Hey, thanks for the replies. They both helped and at the same time caused a
bit more confusion.

I downloaded the program Matthew mentioned. I ran it (including putting in
my longitude) and judging from the output, I basically set the diagonal
cursor on the Polaris Setting Plate in the same position that Polaris was
shown in the program. But after closer inspection, the Polaris Setting
Plate seems be off by 12 hours (yes, I checked the time on my pc) - in other
words, the program shows Polaris close to the "9 O'clock" position with the
time showing 20:00. But I had to set the Polaris Setting Plate to 8:00 to
make the diagonal cursor show Polaris in the same position.

This has to be another aspect of my being a true amateur. Any ideas where
I'm going wrong?

Thanks again - I reall appreciate it.

Alex

"Alexander Vukasin" wrote in message
news:zooac.37233$gA5.486671@attbi_s03...
Let me start by mentioning how glad I am that the word "amateur" is part
of
this NG, for this is truly an amateur question....

I've got a 9x50 straight through finder and saw this part available for
$6.00 on Astronomics (it actually comes with a 7x50 finder)

http://www.astronomics.com/main/prod...rythin g+Else

I figured how could I go wrong for only $6.00?? It may not be exactly
what
would show up in the 7x50, but I bet it'd be pretty close.

Having said all that - my truly amateur question is:
How do ya work the thing? I've read the description on the web page, but
I'm still quite confused - maybe an example would make things a bit
clearer
for me. Unfortunately, no documentation comes with the item.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Alex