Sharkman
super member
Reged: 08/12/06
Loc: Nelson, New Zealand
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AP900GTO has arrived
#4391692 - 02/16/11 10:59 PM Attachment (119 downloads)
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Just a few NIB pics to start things off.
As others have rightly said, the A-P mounts are truly beautiful pieces of machinery.
They included a set of allen wrenches for free with my order -- nice touch.
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Sharkman
super member
Reged: 08/12/06
Loc: Nelson, New Zealand
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Sharkman]
#4391694 - 02/16/11 11:00 PM Attachment (101 downloads)
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Here's the dec axis drive:
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Paul G
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/08/03
Loc: Freedonia
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Sharkman]
#4391795 - 02/17/11 12:19 AM
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It's a beautiiful thing!
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Ad Astra
professor emeritus
Reged: 05/12/10
Loc: Riverside Co., California
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Paul G]
#4391800 - 02/17/11 12:22 AM
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Congrats on the new baby! I'm so envious, I can even smell the plastic and new paint from here!!!! 
More photos to drool on please!!!
Dan
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skybsd
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/01/08
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Sharkman]
#4391902 - 02/17/11 02:42 AM
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Congratulations! 
Regards,
skybsd
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CounterWeight
Postmaster
Reged: 10/05/08
Loc: Cloudyopolis, OR.
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: skybsd]
#4391920 - 02/17/11 03:16 AM
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Congratulations on a fantastic mount - more pic's please 
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Sharkman
super member
Reged: 08/12/06
Loc: Nelson, New Zealand
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: CounterWeight]
#4391994 - 02/17/11 05:49 AM Attachment (89 downloads)
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Assembled and on the A-P portable pier:
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Sharkman
super member
Reged: 08/12/06
Loc: Nelson, New Zealand
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Sharkman]
#4392002 - 02/17/11 06:01 AM Attachment (86 downloads)
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With counterweights and scope:
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David Pavlich
Transmographied
Reged: 05/18/05
Loc: Mandeville, LA USA
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Sharkman]
#4392141 - 02/17/11 08:42 AM
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That's a nice chunk of hardware. Congratulations!
David
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Sharkman
super member
Reged: 08/12/06
Loc: Nelson, New Zealand
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: David Pavlich]
#4392180 - 02/17/11 09:03 AM
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Had first light tonight with a 23mm Celestron EP and no power to the mount. Nice view of Saturn. Full moon tonight, though.
I don't have a shorter FL EP handy to accurately check collimation, but on first glance, the optics seem in good shape.
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jmasin
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/22/08
Loc: Murphy, TX (DFW)
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Sharkman]
#4393080 - 02/17/11 05:12 PM
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Congrats!!! It's nice eh? I love mine!
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skybsd
Post Laureate
Reged: 02/01/08
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Sharkman]
#4393092 - 02/17/11 05:21 PM
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NICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regards,
skybsd
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tjay
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: just outside of Toronto
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: skybsd]
#4393288 - 02/17/11 07:01 PM
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Wonderful looking mount. Congrats.
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bardo
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/13/09
Loc: US
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: tjay]
#4393449 - 02/17/11 08:10 PM
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That thing looks like a copy of Ioptron's new mount. I wonder if its as good? 
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Jeff B
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/30/06
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: bardo]
#4393512 - 02/17/11 08:29 PM
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Very, very nice. To me, it's the best looking of that style mount.
Jeff
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bradisback
member
Reged: 01/05/10
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Jeff B]
#4394346 - 02/18/11 08:03 AM
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Nice!!!
Beautiful setup!!!
Good fun with it!
Stef
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nemo129
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/03/10
Loc: WMass
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: bardo]
#4394522 - 02/18/11 09:45 AM
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Quote:
That thing looks like a copy of Ioptron's new mount. I wonder if its as good?
Yes after all it is from that "untried" AP company in Indiana! 
...And on a personal note and more seriously...I am extremely jealous! Like others here, that is the mount of my dreams...congrats to the OP! Enjoy!!
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LLEEGE
True Blue
Reged: 03/03/05
Loc: Cloud-chester,NY
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: nemo129]
#4394548 - 02/18/11 09:57 AM
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Indiana?
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nemo129
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/03/10
Loc: WMass
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: LLEEGE]
#4394650 - 02/18/11 10:46 AM
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Sorry ...Illinois. 
I don't have to get it right until I own one! 
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LLEEGE
True Blue
Reged: 03/03/05
Loc: Cloud-chester,NY
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: nemo129]
#4394655 - 02/18/11 10:48 AM
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Sharkman
super member
Reged: 08/12/06
Loc: Nelson, New Zealand
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: LLEEGE]
#4403235 - 02/22/11 07:31 AM
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It's working great so far. I only have a few, very minor issues:
1. The "Y" cable that goes from the CPU to the RA & Dec drives should have the connectors labeled or color coded. The first time I hooked it up, I didn't read the instructions carefully enough, and assumed it was a daisy-chain setup; so I reversed the controller and RA drive connectors, which resulted in the Dec drive not working.
2. I found the lighter-style 12V connector to be useless. I ended up cutting it off to expose the bare wires for use with my DC power supply.
3. The documentation is generally very good (in stark contrast to most things made outside of English speaking countries these days). However, even though they include setup instructions for those of us in the southern hemisphere, there are a number of inconsistencies and a few confusing areas. The docs would benefit from a proofreading / southern hemisphere debugging pass.
4. The keypad user interface is definitely quirky in places, but I'm slowly getting used to it.
I'm still working on getting good polar alignment. I can't see the south pole or most of the eastern sky from my site, so the process I'm using (compass+level+PEMPro) has been pretty time consuming, and isn't producing very good results yet. PEMPro, too, seems to have some bugs related to use in the southern hemisphere....
One thing I've noticed is that enabling the PEM correction playback seems to increase errors, rather than reducing them -- maybe due to rough handling of the mount during shipment. I'm planning to try re-calibrating to see if it helps.
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LLEEGE
True Blue
Reged: 03/03/05
Loc: Cloud-chester,NY
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: Sharkman]
#4403250 - 02/22/11 07:45 AM
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Quote:
One thing I've noticed is that enabling the PEM correction playback seems to increase errors, rather than reducing them -- maybe due to rough handling of the mount during shipment. I'm planning to try re-calibrating to see if it helps.
That's probably due to it being recorded in the Northern hem. Your RA is tracking in the opposite direction now.
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dawziecat
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/20/10
Loc: Rural Nova Scotia
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: bardo]
#4403620 - 02/22/11 11:40 AM
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Quote:
That thing looks like a copy of Ioptron's new mount. I wonder if its as good?
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Helcarexe
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/24/10
Loc: Des Moines, Iowa
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: dawziecat]
#4403865 - 02/22/11 01:54 PM
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Oh Wow what a nice set up you have there...
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M13 Observer
professor emeritus
Reged: 12/09/06
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: LLEEGE]
#4403953 - 02/22/11 02:39 PM
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Quote:
Quote:
One thing I've noticed is that enabling the PEM correction playback seems to increase errors, rather than reducing them -- maybe due to rough handling of the mount during shipment. I'm planning to try re-calibrating to see if it helps.
That's probably due to it being recorded in the Northern hem. Your RA is tracking in the opposite direction now.
Good point! That isn't immediately obvious and I doubt I would have thought of it for quite some time.
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Paul G
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/08/03
Loc: Freedonia
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: bardo]
#4403976 - 02/22/11 02:52 PM
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Quote:
That thing looks like a copy of Ioptron's new mount. I wonder if its as good?
And the 10Micron.
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Joselo
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/26/08
Loc: Texas
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Re: AP900GTO has arrived
[Re: LLEEGE]
#4407331 - 02/23/11 11:37 PM
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congrats,
AP mounts are a work of art...
you will have many many years of enjoyment...
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