From all of us at Astro-Physics to all of you, we wish you a very happy and healthy new year!!! We are very grateful for your support and patience during the challenges of 2020. Like most of you,

On the subject of OTA safety ... I would strongly suggest you be certain to have a wide head bolt, wider than the D-plate center groove – such as a 1/4-20 camera equipment lock nut – screwed UNDER

Hi, I have always used PARK-2, the safest and easiest position from which to mount or dismount my RC-14.5 inch truss OTA – when I have to. I also use that position with a much lighter OTA,

Hi Roland, I have the standard TEC140ED, just like your own. Can I assume the same as above? I have both of your grenades, the reducer and flattener. Can I assume same spacing for both? In the

Except for my really heavy scopes, I always load OTAs onto the mount in the Park 2 position. With my smaller, light scopes, like my AP 130, TEC 140ED and short achromats, where I can see exactly how

In the case of this mount with the Mac computer, the immediate question for me would be "does the mount lose connection to APCC?" with no other external app connected. I would then look at the APCC

Hi Bryan, Probably not, given communication doesn't fail immediately. The log will just show no response. It's likely hardware-related, or the virtualization of the hardware. -Ray Gralak Author of

I see. That makes sense if you're fully breaking down the rig. I don't do visual, and my imaging trains almost never leave my scopes. I don't buy anything I can't carry fully assembled in one hand

I used to mount my 180 EDT (OTA weight 35 pounds) with the mount in Park 3 until I read Roland's suggestion to do this from Park 2. The Park 2 option is WAY better ! If you have a bad back like me

I just grab the front and rear of the telescope tube and lift it into the open rings. I can then move the scope back and forth for balance as needed, and then snap the rings shut. Easy-peasy. Rolando

Microsoft for so many years have been the brunt of jokes about Windows being insecure that they'll rather loose users than not have them update regularly. I can't say I blame them. However, in your

Thank you, Bryan. That article is very encouraging. Nice to be able to disable updates during hours of darkness. I'm a bit concerned about how long to defer updates. Often the observatory PC doesn't

I'm curious what kind of disaster you have in mind. I haven't tried it the way you suggest, but it seems to me that it's much more unwieldy trying to manipulate my TOA-130 without the rings and plates

Here are some rambling musings of an equipment addict and observatory engineer. FWIW. All of my OTA's have permanent dovetail bars on them. Additionally, all of them also have handles or bars on top

Right. I'm not thinking of UPGRADING the observatory PC from Win 7 to 10. I would buy a different PC with Win 10 Pro already installed, and move all my drivers and apps to that. That's a real shame.

Mike MS has given the user more, but not complete control, over updates. https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-to-control-updates-in-windows-10/ I have had WIN10 Pro since it first came out. Early

Andrea I use the method shown in the video that Wayne and Ted list to load a 25 kg OTA on an 1100 mount. I built a wooden table (sturdier than a step stool in the video!) that is at the correct

imo there is no easy answer for Windows 10 upgrade If it were me, i would not try to upgrade but rather start with a fresh install or better yet a new computer with windows 10 already installed Most

You probably know quite a bit about Windows 10 Professional. I still use Win 7 Pro on my observatory computer, and am well-aware of the issues you mentioned. I would like to use Win 10, but.... I

I agree that there's always flexure. I have moved to OAG for imaging and that's saved a lot of flexure headaches. But for PA if the flexure is minimal, i.e. PA error < 1 arc min with the guidescope