Posts Made By: David Keller

There are a few conditions that could be mucking-up the works here:

1. Perpetually bad seeing conditions. Where do you live?

2. Has the scope cooled down adequately or is the i.d. of the tube too narrow such that there are perpetual tube currents?

3. How do you collimate the scope? Sight Tube + Cheshire + Star Test? Laser + Star Test? Don't finish off with Star Test?

4. At best collimation so far, do you get a good diffraction pattern that is relatively equal in intensity on both sides of focus at high power with no signs of other abberations?

5. The primary mirror could be crappy. If collimation is good, the Star Test will easily detect this but seeing conditions typically need to be good.

Without knowing who the manufacturer of the scope is, I'm going to guess that the problem is either bad seeing, crappy primary mirror, or combination of the two.

A 6" f/5 Newt with good optics, good collimation, and good seeing conditions will give excellent views of the planets.

In my opinion, a C-5 or 4" Achromat cannot match a 6" f/5 Newt when everything is in good operating condition and the atmosphere is reasonably stable.

See if you can get the primary mirror evaluated. If the scope is a budget, mass produced item, there is a good chance that the mirror could be of poor quality. It's not easy to produce a good fast mirror at commodity prices.

Dave Keller

I think you are being too cautious. How will you feel when the binoviewer drops and breaks? A 6" f/12 scope is very cumbersome so some shortening is actually an additional improvement.

Yes, these scopes are collectable but I wouldn't count on it to be your sole source of retirement when you decide to sell it (lol). I don't think the 6" f/12 is as collectable as faster focal ratio AP scopes purely because of how cumbersome this OTA is. Upgrade with the newer AP focuser and continue to enjoy the telescope.

If you are concerned about investments making a profit, pay close attention to your stocks and stock funds (especially the fees).

Dave Keller

Also Check Ebay as the ToUcam and the older Vesta series pop-up regularly.

Dave Keller

Bob,

I'm not certain if you are asking "Who can do the modification for me" or "Who has a weblink that does an excellent job of showing me how to do this myself". I don't know of anybody who does the modification for a fee. I do have a good link on how to do the long exposure modification:

http://uk.geocities.com/starguider1/webcam_modification.htm

This website goes into more than just the long exposure mod (The "Dead Bug" mod) but it is easy to figure out what you need to do even if you aren't going to add a Peltier Cooling Chip. I haven't done the modification to my TouCam Pro II yet but will eventually do it. Digikey is probably one of the best sources of buying the electronic parts; they do have a website and cater to us Do-it-yourselfers. Radio Shack is excellent for buying some of the parts and equipment too.

Otherwise, you should go to the Yahoo Group called QCUIAG (Quick Cam and Unconventional Imaging Astronomy Group) as this is the place where "everything is happening" in webcam imaging.

Dave Keller

Let's do some math to come up with a prediction. The last production run on the AP 130 managed to cover people that signed-up on the waiting list between mid-May and mid-September of 1999. The last production run occurred in 2002/2003. Let's make the following assumptions:

1. A production run occurs every 3 years.
2. 4-months worth of waiting list gets knocked off per production run.
3. The number of people still on the waiting list signed-up at the same rate as the group that was covered in the last production run.
4. The number of scopes produced per run does not increase or decrease.

Since you are ~ 75 months from the front of the waiting list, it will take ~ 18.75 production runs to get to you. Thus, you will see your brand new AP 130 (or equivalent) in ~ 56.25 years (~ 2062).

You should seriously consider buying a used AP 130 or a different brand of telescope.

Dave Keller

The Vixen ED102SS Optical Tube was reviewed by Sky & Telescope back in the November, 1999 issue. They compared the ED102SS against the Vixen VX-102 Achromat and the Vixen FL-102.

Dave Keller