Posts Made By: Gary Pakalski

I recently purchased an Antares 152mm achro refractor on a Skywatcher HEQ-5 mount. Both items were used. Does anyone have any experiences or opinions on either/both of these items? I know that the scope is an older version because the dew shield does not retract and it has a plastic lens cover. The mount is not a go to, but I have read that it can be upgraded. One place I found on the web says all you need is the hand controller, another said you have to change out the motors also.

Any comments would be appreciated

Gary

Hi everyone,
I have just recently purchased a used Antares 152mm achro refractor on a Skywatcher HEQ-5 mount (non-GoTo). Does anyone have any experience with either of these items? I have learned that the scope is the older version because the dew shield does not retract and the cover is plastic not metal. I talked with a gentleman form Antares, he said it's probably 3 years old. From what I've found out on the net, it sound like they quit making them for awhile and just recently were re-introduced. Anyone know what might have happened? Also, I've seen that the mount is upgradeable to a goto, but one site said you just need a new hand controller, another said you need a kit that includes new motors and a circuit board. It looks identical to Orion's Sirius mount. Can I use their parts? I called and left a voice mail at Skywatcher, but no one returned my call. Instead of calling it "Customer Service, they should call it "Customer Service, but only if you bought a new one"!

Can anyone out there give me some insight?

Thanks,
Gary

Anyone out there know how much a Meade 10" SCT OTA weighs?

Thanks,
Gary

Hi everyone,
I've recently picked up an old 10" LX6 that the coatings on the corrector plate are about half gone. My first project is to try and remove the remainder of what's left and then try and find someone to re coat it.

So first off, anyone know how to remove the old stuff, and second does anyone know of a company that re coats correctors?

Thanks,
Gary

Does anyone have any experience with a Celestron CI-700(or maybe its a C-700). It looks to be a cross between a Losmandy G-11 and a CGE. I might have a chance to pick one up for under 1K.

Comments?
Gary

Looking for opinions.

Lets say you have a 20d Canon and have a choice of one of these three scopes for imaging. Which would you choose and why?

Televue 101 (Not an NP)
Televue 102 (no focal reducer)
Orion EON 120

Gary

Sorry if this ones been beaten to an inch of it's life,but here we go anyway....

Equipment:
SN-10
HEQ-5
Canon 40d
Basic laptop (2002 XP)

I just got the conversion cable from Hap Griffen for my N3 connector.
I assume the cable I got was to control the shutter only.

What do I need to do to get the image back to the laptop? Do I still need a card?

What's the opinion out there on: Image Plus, Nebulosty, MaximDSLR etc....

Thanks
Gary

Hi Everyone,
I have owned an SN-10 for a while now and have a chance to pick up another SN-10 OTA.I'm thinking about mounting them on a home built alt/as mount to create binoculars similar to the JMI style. I realize I'll need to use diagonals (2") to get the eyepieces in the proper orientation, so I'll have to replace the existing focusers with, I'm thinking, a couple of low profile ones (I could use these to adjust for different eye spacing on people), then diagonals, then another type of focuser before the eyepieces. Now that I've totally screwed up the focal point, I was thinking moving the primaries forward, but then do I need to get bigger secondaries? What if I don't? I really don't want to modify the scopes to such a degree that they're totally unusable on their own.

So my question is, will this work? Or maybe I just back off on some of my medications........ :S

Hi Everyone,
Does anyone out there have any experiences with this scope? I've read David Ponder's review and have been corresponding with him, but I'd like to know if anyone else has one or have they only sold 2. 8O (David and Me!) Anyone had any luck putting a DSLR on one?

Thanks in advance,
Gary

Hi Everyone, Attached is kind of a unique shot I took Saturday night. Thru my SW100ED. The ridge of the mountains are about a mile from the house. Just as the moon peaked from behind the hills. Desert Saguaro Cactus and some Palo Verde trees on the ridge illuminated.

Hope you enjoy it!
Gary