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Posts Made By: Rod Mollise

January 25, 2008 02:05 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

C 11 needs professional colmination .....dooooh

Posted By Rod Mollise
dave raw said:

OK I tried to make a good situation better only to make a good situation worse...........


Yeah. Seek out your local astronomy club--if you haven't done so already--and enlist the services of an SCT User there to help you. They'll be glad to. That said, SCT collimation is easy. Perhaps you just need a different set of instructions:

http://skywatch.brainiac.com/SCThp/collimation.pdf

8)

January 25, 2008 02:13 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

SBIG ST-7E

Posted By Rod Mollise
Can I interject a heresy here? Nobody, and I mean NOBODY holds SBIG in greater regard than I do. Their cameras are insanely great.

And yet...for a new imager on a budget, especially one wanting color pictures and the ease of use that comes with a big chip...it's hard for me not to say...yes...wait for it...

Get a Canon Digital Rebel XT or Xti.

grin

January 26, 2008 03:08 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Celestron Volcano Top Ortho by KD?

Posted By Rod Mollise
Blake Andrews said:

Greetings,
I'm new to this forum and I'm hoping someone here can shed some light on this little mystery. I've started filling out my collection of 1980's vintage Celestron Orthos by Vixen (Circle-V). So far, I have the 4mm, 7mm, 12mm and 18mm models (I am the original owner for three of these). Recently I added a 9mm, but discovered a different mark on the barrel. This one reads "JAPAN KD". The lettering on the beveled edge is not quite as good as on the Vixen models. I haven't had an opportunity to star test it yet. Can anyone share some info on the history of this interesting variant?
Regards,
Blake Andrews

First I've heard of it. I have the 9mm, but it's a Circle T (Towa).


January 26, 2008 11:35 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Worth $2500??

Posted By Rod Mollise
A deal? Not to ME it ain't.

Who knows? Could be worth that to a collector--unless it's _really_ a 1980s Jason.

wink


January 29, 2008 06:51 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

LXD 75 Creep after beep and no download

Posted By Rod Mollise
Have you done:

1. Calibrate motors.

2. Train Drives.

Unless the software load in this Autostar is very old, upgrading it won't help.

8)

January 29, 2008 06:59 PM Forum: Meade

In defense of Meade...

Posted By Rod Mollise
Chris Brown said:

In light of the posts about Meade quality, I feel I must come to thier defense, at least as far as optical quality is concerned...

Chris

I have a recent 125 and agree, the optics really are _outstanding_. That said, that's--optics--not what people usually complain about. The problem areas are almost always these two:

Electrical/electronics
Customer service.

In these areas, Meade has a ways to go IMHO. Which is not to say that every Meade--or even most Meades...or even many Meades--have problems. Most do not. Bottom line? My experience is that when all is said and done, Meade almost always satisfies its customers. Given the low prices of their scopes, that is actually saying quite a lot.

;-)

January 31, 2008 04:45 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Losmandy G11 Gemini vs Celestron CGE Go-To for ima

Posted By Rod Mollise
No. These are two very similar mounts with very similar drives. I vote for the CGE because:

The Nexstar HC
NexRemote

8)

February 3, 2008 02:51 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Is is me or my equipment

Posted By Rod Mollise
Francis Repoza said:

New to sky watching and not sure what the deal is. Did some research and pulled the trigger for an Orion 100mm ED/APO f/9. Eye pieces; 10&25mm orion plossls,13mm orion stratus, 2"x3 apo barlow. I tried every option with these pieces and all I get are little round blips or blips with spikes. Nothing is clean or clear. I got better views from an $80 Galelieo. Any suggestions or reasons why this is? Thanks, Francis :S

I'm not sure what you expect. A star SHOULD be a "little round blip" and nothing more. As for spikes, those are usually the result of using a low magnification and are an artifact not of the scope, but the eye. What would I do? Find and join your local club and get one of the good folks there to have a look through your scope.

8)

February 5, 2008 02:03 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Starry Night Pro 5.0 problems

Posted By Rod Mollise
David Tarshis said:

Anyone seen this before? I'm missing messier objects and other objects on labels tab on one of two installs from very same disk's. I've included a pic so you can see the differences. One is a laptop, the other a desktop. I was having problems on the desktop and decided to try it on the laptop, so it's not a disk problem. The quicktime is working ok, I can see the image's in the folders. Thanks

Have you updated (manually or automatically) to the new Quicktime on this drive? If so, that't the culprit. The Starry Night folks are still scratchin' their heads, but the new QT does cause effects like this.

8)

February 6, 2008 08:34 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Orion SVP vs Celestron ASC vs Antares EQ5

Posted By Rod Mollise
Jon Goldsby said:

If optioned with the same features from their respective manufactures, such as goto, 2 inch diameter tripod legs, etc.. is there a substantial difference in these mounts?

Yes. The Celestron HC and firmware are considerably more full featured and advanced than the other Synta go-to systems. The Celestron can also use NexRemote.

The Orion version, however, can use EQMOD, which evens the playing field considerably.

Not sure about the Antares version, but I assume it is similar to/identical to the Orion/Skywatcher.


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