Posts Made By: John Kuhl

My first scope was a C8 deluxe. It was and is a very good scope.

I have one and I think it is the best eyepiece ever made in this size range. It even beat out my favorite eyepiece the 20 Nagler T2.

My wife and I can't get the images to merge on the high power Radian eyepieces. Other people I know have the same problem. I would try them first.

The best views of the planets I have ever had was through a 12.5" f/5 Starmaster.

What does everyone think of the use of dialectric coatings for secondary mirrors on Newtonian scopes, in say the 3.1" size range. I would really like to know Rolands views on this.

If it was me I would go with the Tak Sky 90. My second choice would be the TV 85. Scopes under 80mm just don't gather enough light for me.

Good luck, John Kuhl

I would like to be able to get a Zambuto mirror without having to buy a whole scope from someone. I think he is the only one that doesn't sell to the ATMers.

All of my Dobs have just a Telrad and no finder.

Nagler 20 Type5

I would like to add some of my thoughts on this subject. I think the new TMB and AP eyepieces are the best for planetary viewing. Plossl and Ortho eyepieces have a lot more air to glass surfaces than these new eyepieces. The Plossl's have such bad eye relief that they are hard to find in powers greater than 8mm. I will say that I think eye relief is not as big a deal as some would make it. A friend of mine wears glasses and has no problem viewing with my 4mm TMB with his glasses on. The trick is don't try to shove your eye into the eyepiece. Planets are small and if you keep them in the center of the eyepiece you can back off the eyepiece and still see the planet just fine. Its like watching a movie, how many of you sit in the front row? Or do you tend to sit back a ways. Also with high powers you don't need to have your glasses on anyway, so take them off. Now a lot of people think these new eyepieces cost to much. They don't think they are that much better than the Ortho's and Plossl's. But when you have a night that is a 10, or you are trying to get that last little bit of detail out of a planet these eyepieces will help. Now what I'm trying to do is when Jupiter is back up high I want to try and see detail in one of its moons. I haven't done it yet, but I bet when I do there will be a TMB or AP eyepiece in my scope. I feel that some of the best minds in the field are now making planetary eyepieces. If they felt the Orthos and other types were better they would use them.