Posts Made By: Donald Durbin

Hi All,

I checked the clear sky clock right after UPS delivered my new toy. It looks like its a typical new scope weather pattern. I think that we may see the stars around June here in Ohio. :>(

Tonight I was looking out and I started to see a pattern in the clouds that we are all probably familiar with. It is when the moon is trying to shine through. I kept checking every 5 or 10 minutes and sure enough the moon made an appearance. 8O

I grabbed my Apogee LXD55 clone mount and then grabbed the Stellarvue 102 and the 2" binoviewers. I had the multimag already setup on the diagonal I was using. As I was bolting down the OTA I realized I could see a lot of stars and a nice sized break in the clouds. I had my Optiluxe 40mm EPs in the binoviewer. I finally found that second older Optiluxe I was looking for, so now I have a pair of the 40mm. I wish it would have been another 32mm older style but I am happy to get what I can.

The multimag was setup at its lowest magnification, that is about a 1.1X. I quickly realized that I really need more power. I started to go inside to get Sieberts 36mm, but suddenly the moon was gone behind the clouds. The nice big hole I had seen earlier disappeared in nothing flat.

The good news was that I got a really great low power view of the moon. The Stellarvue dual speed Feather Touch Focuser had at least another two inches of in travel to go. 8O

I had noticed earlier today that when I zeroed in on a neighbors satellite dish using just a diagonal and a 40mm EP that I came to focus with the focuser all the way out. I knew then that this was going to be a great scope for binoviewing. I have not tried it yet but I would be willing to bet I can do terrestrial viewing without a corrector by going straight into the focuser with the binoviewer. The dual speed Feather Touch Focuser is a dream to work with. I do not want to say too much about a scope I have yet to star test, but that moon tonight was very crisp for the given conditions.

Of course as I said at the top of this post, the mandatory cloud cover is now firmly in place.

To All,

I just got an email from Russ at Denkmeier threatening to sue me. I
will gladly forward this email to anyone who is interested.

What I really find interesting is that for all the talk about
the 'S' manufacturer threatening suit on Jim Gutmans binoviewer
group, It is the "D" manufacturer who is the one actually doing it.

By the way. The email from Russ is "R" rated. Although it looks like
he needs some help with his spelling.

******************
Don Durbin
Original 22mm BlackNights with Diopters
45mm Elite BlackNights with Diopters
Sieberts 1.3X OCA, Sieberts UltraBarlow, Sieberts Multimag OCA.
Denkmeier 2" SCT Star Diagonal
Stellarvue AT1010
Meade ETX90
Stellarvue 102APO
Celestron C9.25
Orion Atlas 8"
Meade 152ED

For those of you who did not go out and risk body parts tonight, you missed some good skies. My C9.25 has been performing very well. Tonight as well as a few nights ago, I saw more of Saturn's moons than I ever had before. Tonight I could pick out around six. I have a pair of Gary Russell 22mm Eyepieces that when used in single eye mode seem to bring out the absolute best in my C9.25. I keep thinking that I would like to upgrade to a C11 but the C9.25 would be a very hard scope to beat.

The moons of Saturn did demonstrate a slight light loss with the 2" binoviewers. It was not much but it was enough to make a couple of the really faint Saturn moons disappear. I have been having some fogging problems with that unit. That may be where my moons went. My sister is making a sweater for it and I have some heating elements I am going to put in it and tie it to my Kendrick dew heater.

I stayed up and waited for Jupiter to come up. Since I caught hold of Jupiter early, it was a little turbulent but after it got a little higher in the sky the view smoothed out nicely. I could not pick out the Red Spot but the C9.25 let me see a little bit of size difference on the main 4 moons of Jupiter. Once again the 22mm EPs were the best choice for viewing conditions. This time the detail seemed better in binoviewer mode. No tiny little moons to lose in the Jupiter image I guess. I packed it in a little after one a.m.

Don Durbin
Original 22mm BlackNights with Diopters
45mm Elite BlackNights with Diopters
Sieberts 1.3X OCA, Sieberts UltraBarlow, Sieberts Multimag OCA.
Denkmeier 2" SCT Star Diagonal
Stellarvue AT1010
Meade ETX90
Stellarvue 102APO
Celestron C9.25
Orion Atlas 8"
Meade 152ED

To All,

I was telling another astromarter today that I had yet to do a real evaluation between my 18mm Radians and my 19mm Panoptics.

I am using my 2" 45mm Elite binoviewer. I have been going back and trying my 1 1/4" EPs in my 2" binoviewer. I decided to compare my 18mm radians and 19mm Panoptics. I placed a Radian in one socket and a Panoptic in the other socket. I found the focus to be very close with only a minor adjustment between the two eyepieces. I also found the left eyesocket of the 45 Elites adds a little bit of color. So I ended up switching eyepiece sockets with both lenses and doing a second eval. The Radians were sharper and clearer tonight. Smaller moons around Saturn were easier to pick out in the radians and the detail in Saturn's rings looked a little better.

I will be waiting for Jupiter to come up around midnight and I will recheck detail there.

I ordered a pair of Burgess binoviewers yesterday. They are scheduled for delivery on the 9th. I will retry this combination again when weather permits on the Burgess unit.

******************
Don Durbin
Original 22mm BlackNights with Diopters
45mm Elite BlackNights with Diopters
Sieberts 1.3X OCA, Sieberts UltraBarlow, Sieberts Multimag OCA.
Denkmeier 2" SCT Star Diagonal
Stellarvue AT1010
Meade ETX90
Stellarvue 102APO
Celestron C9.25
Orion Atlas 8"
Meade 152ED

To All,

My Burgess binoviewer arrived today. It was delivered a full day early. Naturally we have a heavy overcast tonight with fog.

The unit arrived with a note saying it was a BV125 Model 'C'. This model has three thumb screws in each holder spaced 120 degrees apart. The unit arrived with a pair of 20mm Eyepieces. Looking into the unit and comparing it to my 22mm BlackNight binoviewer, it looks like this unit has a 22mm clear aperture. The diopter adjustments seem a little stiff and do not have as much travel as the Diopters on my BlackNights. They are however fully captured, something I wish my BlackNight diopters were. They are also standard equipment on the Burgess where the diopters on the BlackNights are optional.

I did try the unit out on a neighbors small satellite about three or four hundred yards away. The images merged easily in the supplied 20mm eyepieces. I was using a Sieberts 1.3X OCA with my Celestron 102mm Wide View refractor and a 1 1/4" Lumicon Lumibrite diagonal. I popped in a pair of 18mm Radians and found I was quite please with the image.

I plan to do Tom Holes Clear Aperture Solar test and I also plan a head to head test between my 22mm BlackNights and this unit when the weather improves.

Don Durbin
Burgess BV125 model 'C'
Original 22mm BlackNights with Diopters
45mm Elite BlackNights with Diopters
Sieberts 1.3X OCA, Sieberts UltraBarlow, Sieberts Multimag OCA.
Denkmeier 2" SCT Star Diagonal
Stellarvue AT1010
Meade ETX90
Stellarvue 102APO
Celestron C9.25
Orion Atlas 8"
Meade 152ED

Well, we have had the first glitch with the Burgess binoviewer.

I have a nifty little focal reducer made by Sieberts Optics that screws right into my 22mm BlackNights. When I use this with the Siebert 1.3X OCA I get a really great image and a gain of less than one. Its great with a small refractor.

So I tried to screw this into the standard filter threads in my Burgess binoviewer. It goes in maybe a turn. So I got out some standard 1 1/4" filters. One was an Orion Skyglow and the other was an Orion UltraBlock. Same thing with them. They will not screw into the little Burgess Bino. They also will not screw into either of the pair of free Burgess 20mm Eyepieces. The screw into ant of my Televue eyepieces perfectly as well as the 22mm BlackNights.

Since they don't work in either the Eyepieces or the binoviewer, I am guessing that I am not alone here. Has anyone else seen this?

This should be easy to fix. Its not like the barrel is not the right size. Its more like the threads are not cut to the right depth. I am pretty sure if I had the right tap I could chase these threads clean/ It looks like they used a lot of blackening on them. Maybe that is the whole problem.

Any way... I still love the images I get with my 18mm radians. Of course we are still talking daytime use. It currently snowing outside. I am hoping for a partial clearing on Saturday.

Don Durbin
Denk IIs coming UPS
Burgess BV125 Model C
Original 22mm BlackNights with Diopters
45mm Elite BlackNights with Diopters
Sieberts 1.3X OCA, Sieberts UltraBarlow, Sieberts Multimag OCA.
Denkmeier 2" SCT Star Diagonal
Stellarvue AT1010
Meade ETX90
Stellarvue 102APO
Celestron C9.25
Orion Atlas 8"
Meade 152ED

I was playing with the diopters on my new Burgess binoviewer and suddenly one of them seemed to stop working.

It turns out that the eyepiece holder is only around 25.5mm deep. The barrel on an 18mm Radian is 35mm long. So you need to have the adjustment screwed in all the way before fully inserting your eyepieces. If not the holder just slides down the bottomed out eyepiece and it appears as if the diopter is not working.

For some reason I thought it would be good to set the diopters to the middle of their range and work from there.

I am sure no one else made the same mistake, but I posted this anyway.


Don Durbin
Denk IIs coming UPS
Burgess BV125 Model C
Original 22mm BlackNights with Diopters
45mm Elite BlackNights with Diopters
Sieberts 1.3X OCA, Sieberts UltraBarlow, Sieberts Multimag OCA.
Denkmeier 2" SCT Star Diagonal
Stellarvue AT1010
Meade ETX90
Stellarvue 102APO
Celestron C9.25
Orion Atlas 8"
Meade 152ED

Hi All,

Finally a clear night in Ohio. I put the Burgess binoviewers with a Sieberts 1.3X OCA into my 8" Orion Atlas.

I used my 18mm Radian EPs which are fast becoming favorite with this binoviewer.

I was very interested to see if the 1.3X OCA would intrude into the optical path. It was not even close when focused on the moon. You can see the edge of the OCA at least an inch up inside the focuser tube.

Of course the Burgess has one of the shortest light paths available. Using a unit with a longer light path would require more in focus travel. Still by this photo, it looks like there is plenty left here.

**************
Don Durbin
Denk IIs coming UPS
Burgess BV125 Model C
Original 22mm BlackNights with Diopters
45mm Elite BlackNights with Diopters
Sieberts 1.3X OCA, Sieberts UltraBarlow, Sieberts Multimag OCA.
Denkmeier 2" SCT Star Diagonal
Stellarvue AT1010
Meade ETX90
Stellarvue 102APO
Celestron C9.25
Orion Atlas 8"
Meade 152ED

I too send my best wishes to Tom Hole for a speedy recovery.

I feel his binoviewer spread sheet is a great tool for comparing binoviewers. I have used and will continue to use his method for the measurement of clear aperture in a binoviewer. I look forward to his full recovery and return to binoviewing.

Don Durbin

To All,

Using Tom Hole's method of measuring clear aperture in a binoviewer, I took my new Burgess binoviewer outside in the sun light with my digital calipers. (Sun light has become a rare thing here is Ohio recently)

Measuring the illuminated circle on the paper covering the eyepiece holders while pointing the binoviewer at the Sun, I found I had an illuminated circle approximately 21mm in diameter. Shifting the binoviewers back and forth I found I could see a slightly clipped area of the circle. This did not seem to have more than a 1mm incursion into the circle at its greatest depth.

Since this was just a rough quick measurement, holding the binoviewers in one hand and the digital caliper in the other hand, I believe we can safely say that the clear aperture of these binoviewers is between 21mm and 22mm. It would not be a perfect 22mm because of the clip outs anyway. 8O

Don Durbin
Denk IIs coming UPS tomorrow
Burgess BV125 Model C
Original 22mm BlackNights with Diopters
45mm Elite BlackNights with Diopters
Sieberts 1.3X OCA, Sieberts UltraBarlow, Sieberts Multimag OCA.
Denkmeier 2" SCT Star Diagonal
Stellarvue AT1010
Meade ETX90
Stellarvue 102APO
Celestron C9.25
Orion Atlas 8"
Meade 152ED