Yippee - I got a guidescope

[Uplooker]

I have just taken delivery of a SW ST80, to be used as guidescope, in conjunction with my SW 150P, NEQ6 Syntrek(EQMOD) and an unmodded SPC900 - mighty big nod to lukebl

I have found that every step forward in astronomy / astrophotography seems to increase the learning curve exponentially.

First off, attaching the St80. Not using guide rings yet, I am going to attach it to the top of the rings holding my SW 150P. I already had 2off dovetails. These come in funny sizes, 8 5/16" and 13 3/16", with M6 and blank holes at random spaces .

The ST80 came with a unfamiliar bracket attached to the scope rings that had 3 off M6 holes in it that made attachment difficult / awkward. It ended up only being useful as a template for drilling 2 off new holes in the smaller dovetail that would enable me to bolt through it into the holes in the bottom of the ST 80 scope rings. I then utilised the 2off M6 threaded studs to attach the whole lot to the top of my main scopes rings.

I plan to familiarise myself with PHD and run PERECORDER with PECPrep. Will be interesting to see what the PE is.

This brings me back to my orginal point - "increase the learning curve exponentially" as now I need to figure out how to use yet more software and techniques.

Hope that all makes sense.