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Posts Made By: Randy Roy

May 11, 2005 08:31 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Tectron / Catseye for collimation

Posted By Randy Roy
Mark,

I just sold my Tectron tools after receiving the Catseye autocollimator, sight tube and cheshire. The Tectron would get you there, but the 2" Catseye is much quicker and perhaps a bit more accurate since it is so much easier to see what is going on. BTW--I sold the laser, too. It is just not needed, in my case, since I have the complete set of Catseye tools.
However, if you have a laser and enjoy using it, you could just get the Catseye autocollimator and be happy, IMO.

Randy


May 12, 2005 12:56 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Cases and Covers--a class act

Posted By Randy Roy
Good timing. I just received my NS5i case today. It is a beauty. I've been buying cases from from Nick for a few years now and he is definitely one of the good guys in the business.

Randy

May 17, 2005 03:43 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Sensible purchase?

Posted By Randy Roy
Bob,

I played with microscope eps in my younger years when ATMing was the way many of us put our gear together. In my experience, microscope eps had pretty narrow fields of view (e.g. AFOV 25°). I believe this was simply because a narrow AFOV matched to the much smaller objective of the microscope and gave optimal exit pupils at high power.

Anyway, the on axis views of planets was pretty good, but the narrow FOVs made my Erfles and 40°Kellners seem like comparing plossls with Naglers today.

Enjoy the experiment, however, perhaps microscopes and microscope oculars have evolved a lot since then (about 25 years ago).

Randy

May 18, 2005 04:10 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Is there a reason not to ship to an APO address?

Posted By Randy Roy
Hi Bill,

Good question. I'd ship to an APO address anytime. I wouldn't charge for shipping either for any active duty military fellow astronomer. Perhaps there is some downside I don't know about, but it would have to be illegal for me not to ship to a military person whichever way was needed.

Randy

May 18, 2005 01:19 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

2" vs 1.25" collimation tools

Posted By Randy Roy
Hi Gary,

IMO, the 1.25" adapter should fit well enough that if the scope is in perfect collimation with a 2", it should also be with a 1.25". My Starmaster has a Feathertouch focuser and when the 2" is in collimation, so is the 1.25" adapter when the autocollimator is snug (as it would be on an eyepiece). To me, the advantage of 2" tools is simply the larger view of what is going on. For example, when using the Tectron 1.25" autocollimator, I found the three reflections of the ring, very difficult to align. This is because very slight movements made the reflections disappear from the field of vision. With the 2" autocollimator, I find the field of vision larger and therefore a good deal easier to see what is going on. Collimation is better with the 2" only (IMO) because it is easier to take a few seconds to get it perfect. With the 1.25", I would make the field darken and when I could see three rings, I would call that "good enough".

I would say if one has a method of using the 1.25" tools that works for them, continue with it. When I did take the time to get collimation perfect with the Tectron 1.25" tools, I could not improve upon it with the 2" Catseye Tools.

Randy

May 19, 2005 05:18 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Commercial mirrors vs. high end mirrors

Posted By Randy Roy
Hi Darren,

I, too, have seen many fine examples of commercial mirrors with very accurate figures on them. I suppose if one were to plot the accuracy of a mirror's curve on a normal distribution, statistically, some would come out not over or undercorrected and with minimal turned down edge, etc. While you can expect an accurate figure from CS or Swayze, IMO, the main adavantage of a premium mirroris its ultra smooth surface. This may not show up in a star test, but does give very noticeable gains in contrast. The only way you can get an ultra smooth surface is to do the hard work of repetitive polishing and testing. There is no way to luck into it and this, IMO, is what sets the premium mirrors apart from the rest.

Randy

May 23, 2005 03:56 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Wooooooooaaaaaaaah!

Posted By Randy Roy
Yeah, it's nice, but if you got the F6 version, you wouldn't need a Paracorr.

Randy:>)

May 25, 2005 07:10 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Reducer/Corrector with Nexstar 5i ?

Posted By Randy Roy
Yep. I use the Celestron reducer/corrector with mine all the time.

Randy

June 1, 2005 01:53 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Wait Times and Progress

Posted By Randy Roy
". . .what is reasonable in terms of how the wait time is managed? "

You send a deposit after a certain lead time is established. Only you can decide what is too much and this should be based strongly on the seller's reputation for delivering high quality and meeting lead times.

Every time money exchanges hands you should receive a written confirmation of the transaction. Starmaster, for example, is very good about this.

I would not expect periodic updates, though that would be nice. I've found Rick Singmaster (Starmaster), Art Ciampi (TNR--Takahashi) and Vic Maris (Stellarvue) to be good examples of people who are always happy to give an update when asked. I know of others out there who have similar feeling about other manufacturers. I know I would not hesitate to call Al Nagler himself with a question (and have) or Roland Christen for that matter. I've not bought a scope from Roland, but when I have purchased accessories from Astro-Physics, they treat me as if I just spent thousands on a mount and APO.

I always hate to wait, but my experiences have been positive and the waits have always been more than worth it.

Best wishes,

Randy

June 2, 2005 12:07 AM Forum: Eyepieces

Eyepiece marketing

Posted By Randy Roy
Louis,

Interesting. Another definition for stratus is "vapor". Seems like this is a really bad choice of names for a new product. Maybe they are made in China and "Stratus" is Chinese for "Nagler"!

Reminds me of Chevy selling the "NOVA" in Mexico. How were they to know that Nova was Spanish for "No Go"?

:>)

Randy

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