "burn" (stream to us Sassenachs!!🤭), catching small trout and minnows in a net, but I had to learn to live with the wretched midges.

The strange thing is, the Scottish version are smaller than the English midge, but much more aggressive..I've never run away from English midges, but I have from Scottish ones, several times!

Fortunately our trip to the Hebrides will be well past the main midge season, so fingers crossed it should be ok!🙏😉😂

Dave

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by F15Rules

[Sunshine]

Cant recall if I posted here or not in the past but it never hurts! love my Vixen GP.

Update: I’m so silly, posted already in Sept 2021, arrrgh! 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Sunshine

[Sunshine]

6 hours ago, Fedele said:

That Mewlon is just stunning on that Vixen, just beautiful!

[F15Rules]

20 hours ago, Franklin said:

Talking of midges. Here's my midget Vixen, it's about all I can fit on the balcony right now.

A62SS on a Porta II with APPTL-130 tripod, I can pick it up with one finger.

 

That's SO cute, Tim..Proper Grab n Go!!👍👍

How does it perform?

Dave

[F15Rules]

20 hours ago, Franklin said:

Exactly where it should be Dave, on the mount it was supplied with all those years ago. Looking good! I noticed the GP up for grabs the other day. The SP had the better setting circles and the altaz option.👍

Thanks, Tim.

I do love both SP and GP mounts..but, I've refurbished the SP specially for the SP102, as you say that would have been the original configuration, and the versatility of Altaz and EQ modes of the SP, which the GP can't do, was the deciding factor in keeping the SP.

I've added the brand new counterweight bar and a lighter weight, and put the older ones on the GP, which has now sold.

The SP is ideal for the 102 frac. I might beef up the wooden tripod but for now I'm happy with this setup and can see myself using this alongside the FS128 more often.

Dave

[Franklin]

4 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

How does it perform?

Very well for it's aperture Dave, it's some kind of Petzval design, has a 525mm focal length and is at F/8.4. The field is very flat and the stars are pinpoint, the only downside is the CA at higher powers. Being an achromat this is unavoidable but I tend not to take it over x100 and I also have a Badder contrast booster filter which cuts most of it out. It performs very well on solar with the Lunt wedge and the solar continuum cuts all the CA out as well, views of the recent large sunspots were very crisp. It easily resolved 4 stars in the trapezium and M42 with an OIII filter was very good. For an ultra compact and lightweight grab and go, I'm really pleased, the fit and finish are are nice. Rotatable single speed crayford and an extendable dew shield and the optics remind me of the Revelation 80mm scopes which were copies of the William Optics achro's.

[A McEwan]

My Vixen GP which I've had for.... longer than I'm actually sure of, but it's survived many other mounts over the years! works perfectly and I use it on my Berlebach UNI-18 whenever I want tracking or an EQ experience. I would love to try an SP too but have never had the chance.

 

[Saganite]

I don't know why but I have not put my Vixen ED103S wt on this thread, so here she is again.

[F15Rules]

12 minutes ago, Saganite said:

I don't know why but I have not put my Vixen ED103S wt on this thread, so here she is again.

Truly a beautiful scope Steve!🦊😊

Dave

[Saganite]

3 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Truly a beautiful scope Steve!🦊😊

Dave

Sure is Dave , and will be the very last of my scopes to go..

Edited February 3, 2022 by Saganite

[F15Rules]

A lovely clear night here and I decided to have a session just with the SP102 tonight. 

The SP mount in Altaz Mode worked a treat..using my Axiom 23mm at 43x, M42 was sharp right to the very edge of the fov, and took well over 2 minutes to cross the field..and with a 5mm BGO and Baader zoom 2.25x barlow, giving 450x,  Alnitak in Orion's belt was a lovely sight with it's 2.4" distant companion clearly showing dark sky between them.

Dave

[NVDW]

I got a Vixen GP and a GP-DX with GoTo function. Got an 80M (sold my 102M) to match

 

[Froeng]

That 80M looks beautiful - and massive! Must be the tiny wooden tripod. Lovely scopes…

[NVDW]

Just now, Froeng said:

That 80M looks beautiful - and massive! Must be the tiny wooden tripod. Lovely scopes…

Yeah the wooden tripod is kinda tiny. My GP is on an AL110 now

[Franklin]

Looks like one from the late 90's judging by the badge👍.

[NVDW]

It really gives great views except some CA on bright stuff of course.