Hi Rick, I have been searching the web for a "telescope-only pier housing" for a couple of years, and this was only one of two that I have been able to find. If you can locate any other links PLEASE p

Hi Morgan, Sounds great - but as for the "gate", maybe you can form the wall into a spiral (even an offset square), so the entrance is open, still hidden, but doesn't need a latched gate to handle in

Thanks, Maybe that is where I saw it, in the middle of a lovely backyard garden, or brick patio. I can almost still picture it - I think it housed an LX-10? I do believe I scanned my back issues of S&

Thanks Rick, Even so, that would still be useful, if you ever spot it again. I went through all the "hundreds" of Yahoo Group's "observatories" - where I too thought might have been where I saw it - a

I agree, The use of so called "electric cars" is nuts. Nobody considers the "plant" problem that would be created in exchange for cleaner air. They never say HOW the batteries are recharged. Can you i

Hi Morgan Being an electrical engineer, I have hoped for an electric car, for decades, but the new models still are not quite what I expected. The cost of gas should also be compared to the cost of a

Hi Rick, Here is the other link I had for a backyard BOX observatory, covering just the Meade 8" telescope on a pier - with blue prints.. Collier Hall of Science at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA h

Hi Pierre, Well done analysis. Just a basic question though. You noted the position of Polaris was still offset at the bottom of it's arrow marked gap. Is there any possibility of a mistake, and you h

Hi Rick, I think that an AP900, certainly AP1200 is about the size of the 8 inch Meade in the picture. You wouldn't want to remove the AP counterweights, or bar, every time, so the volume of a bare AP

Hi Pawel, Did you man to say that your counterweights will have a "brass" insert - like the AP and others, rather than aluminum? Just a heads up for you. Joe

Hi Bjug, I know exactly how you feel - I was in the same boat last year, when my AP-900 came up just two weeks after "settling for" a Losmandy G11/Gemini. No brainer, I sold the Gemini, and never regr

Hi Dirk, If you are considering a "portable pier", as I am for my own AP-900, one thing not to forget is the height of the pier versus your own arm's reach. With the mount in "Park Position 2" (counte

Hi, Although I have had a bit of practice with setting up my AP-900, in the yard, I decided to reread the manuals, again. Two things bothered me a bit, and perhaps I am overlooking something there - w

Hi, I agree with Gilles comments. If you want to see what an AP900 looks like on a Losmandy G11 using the LT2APM adapter (and I also use the RPA with it), have a look at the AP group's PHOTOS section.

Dale, If you are talking about the OPTEC TCF-S computer serial port cable, I made some quick modifications and now I use any kind of Radio Shack 4-wire RJ-11 phone cable. It works perfectly, and I can

Hi Ray, Side line question about all this. Is it possible to "download" the existing curve data - perhaps the AP factory set table values, in order to preserve them for possible set back? I would feel

Thanks Luca, Ray, Final point. Once I have saved the original AP factory setup "curve" to a File, can I then re-install it into the mount's GTO controller, if I want to get back to the original setup?

Hi Brian, You bring up an interesting point about "marking a counterweight balance position" on the shaft. I found it very convenient to do so with my new AP-900. I located a 2" or so, O-Ring, and pos

FYI: The AP-900 counterweight bar weighs 10.5 lbs. If you would normally place the other weights about half way down, simply add half of the bar wt. to the others, and simply calculate the moment agai

Hi Terry, Same thing happened to me on my brand new AP-900. It seems that the adapter isn't torqued strongly enough during assembly. Luckily, I didn't screw in the shaft too tightly, and this was in t