One of those nights (sigh)

[bomberbaz]

We have all had them, some more than others but I have to say tonight was one of my best, worst nights !

So got to my chosen destination after a half hour drive and on arriving i noticed that conditions were getting a little murky. Not to worry I thought, it was supposed to clear later!

Start assembling the truss, found that for some unknown reason one of the truss screws was not engaging properly. Fiddle and test then found it was the female part that was the issue. ( I shall refrain from inuendo)  Anyway, i managed to get a partial lock of the offending connector which was sufficient to allow me to proceed and I have a spare part so can sort this out properly later.

Next issue, the DSC was not connecting to the phone. The phone in question is a motorola and I hadn't used it before with the DSC. I switched the DSC on and off, same with phone. Played, fiddled and faffed and got either brief or no connection and plenty of frustration.  Cutting to the chase it's the phone, it doesn't like motorola, or at least not mine. I tried at home later with the cracked screen samsung I had previously replaced because of it's damage and boom, no problems. looks like the knackered samsung has received a new lease of life. Cracked screen or not. 

So the nail in the evenings coffin, the skies didn't really clear, in fact they got murkier as I battled with the DSc issues and in the end all I managed was a low mag view of Mars and a split of an easy double. My aim had been the nova in Cassiopeia but I could barely make out the constellation, let alone find and confirm a nova.

That was it, called it a day and came home. 

The only upshot is my issues are resolved and shouldn't happen again but dammed annoying.

Having a stiff drink and then bed. 

Steve

[Stu]

Sorry to hear about your wasted evening Steve. We all get ones like that at some point, and as you say, at least you are sorted for next time.

The skies were fairly murky down here too, although I did manage some useful observing mainly on doubles.

[Epick Crom]

13 hours ago, bomberbaz said:

We have all had them, some more than others but I have to say tonight was one of my best, worst nights !

So got to my chosen destination after a half hour drive and on arriving i noticed that conditions were getting a little murky. Not to worry I thought, it was supposed to clear later!

Start assembling the truss, found that for some unknown reason one of the truss screws was not engaging properly. Fiddle and test then found it was the female part that was the issue. ( I shall refrain from inuendo)  Anyway, i managed to get a partial lock of the offending connector which was sufficient to allow me to proceed and I have a spare part so can sort this out properly later.

Next issue, the DSC was not connecting to the phone. The phone in question is a motorola and I hadn't used it before with the DSC. I switched the DSC on and off, same with phone. Played, fiddled and faffed and got either brief or no connection and plenty of frustration.  Cutting to the chase it's the phone, it doesn't like motorola, or at least not mine. I tried at home later with the cracked screen samsung I had previously replaced because of it's damage and boom, no problems. looks like the knackered samsung has received a new lease of life. Cracked screen or not. 

So the nail in the evenings coffin, the skies didn't really clear, in fact they got murkier as I battled with the DSc issues and in the end all I managed was a low mag view of Mars and a split of an easy double. My aim had been the nova in Cassiopeia but I could barely make out the constellation, let alone find and confirm a nova.

That was it, called it a day and came home. 

The only upshot is my issues are resolved and shouldn't happen again but dammed annoying.

Having a stiff drink and then bed. 

Steve

Sorry to hear about your bad night Steve. Don't worry we have all had similar disastrous nights at some point 🤪. Hope you get dome good observing time soon👍