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Posts Made By: Randy Roy

November 16, 2004 02:06 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Kudo,s To Vic at Stellarvue

Posted By Randy Roy
Congratulations. I've owned a couple of Stellarvue scopes including the SV85S and it was excellent. I took it to about 20 countries on 5 continents using it as my main travel scope during the two year period leading up to my retirement. Vic is a great guy (I flew from Memphis to Joshua Tree and met him and several other SVers) and I miss that scope. These days, I mostly use my 16" Starmaster, but would love to have another Stellarvue scope for portability.

Best wishes,

Randy

November 21, 2004 04:50 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

idealastronomy.com

Posted By Randy Roy
Pierre,

I wouldn't worry too much just yet. I noticed Adirondak Video sells their red PC shade. Perhaps they have a contact number for them.

http://www.starlightxpress-usa.net/

Randy

November 24, 2004 01:35 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Feathertouch base: Tilt or not?

Posted By Randy Roy
Tom,

My 16" Starmaster came with the Feathertouch w/o the adjustable base. I found that though I could get perfect optical collimation, the mechanical axis was not coincident with the optical axis. IOW, the laser was off center when the autocollimator showed perfect collimation. The solution was to square the focuser which is a trivial task with the adjustable base.

I heartily recommend getting the adjustable base just to make squaring the focuser easy.

Randy

November 24, 2004 03:34 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Coulter Odyssey scopes

Posted By Randy Roy
Hi Floyd,

I owned a Coulter several years ago and still have a nostalgic view of them. You've had great advice about them being a hobby scope. If you find one in pristine condition, I would keep it as an heirloom, but if it is not absolutely pristine, check out the mirror. Some of the mirrors were stinkers, but some were superb. I have a friend with a 13" and its mirror is excellent.

If you get a great price, then you might consider buiding or buying a scope to go around it. There are a lot of fine truss dobs out there based on Coulter mirrors.

BTW--If you have a totally utilitarian view on this, buy a 10" DSH. They are prettier lighter, possibly cheaper (on sale) and have better components.

Best wishes,

Randy

November 26, 2004 07:47 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Canon cameras

Posted By Randy Roy
FYI. Canon EOS lenses have a 1.6X multiplier effect when used with the Digital Rebel or other Canon DSLR. For example, a 50mm lense with your old Elan will be an 80mm lense with the Digital Rebel. I believe it has to do with fully illuminating the chip.

Best wishes,

Randy

November 29, 2004 07:02 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Which would you choose?

Posted By Randy Roy
Well, since you asked. . .

RC Optical Systems 14.5" Ritchey-Chretien Carbon Truss Telescope on a Software Bisque Paramount ME Millennium Edition mount. About $40K ought to cover it!

Randy


December 4, 2004 05:29 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Shipping Over Borders

Posted By Randy Roy
I shipped something to Canada via USPS today. I start out saying this, because I want everyone to know that despite the following remarks, I really want to make trades with our kindred spirits outside the U.S.

First, many of us are setup to ship online with FedEx or UPS. Shipping USPS is often a bit of a hassle (I stood in line an hour at the post office today). I never wait in line at UPS or FedEx. I print the airbill at home and drop and run at the local office, drop box or give it to a courier.

Second, I can't say how many times I've closed a deal with a buyer outside the U.S. and then have been asked to mark the package as gift or perhaps 10% of the value we agreed upon. I refuse and then the buyer cools off or cancels the sale. I rarely agree to ship internationally because of experiences like this.

However, if I've shipped with someone before (my experience with the buyer from Canada today) or if someone outside the U.S. really needs what I have and it is evident he does, I will ship to him. I won't lie to Customs, but I will wait in line at the Post Office. I know I am not the only U.S. seller who feels this way. There are always two sides.

Randy--wishes we really did have free trade in N.A.

December 7, 2004 02:15 PM Forum: Takahashi

Altitude adjustment of EM-10 Mount

Posted By Randy Roy
First, Tak is so conservative about its specs, I would not be surprised if the EM-10 would work at 52°. If it doesn't, Tak makes a Tripod Leveler to extend the range by up to 5°. It runs about a hundred bucks (product #TLA0009). I would defintitely call Art at TNR on this one.

Randy

December 9, 2004 12:56 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

uhc filters

Posted By Randy Roy
Brian,

They are all quite good. Also, check out Televue's Nebustar which is on sale right now. I also like Thousand Oaks UHC in my 16" Starmaster.

Randy

December 9, 2004 04:14 AM Forum: Eyepieces

UO MK-80 32mm... anyone?

Posted By Randy Roy
I bought and sold one pretty quickly a while back. My F10 SCT loved it, my F4.3 dob (4.9 with the Paracorr) did not. It showed some coma with the SCT and a lot with the dob.

The throughput was noticeably better than my Nags though.

Randy

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