Brian, Oh yeah, you’re missing out on all the “fun” of portable observing – which includes sore muscles, barked knees and elbows, dust, insect bites, wild animals, dust, cold – and did I mention dust?

Barry, I LIKE it! Woody

SkySafari Plus or SkySafari Pro works great via WiFi on either iOS or Android devices with the proper serial to WiFi device at the mount (such as SkyFi-III). Android devices can also use Bluetooth ser

Eric, I like the fact that each power line in the RIGrunner is individually fused. In my mobile observatory, I use traditional marine (plastic, stainless steel and brass) screw terminals, switches and

Tom, There are places where the ground swells and shrinks over the year depending on moisture content and/or freezing. Freezing ground with lots of moisture in it causes swelling. I think it’s called

Shailesh, I’m sure others more experienced than I will have better replies, but as I recall, I never got my mount and Pempro to work with my main camera and scope. I only got things to work when I use

#Polar_Alignment

Micheal, Or use a guide camera. My Lodestar X2 works well for this purpose. Woody

#Mach2GTO

Micheal, Makes sense. And I agree. For a permanent installation, PEMPro would be sufficient. And although I don’t know, it might have come bundled with your new mount. And if not, a CCD Drift PA proce

#Mach2GTO

Ah, thanks Roland. I didn’t realize that the “old” amp draw method only works with the original Mach1 – which I have. Interesting. Woody

#Mach2GTO

Micheal, First off I have a Mach1, not the new Mach2. But all my comments should apply to the Mach2 also. Balance technique #1. Balancing the DEC access of the original Mach1 is a bit tricky as it has

#Mach2GTO

Roland, I was able to open both links. And both look stunning. Woody

Roland, I think “Goofy Footed” means left handed, left footed. I’ve only body-surfed so don’t know about these things first-hand (or first-foot), but I’m pretty sure a Goofy Footed surfer is a leftie.

Got it! f/15 longboard. Too funny. And best yet, you lived to tell the tale. Woody

Well done Roland! So what was your guide-rate set at for this particular adventure? And were you auto-guiding or manually guiding? I’d say that with such an old longboard, manual guiding would be more

Christopher, I didn’t realize the keys were glow-in-the-dark. Duh! I keep mine in the case most of the time and didn’t realize the keys could/would glow if “charged.” But I am familiar with charging s

#Keypad

Tom, In the past Roland has almost always recommended using the fastest guide rate you can set. He said all the slower rates are for manual guiding, but computers react much faster than humans and wor

Nick, Once focused to your guide camera, that should be it. Lock down the fine-focus with the retaining ring and call it done. Woody

Bob, I don’t know about a Crayford style focuser, but Baader makes nice helical focusers for the Vario-Finder. The one I have is a 1.25” eyepiece holder with helical focuser built into it. Unfortunate

Gert, I don’t know if this helps, but when I use my RN-270 (or SkyBT) serial to BT devices with my Mach1-GTO w/ CP3 controller, I don’t change ANY of the DIP switches on the serial to BT device – I le

Gert, I don’t think I ever used the CP3’s 6v outlet to power my RN-270. But I did use it to power an old StarGPS. The newer StarGPS units are now self-powered. I’d have to look at the RN-270’s detaile