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Posts Made By: Barry Clarke

April 12, 2002 02:18 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Satellite tracking

Posted By Barry Clarke

Hello group. I am new to observing as of last year and need your help. My wife bought me a TAK FS-128 (WOW) for Christmas and I have it on an Orion GP-DX mount with manual control. I cought a glimpse of the space station and am hooked on this type of viewing. There is a lot of software for tracking satellites, but the only equipment I have seen that states it can track such objects is the Vixen SkySensor. Is there better and more capable equipment than Vixen? What happens when a satellite goes overhead from West to East? Anyone one with suggestions or where I can get more indepth information would be most helpful?

May 23, 2002 01:57 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

GP-DX Post extension?

Posted By Barry Clarke

I have a TAK 128 sitting on an Orion GP-DX. Keeping it in balance requires an 8.2 and two 4.2 counter weights. Would a post extension eliminate one of the smaller weights, and if so, does anyone know where I can buy one?

May 23, 2002 06:13 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Question regarding the weight shaft

Posted By Barry Clarke

I posted this message this morning and did not see it listed. If this is a dup, I apologize. I have a TAK-128 on a Orion GP-DX mount that needs a 8.2 pound and two 4.2 pound weights to keep it in balance. Would an extension to the weight shaft elminate a 4.2 pound weight and if so, where can one be bought? It seems like a good way to take some weight off the mount, but I never seen anything addressed regarding this. Any thoughts?

May 30, 2002 04:13 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

John Niemi e-mail address

Posted By Barry Clarke

Does anyone have the e-mail address of John Niemi who sells telescope from Japan?

February 1, 2003 12:52 AM Forum: Equipment Talk

Missing Atlux in the USA

Posted By Barry Clarke

Looking for GOTO mounts that carry 35 pounds or more such as the Losmandy G11, Takahashi EM200, Mountain Instruments MI250, I found no one in the USA carring the Vixen "Atlux". At first I thought I it was due to the problems the SkySensor was having with the FCC, but then I notice dealers are taking future orders for it. Does anyone know the reason the "Atlux" is not distributed in the US?

February 15, 2003 02:54 AM Forum: Off Topic Discussions

Coffers of Saudia

Posted By Barry Clarke

A friend of mine sent this to me and I thought I would share it with all of you:

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis. Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every
time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends. I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from.

Major companies that import Middle Eastern oil (for the period 9/1/00
-8/31/01).

Shell................ 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco....... 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil......... 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon............. 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco................ 62,231,000 barrels
If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18
BILLION!
Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
Citgo 0 barrels
Sunoco 0 barrels
Conoco 0 barrels
Sinclair 0 barrels
BP/Phillips 0 barrels
Hess 0 barrels
All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and can be easily documented. Refineries located in the U.S. are required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing. They report on a monthly basis.
Keep this list in your car; share it with friends. Stop paying for terrorism............
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do!! Now, don't wimp out at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!! .I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to
at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION
consumers! If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!! .Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten
more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people couldconceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!


February 22, 2003 06:47 PM Forum: Binoviewers

Rename Binoviewer Group

Posted By Barry Clarke

The Binoviewer Group in this forum would be more appropriately named if it were changed to the Siebert Binoviewer Group. I do not see much other particpation. Though this is an off topic item, I thought it would have more relativeness here.

April 19, 2003 04:36 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Astronomy and Equipment Defnitions

Posted By Barry Clarke

There are times people who post will use terms that some may not reconize. Is there a site for an amateur astronomy dictinary or glossary especially for equipment terminology? An example was "Slew at 1000 sidereal." If this is of interest to others, maybe a "Glossary" could be an additon to the forum.

September 12, 2003 04:26 PM Forum: TeleVue

Two inch Powermate and AP Diagonal

Posted By Barry Clarke

I notice that both the 2X and 4X Powermates do not fully mate in a AP MaxBright diagonal. Both Powermates sit about an 1/8 inch high off the diagonal when insterted. Is this a flaw between the two manifactures or must I buy a TeleVue diagonal? Does this produce any problems or has anyone else noticed this?
Barry

September 17, 2003 04:43 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Reflectivity of a 1.25 Tak Diagonal

Posted By Barry Clarke

I am serching for the reflectivity value for a Tak 1.25 diagonal. Does anyone have this percentage?
Barry