grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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OK so I just won a 65mm TAL on a pier mount, alt az in its box - complete and the bonus is its in my home town so I can go pick it up as soon as the seller contacts me.
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Happy-Idiot
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/06/06
Posts: 2836
Loc: 3rd Rock
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Quote:
and the bonus is its in my home town
What are the chances of that!
And don't tell me its your Brother's scope? 
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Brian
A small scope that gets used often is a better investment than a big scope that stays in the closet.
Unitrons, you spend more time looking at them than you do through them.
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Doug76
Postmaster
Reged: 12/05/07
Posts: 5574
Loc: SE Louisiana, future Texan
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He's in Canterbury. Must be a tale!
Sorry Grendel, couldn't resist.
I really like the scope. More pics please when you get it.
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Doug
Truckstop Astronomer
The Universe, the light of God, in all it's majesty
6 achro refractors, 50mm-150mm
1 apo refractor, 90mm
1 SCT, 8 inch
UO Abbe Volcano Tops
Faworski Ortho's
Panoptic 24mm
Carton 100mm f/13 under construction 
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mikey cee
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/18/07
Posts: 3531
Loc: bellevue ne.
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Anything I can't is an educated trucker!  Mike
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7x35 and 10x50 sears tower binocs, 3" f/10 edmunds reflector, 2.4" f/11.7 manon refractor, 6" f/8 jaegers refractor, "The 8 Ball" 8" f/13.3 brandt refractor, 3" f/15.8 sans&streiffe refractor, 3.1" f/15 selsi refractor(towa 339), 2.4" f/15 sears refractor, selsi 30x30mm spyglass, criterion 5-draw 25x45x75x spyglass(1957), 4.25" f/14.8 tasco 20te.
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Doug76
Postmaster
Reged: 12/05/07
Posts: 5574
Loc: SE Louisiana, future Texan
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This is my second career. Electronic tech for 25 years before this. I do kind of stand out at the truck stops when I talk about things.
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Doug
Truckstop Astronomer
The Universe, the light of God, in all it's majesty
6 achro refractors, 50mm-150mm
1 apo refractor, 90mm
1 SCT, 8 inch
UO Abbe Volcano Tops
Faworski Ortho's
Panoptic 24mm
Carton 100mm f/13 under construction
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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Well it gets picked up this evening - hmm how do I go about telling the wife, or do I just sneak it into the shed while she's not looking? - sneak I think, she'll never spot another one amongst the many - one of the advantages of leaving scopes scattered through the house.
Grendel
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Siderea
Astronomess
Reged: 11/21/05
Posts: 2066
Loc: Left Coast
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I vote you should give it to her! A simple, elegant and unintimidating scope just might spark a latent interest...
Worth a try!
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lc Carol
..."Then the blue above grows darker and a million stars erupt
From the places where they hide throughout the day
Into pictures in the heavens even we cannot corrupt
And the vastnesses of time can't wash away..."Jeff Green
60mm Telescope Club
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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I just dont fancy being whacked round the side of the head with this one - its russian built and weighs in at 9kg in its box, I bet you could drive a tank across it without affecting the collimation.
Grendel
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tim53
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/17/04
Posts: 1459
Loc: Highland Park, CA
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Good point about the weight! I once used a friend's Tal 200. It was interesting to note that the cell and end rings were screwed onto the tube with screws into the tube lengthwise. That tube must be 1/8" thick, at least (we didn't take it apart to find out, though).
-Tim.
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"We`re just waiting looking skyward as the days come down.
Someone promised there`d be answers, if we stayed around."
-Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, "The Romance of the Telescope"
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BarabinoSr
sage
Reged: 11/17/05
Posts: 330
Loc: Slidell La
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Hi Grendel!This is what I do when I get a new scope.In the garage it goes for a day or two,then when I put it inside,the wife never sees it(hmm I wonder how is that possible?) However some wives think that we waste money buying many scopes but I do think that mine is starting to come around though.Be nice to the wife-getting banged upside the head with a heavy scope is like getting a love tap with a baseball bat!!BONK!!Sleep time!!!! G
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12"GSO f/5.3" Newtonian Reflector 10" Meade LX-50 Fork Mounted Schmidt-Cassegrain
8" Hardin f/6 Newtonian reflector
6" Konus f/8 Refractor,Yulin 5"f/9 refractor,
4.5"TASCO Luminova f/9 Newtonian Reflector 4.5"TASCO 11TR(Lunagrosso) Red reflector
90mm Meade f/11 refractor,Tasco 10TE 76mm 1200mm f/l Refractor
60mm TASCO 7TE-5 1000mm f/16.7 Refractor 60mm TASCO 9TE 700mm f/l refractor
60mm TASCO 9TE-0 710mm f/l Refractor 50mm-TASCO 6TE-5 600mm f/l Refractor
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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well I picked it up, and it has the (numbered) manual that goes with the number on the outside of the box, No 0110 April 1996, I noticed the mirror had a couple of loose collimation/ adjustment screws, but other than that its very sturdy and at first inspection its all complete. the manual has been signed as inspection passed with a real signature.
It has an interesting back story, it was bought by the sellers mother in law after her son died (in 1996) and she had a star named after him (I didnt dissolusion the poor guy) and she bought the scope to see the star (bless)apparently the views were quite good, and it was only used a couple of times.
grendel
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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in fact the only damage i could see was the plastic end cap for the scope was cracked.
Grendel
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donnw
super member
Reged: 08/03/08
Posts: 166
Loc: Maryland
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Quote:
Well it gets picked up this evening - hmm how do I go about telling the wife, or do I just sneak it into the shed while she's not looking? - sneak I think, she'll never spot another one amongst the many - one of the advantages of leaving scopes scattered through the house.
Grendel
Hey Grendel -
Nice scope! Just watch out though - if you start seeing little inventory dots appearing on all your scopes and wood cases stashed in the basement and garage, the gig is up! 
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Peace & Blessings,
Donn Williams
Member - AAVSO
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Celestron EdgeHD 11 on CGE in SkyShed POD GL5
Meade Lightbridge 12", SN10, LX200 Classic 8", AR5, 314 Brass & ETX125PE
Lunt LS60T/DS, Stellarvue SV102ED, SV80BV, SV80/9D, SV NH2
Cave Astrolla 8", Zeiss Telementor II, Unitron 114, 128, 142
Towa 339, Royal Astro 76/1200, Pentax J80, Borg 100, AT 102-F/11
Goto 105, Various Sears/Tasco/Selsi/Towa 60-80mm's
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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Well it got put together this morning and lots of pictures taken, a quick first look shows a respectable image for a scope of this size on a radio mast a mile or so away, though there is a lot of muck in the eyepieces. this morning I also took the mirror cell off the scope and refitted the missing holding screw as well as cleaning the dead spiders off the mirror, it was filthy, so I just ran it under a tap and dried it off using a dyson hand dryer
when put back together and the rear retaining nuts tightened it seems as if it spot on fsctory set. I will try and get some piccies posted. the date on the user manual for its inspection is 1996, but the back of the mirror has 17/03/95 on it and a signature.
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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in the box:-
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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assembled
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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the dated signed mirror and cell
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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Well tonight was clear and the wife was working late so I had a half hour to
spare, so set up the Tal 65mm reflector, setup was quick and easy, it took just
a few seconds to screw the pier to the base and screw the whole scope to the
top, I lined up on a star (dont ask me which one I wasnt paying attention, and
when I defocused either side of the star got nice airy discs, nicely concentric,
looked like I was right and the collimation was spot on as set in the factory.
Next I wanted to look at Jupiter, ah problem, its behind the house - no problem,
I picked the whole thing up in one hand and walked out to the end of the alley
behind the house, until I could see Jupiter. well at 33 times jupiter was a nice
size and razor sharp, nice moons and two cloud bands easily visible despite the
fact I was standing under a street light.
OK so stick the barlow in, 66x jupiter gets bigger, the cloud bands are easier
to see and all in all looking good, ok I thought lets go for it, 133x on a 65mm
scope, Jupiter now is quite big ok the image is a lottle soft, but the cloud
bands are visible, and I can get focus reasonably easily, this scope is a little
goer, and stability, move the focus knobs with a rock steady image, change the
eyepiece add a barlow, no shift at all, this is a superb setup, its solid and a
good quality image, especially when you consider that you get 1 eyepiece, a
barlow and a sleeve to extend the eyepiece away from the barlow, and all this
from a 65mm f7.7 reflector scope, that most people would tell you had too big a
secondary to be useable (maybe so if you had a 1 1/4" focuser, but not with this
.93" focuser and small mirror.
grendel
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John Carruthers
Skiprat
Reged: 02/02/07
Posts: 2274
Loc: Kent, UK
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>hmm how do I go about telling the wife<
Do as I do, tell her it's on loan or you're fixing it up for a mate, or 'you found it in a skip'? 
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Jc
ATM 10" F6.1, 1/25th wave spec (max wavefront error +/- 1/12.6 in zone 4 of 6, sodium light )
6" F7 spec
127mm F9.4 Refractor
10 x 50 bin
ETX80 (finder)
Canon 20D
PST
DSI 1
and a curious mind
Edited by John Carruthers (10/24/09 06:49 AM)
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grendel
sage
Reged: 04/12/09
Posts: 250
Loc: Canterbury, Kent, UK
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now she just might believe that last one, but it would probably still get me in trouble.
Grendel
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John Carruthers
Skiprat
Reged: 02/02/07
Posts: 2274
Loc: Kent, UK
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"...it followed me home"
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Jc
ATM 10" F6.1, 1/25th wave spec (max wavefront error +/- 1/12.6 in zone 4 of 6, sodium light )
6" F7 spec
127mm F9.4 Refractor
10 x 50 bin
ETX80 (finder)
Canon 20D
PST
DSI 1
and a curious mind
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