Posts Made By: Larry Janowicz

Here’s a puzzler. I’m changing my ISP and now maintaining two e-mail addresses for a short period until I can change all my active internet site accounts and get the word out about my new address to friends and family and other contacts. When I went to change my Astromart account I realized I also need to change to my formal first name to match my credit card as well as change my e-mail address. ( I’ve been with this site since the Robert Fields era; well before the credit card fee/security change so had always used my informal first name..Larry ) No problem, I love this site.
When I got to the credit card entry screen I put in the all the info, hit the “save”, and got the message “Address information doesn't match” . I carefully re-entered and got the same message. Sent a note to Herb for help and he said he didn’t see anything wrong with my account. ( By the way, he responded quickly in the early hours of NewYear’s Day..this man must not sleep!!).
I tried setting up a new account, even though I risked losing history and ratings, and got the same error message. I even did a copy /paste of my address info direct from my credit card account and got the same error.
I paid attention to Herb’s brief replies; Need an exact match on the CC card, no debit card use; but I’m stuck. I can see on my bank site that credit card is hitting but the temporary holds vanish after a bit. My cc card is valid and active. I’ve gotten charges accepted both immediately before and after attempting Astromart.
So, my mystery is what address does not match? Am I missing something a blind person could see? Have I been living at the wrong address for years? 8O Any software wizards out there?
(Herb may still be looking into this or passed it along to someone else, but I have not heard anything back as of today.)
Larry

Does anyone know where to find (or the size of) the o-ring that is used on the ubiquitous 6x30 finders in the dovetail style mount stalk?
I did some cursory checking without luck thus far and thought someone here might be able to speed up my process in finding a replacement.
Thanks.

I have no issue with either a new member or annual subscription fee. This site has been my home page for many years and I truly enjoy it.
My only problem is that it doesn't like this "grandfather's" credit card. I've made several attempts to update my profile in the recent past (Yes, I also tried the new member route) and I keep hitting what I have to believe is an AVS address check issue (address error message). Frustrating.
I've used the same card for years with other on-line transactions including small local concerns and big national firms and this site is the only one where I've ever experienced this problem. I even tried an address copy-paste from my bank site to Astromart without any luck.
I like Astromart so much that I braved near eternal hold to speak with customer service at my bank about this problem. They confirmed that I live where I thought I did. (Good to know my house hasn't been replaced by a Steven Wright style exact duplicate). They agreed this was an AVS issue but did not provide me with any other assistance or direction other than confirming my account particulars.
I'm appreciating the irony that if anyone out there has a suggestion or solution to my issue I might never see it.

This will provide a lot of information:
http://www.cloudynights.com/howto/eyepieces.htm

I might suggest you think about what are the objectives of the class.
An old friend of mine teaches HS Astronomy and has done so for years. Like many others suggested, he has found that several decent 6 or 8 inch dobs are great work horses and supplements those with several Astroscans and binoculars. Budgets, portability,accessibility and durability are keys.
He learned his students love "hands on experience" and that simpler equipment in quantity makes that possible. He has one semester to do nothing but Astronomy and that is not much time.
He also realizes that he is not dealing with amateur astronomers ..so "good" equipment suffices ( quality decent enough to complete assignments) and yet it still creates excitement with rookie users who may think that Tasco is the only company that provides optical instruments.
Larry

Quite impressive...and probably has quite decent skies too.
I bet he never asked, "which diagonal? ...which eyepiece?...SC or Dob?...etc" Too busy looking and drawing.
Larry

The view is the thing; Let's cut the crap!
I cut my crap with a 3" paring knife but I've heard that I should be using an 8" chef's knife. Please advise.
Larry

This another type of bad seeing.
Larry

1962 - The venerable $29.95 Edmund 3" reflector with the .917 ramsden eyepieces in the friction focuser. The mount was actually decent.
Larry

A Bausch and Lomb 4 inch SCT.
Uh...oh...wait a minute. The post said "TELESCOPE".
Never mind.
Larry