My vintage telescope..

[Roy Jackson]

This is my vintage telescope which I inherited from my sister, who had it for a long time. Previously it was owned by my father from new, until he decided to build his own in the 1980s.. 

This is a Prinz 660 Refractor with a focal length of 1250mm, and objective lens of 76.2mm

The eyepieces that came with it were pretty much unusable apart from the 12mm. I have replaced the original eyepiece holder with an adaptor to take 1.25" eyepieces so hopefully will be a vast improvement. 

[russ]

That's a beautiful scope and mount. A work of art.

[dweller25]

Nice scope

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Roy Jackson and welcome to SGL. 

I think a great many of SGL'er's; (myself included); started off with a Prinz Astral from 'Dixons' (mine was the '500) or a Tasco from 'Argos' at some point. Like you; I think my most used e/p was the 12mm or 12.5mm. My only e/p 'upgrade' to it was a 6mm Ortho; (image below); which I still have and use.

 

My 6mm Ortho and 0.965"-1.25" adapter.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Philip R

[Roy Jackson]

I couldn't really see anything through the 6mm  0.965" eyepiece so I bought one of those 0.965" to 1.25" adaptors and I already have a 90 degree diagonal eyepiece holder... After reading the advice pages on this forum, I have worked out the focal ratio is f16... 

So a high power eyepiece would be 12mm giving 104x

Medium - high power eyepiece = 24mm giving 52x but seeing as I already have a 2x Barlow, a 24mm or 25mm eyepiece will suffice to give me two magnifications with or without the barlow. 

Medium-low power = 32mm (32x)      Low power = 50mm (25x)

Maybe I will try and limit my eyepieces to 2 or 3 as I am doing this on a low budget. The scope hasn't cost me a penny. 

When I picked it up from my sisters 2 years ago it was put under my bed and apart from seeing what was in the box, I never touched it until earlier this year.. So once I have obtained a couple of e/p's I can see what views of the moon I can get.. 

I'm sure I will be able to get a lot of advice on these forums so thanks for welcoming me to Stargazers lounge.. 

[miguel87]

Beautiful, wouldnt mind a look through that. Love a classic long frac.

Also, I know I cant help myself but... I often see spirit levels on equatorial mounts. You are wasting your time, no need for the tripod to be level. Sorry 🤣

Edited June 1, 2020 by miguel87

[DirkSteele]

That is an elegant looking scope.

[Roy Jackson]

19 hours ago, miguel87 said:

Beautiful, wouldnt mind a look through that. Love a classic long frac.

Also, I know I cant help myself but... I often see spirit levels on equatorial mounts. You are wasting your time, no need for the tripod to be level. Sorry 🤣

Yes of course you're quite right..!   It was level in one direction but not in another so not much point really. The patio is level so I just need to keep each tripod leg at the same or similar length.. Thanks for your comments... 👍

Edited June 2, 2020 by Roy Jackson