Drove up to Sheffield to Rother Valley Optics, impressive little shop with some serious gear, the uy runnig the place obviously knows his stuff.
Got home and started the assembly process.
It looks like I'm in for a steep learning curve with these Equatorial mount thingies, all looks greek to me so far!
Initial testing of the optics on distant terrestial objects looks good.
First tips I need is how to transport the whole thing outside without getting a hernia
So far the best way seems to be to remove the OTA, then remove the balance weights that seems to make the tripod moveable. My only worry is that replacing the OTA seems a tad fraught, I'm worried about dropping it before I manage to tighten the locking screws.
Well, not a bad first night, in spite of the high cloud and the full moon.
The 200mm Newt certainly picks up faint stars and I almost blinded myself by looking at the moon without filters on the EP!
I didn't get around to aligning the mount but concentrated on finding how it all works manually to start with, then used the motor drives to fine tune things. The motors are so quiet that at first I didn't realise they were working!
My only complaint so far with the scope is that it seems one of the tube rings must have a rough edge on it, and while adjusting the OTA for balance etc. I have acquired some nasty scratches on the tube
Other than that I'm quite chuffed with my choice
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