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Posts Made By: Ted VanSickle

December 20, 2004 04:55 PM Forum: Eyepieces

Eyepiece selection: Spacing, rules of thumb?

Posted By Ted VanSickle
Larry, under item 2 in your message you state that the exit pupil equals the ratio of the ep focal length to the scope focal length. The exit pupil is really the ratio of the scope diameter to the magnification. This quantity reduces to the ratio of the eyepiece focal length to the scope F number. The dimension of this ratio is distance, mm. The ratio that you stated is dimensionless which indicates some kind of error in the expression. Try a few calculations with each expression and the one that I sent will give you pretty accurate numbers.
Ted

May 15, 2005 06:54 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Observatory Pier Support Question

Posted By Ted VanSickle
Hi Mike, you are a neighbor part of my time. I am in Pt Charlotte during the winter. I have a 10' ProDome from TI (Home Dome) here in Indianapolis. I recently talked to Jerry Smith of TI and he tells me that the domes have been certified for Florida hurricane weather as stand-alone structures. Probably by now it is ceritified as okay as a part of another structure like your house.

If I were you, I would check their web site and get the literature that discusses adding the dome to another suructure. They have tried it all. Their web site is http://www.homedome.com/

I put mine up as a stand-alone structure in 2002, and it is a wonderful addition to my hobby. BTW the attached picture was taken last fall just before I left for Florida.

With regards,
Ted

September 8, 2005 12:48 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

CG5 Dual Motor Drive power supply - how many mA?

Posted By Ted VanSickle
Tze, the main problem that you must watch when driving any motor is to keep the voltage near the correct rated value. A motor is sort of a constant power device, so if you let the voltage get too low, the current gets proportionally too high and that can burn out the motor. Since the system runs on 4 D cells, it sounds as if the system requires 6 volts. A D cell is a milliampere device, so I would suggest that you get a 6 volt dc 2 or 3 ampere power supply from Radio Shack. The only thing to worry about then is if the voltage is near 6 volts when the system is running. I would not worry particularly if the current capacity at 2 amps is high enough. My LX200 12" Classic requires only about 300-400 ma to run everything.
Ted

October 22, 2005 12:27 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

LX200 (classic) 18 Volt version

Posted By Ted VanSickle
Don't worry, that is normal operation.
Ted

October 26, 2005 03:12 PM Forum: Home Observatories

Observatory Destroyed...

Posted By Ted VanSickle
Ivan, So sorry. You were near the end of a great project. Don't let a windy woman, Wilma, mess with you. Hope to watch as you rebuild a great observatory.

Ted (Pt. Charlotte)

November 27, 2005 04:26 PM Forum: Meade

vague and unfocused networking question

Posted By Ted VanSickle
Mark, I suggest that you google VNC--Virtual Network
Computer--and download a copy. It was originally written by AT&T in the UK, but I think that it has been sold to a private company since. It was free when I got it, but it might cost something now. It can make any computer a windows terminal on any other computer on a network. My version is somewhat slow, so it needs a 100 mbs network to be really effective, but you should already have a 10/100 system. I have been using this system for about three years, and it works beautifully.

BTW, there are other systems to do this job. One that comes to mind is something like PC Anywhere. It was pretty expensive when I was looking for such a system a few years back.

Good Luck,
Ted

December 9, 2005 04:26 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

14" Celestron telescope/ Declination Drive

Posted By Ted VanSickle
Sam, The first place that I would try is Celestron. They are still in business and probably have some support available for their older equipment.

Ted

February 27, 2006 01:02 AM Forum: Home Observatories

Pier Placement ?

Posted By Ted VanSickle
Hello Guys, There is a reason that you might want to make the center
of rotation of your telescope lie at the center of rotation of your dome. If you
ever want to automate your dome, the rotation of the dome to keep the
telescope pointed through the opening will be much easier if the center
of rotation of the telescope coincides with that of the dome. That way,
all you must do is keep the slot pointed toward the azimuth of the telescope.
Otherwise, the calculation can be terrible if rotation of the telescope
is not centered on the rotation of the dome.
Ted

August 16, 2007 02:09 PM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Most Difficult Book Read?

Posted By Ted VanSickle
You want a difficult read, try anything by Gibbons, Boswell, or Samual Johnson. Three greats from the middle of the 18th century. I have never been able to finish anything that those fellows wrote. I guess it was the the writing style of the age. BTW, I am not particularly thrilled over the Russian authors, but I have at least finished the Russian novels that I started.

Ted

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