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I reached out to Russell Smith this month, a frequent visitor to this forum, and asked him about his interest in the classics. He had this to say and share.
"My story as it relates to astronomy is not very long.
As a child in the 1970's, I received a very small reflector with plastic eyepieces of which only one actually worked to any degree.
I was blown away however at seeing clear sharp views of craters on the surface of the moon.
After a short time and with no mentoring, I soon became bored and moved back indoors to my microscope and chemistry set.
Life did as life does and I did nothing else in astronomy until shortly before joining Cloudy Nights in 2017.
I was spending some time browsing a local pawnshop and spotted an aluminum case with MEADE on the side.
It was a blue four inch 2045 with the ac drive. complete kit. Even the warranty card was intact.
After that I joined this site and my education in astronomy and vintage Telescopes really got under way.
I read and read and read some more, mostly in the classics section and began meeting some of you fine people.
Bomber Bob sent a Mayflower 814 to me through the free to a good home thread for the cost of shipping. (my first refractor and I saw my first DSO with it.) Later I passed it forward to the daughter of a friend as she showed an interest in stargazing. I am told she still uses it.
I have had the good fortune to be able to give some parts to help others as well as receive that hard to find item. Being able to help someone is always special and I could not begin to remember all the help received from members here in the form of advice or actual hardware.
Over the years a fair number of classic scopes have passed through my hands " four Unitrons, Three 10 TE's eight and ten inch Meades as well as many others. I still own and use a handful of scopes as my signature shows.
For me, I enjoy the hunt as much as anything and as of today, have too many "projects" But still, I look every day.
Clear skies and good hunting!
Russ
Thank you Russ for the insight and the pictures,a great way to start the month! Btw,he told me the vixen sourced orion flourite has been his favorite
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and this note from the moderators
Let's remember everybody, there's no one place that has all the best-used scope finds just as there's no one place that never has anything. All have something. No need to beat subjective matter, whatever the topic, into the ground. For the sake of all of us who love the classic forum, please keep moving the thread forward. Remember that many of your fellow forum members are already vintage themselves. Instead of restating your opinions over and over, consider sharing something new, insightful, or otherwise constructive to the topic at hand.
