Mounts in the tropics

I'm going to Costa Rica in February to look at stars
(among other things) and, in preparation for the trip,
have been mucking around with what sort of mount to
take with my telescope (a 5" Synta achromat) and
piggyback camera gear (OM-1, Pentax 67).

My current equatorial mount is a Synta EQ-4. Not bad at
all for visual observation, but the latitude doesn't go
much below 25 degrees, and it's way too tippy if I play
with the leg lengths to make it work at 10 degrees
latitude.

I have a Losmandy G-11 on back-order (since November -
it had *better* be worth the wait!), and even if it
arrived in time (doubtful), it too would need fiddling
with for such a latitude. They also weigh a ton.

So I figured I might see what I could come up with
on my own. After an inventory of my apartment, some
doodling and weighing of things, and a trip to the
lumberyard, the solution is shaping up to be a portable
yoke mount.

I've come up with a design that goes together like a
piece of Ikea furniture, and that I can transport in
a single long skinny package, about the same size and
shape as a pair of skis. The piers are a pair of heavy-
duty camera tripods that usually hold up medium- and
large-format cameras, and they are more than strong enough.
They even have crank-up heads to set the latitude.
I will be taking one of them anyway; taking two won't
be a major issue.

A yoke mount blocks access to the polar regions, but
at 10 degrees latitude, Polaris is down in the trees
anyway. No loss there. The alternative (a cross-axis
mount) needs counterweights. Yuck.

The net result is going to look like something from
Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars, but as long as
it works, I'll only be using it at night when nobody
will see it anyway. It's also the most fun I've
had in quite a while... :-)

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

You could save a lot of baggage by leaving the camera and camera equipment
at home. A portable yoke mount will not work too well for astrophotography
anyway.

Not too long ago, I went to Venezuela (actually Marguerita Island) on
vacation and wanted to take a telescope with me. I toyed with the idea of
taking some heavy equipment, but in the end, portability ruled. I took a
Pronto, 4 eyepieces and a bogan tripod. All of this fit easily in the
overhead compartment and it was a joy to use.

Al


"Laura Halliday" wrote in message
om...
I'm going to Costa Rica in February to look at stars
(among other things) and, in preparation for the trip,
have been mucking around with what sort of mount to
take with my telescope (a 5" Synta achromat) and
piggyback camera gear (OM-1, Pentax 67).

My current equatorial mount is a Synta EQ-4. Not bad at
all for visual observation, but the latitude doesn't go
much below 25 degrees, and it's way too tippy if I play
with the leg lengths to make it work at 10 degrees
latitude.

I have a Losmandy G-11 on back-order (since November -
it had *better* be worth the wait!), and even if it
arrived in time (doubtful), it too would need fiddling
with for such a latitude. They also weigh a ton.

So I figured I might see what I could come up with
on my own. After an inventory of my apartment, some
doodling and weighing of things, and a trip to the
lumberyard, the solution is shaping up to be a portable
yoke mount.

I've come up with a design that goes together like a
piece of Ikea furniture, and that I can transport in
a single long skinny package, about the same size and
shape as a pair of skis. The piers are a pair of heavy-
duty camera tripods that usually hold up medium- and
large-format cameras, and they are more than strong enough.
They even have crank-up heads to set the latitude.
I will be taking one of them anyway; taking two won't
be a major issue.

A yoke mount blocks access to the polar regions, but
at 10 degrees latitude, Polaris is down in the trees
anyway. No loss there. The alternative (a cross-axis
mount) needs counterweights. Yuck.

The net result is going to look like something from
Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars, but as long as
it works, I'll only be using it at night when nobody
will see it anyway. It's also the most fun I've
had in quite a while... :-)

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

You could save a lot of baggage by leaving the camera and camera equipment
at home. A portable yoke mount will not work too well for astrophotography
anyway.

Not too long ago, I went to Venezuela (actually Marguerita Island) on
vacation and wanted to take a telescope with me. I toyed with the idea of
taking some heavy equipment, but in the end, portability ruled. I took a
Pronto, 4 eyepieces and a bogan tripod. All of this fit easily in the
overhead compartment and it was a joy to use.

Al


"Laura Halliday" wrote in message
om...
I'm going to Costa Rica in February to look at stars
(among other things) and, in preparation for the trip,
have been mucking around with what sort of mount to
take with my telescope (a 5" Synta achromat) and
piggyback camera gear (OM-1, Pentax 67).

My current equatorial mount is a Synta EQ-4. Not bad at
all for visual observation, but the latitude doesn't go
much below 25 degrees, and it's way too tippy if I play
with the leg lengths to make it work at 10 degrees
latitude.

I have a Losmandy G-11 on back-order (since November -
it had *better* be worth the wait!), and even if it
arrived in time (doubtful), it too would need fiddling
with for such a latitude. They also weigh a ton.

So I figured I might see what I could come up with
on my own. After an inventory of my apartment, some
doodling and weighing of things, and a trip to the
lumberyard, the solution is shaping up to be a portable
yoke mount.

I've come up with a design that goes together like a
piece of Ikea furniture, and that I can transport in
a single long skinny package, about the same size and
shape as a pair of skis. The piers are a pair of heavy-
duty camera tripods that usually hold up medium- and
large-format cameras, and they are more than strong enough.
They even have crank-up heads to set the latitude.
I will be taking one of them anyway; taking two won't
be a major issue.

A yoke mount blocks access to the polar regions, but
at 10 degrees latitude, Polaris is down in the trees
anyway. No loss there. The alternative (a cross-axis
mount) needs counterweights. Yuck.

The net result is going to look like something from
Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars, but as long as
it works, I'll only be using it at night when nobody
will see it anyway. It's also the most fun I've
had in quite a while... :-)

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

Make a small, portable 20 degree wedge for your EQ-4 To go between the
tripod and the mount.

Take Care,

JAS

"Laura Halliday" wrote in message
om...
I'm going to Costa Rica in February to look at stars
(among other things) and, in preparation for the trip,
have been mucking around with what sort of mount to
take with my telescope (a 5" Synta achromat) and
piggyback camera gear (OM-1, Pentax 67).

My current equatorial mount is a Synta EQ-4. Not bad at
all for visual observation, but the latitude doesn't go
much below 25 degrees, and it's way too tippy if I play
with the leg lengths to make it work at 10 degrees
latitude.

I have a Losmandy G-11 on back-order (since November -
it had *better* be worth the wait!), and even if it
arrived in time (doubtful), it too would need fiddling
with for such a latitude. They also weigh a ton.

So I figured I might see what I could come up with
on my own. After an inventory of my apartment, some
doodling and weighing of things, and a trip to the
lumberyard, the solution is shaping up to be a portable
yoke mount.

I've come up with a design that goes together like a
piece of Ikea furniture, and that I can transport in
a single long skinny package, about the same size and
shape as a pair of skis. The piers are a pair of heavy-
duty camera tripods that usually hold up medium- and
large-format cameras, and they are more than strong enough.
They even have crank-up heads to set the latitude.
I will be taking one of them anyway; taking two won't
be a major issue.

A yoke mount blocks access to the polar regions, but
at 10 degrees latitude, Polaris is down in the trees
anyway. No loss there. The alternative (a cross-axis
mount) needs counterweights. Yuck.

The net result is going to look like something from
Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars, but as long as
it works, I'll only be using it at night when nobody
will see it anyway. It's also the most fun I've
had in quite a while... :-)

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

Make a small, portable 20 degree wedge for your EQ-4 To go between the
tripod and the mount.

Take Care,

JAS

"Laura Halliday" wrote in message
om...
I'm going to Costa Rica in February to look at stars
(among other things) and, in preparation for the trip,
have been mucking around with what sort of mount to
take with my telescope (a 5" Synta achromat) and
piggyback camera gear (OM-1, Pentax 67).

My current equatorial mount is a Synta EQ-4. Not bad at
all for visual observation, but the latitude doesn't go
much below 25 degrees, and it's way too tippy if I play
with the leg lengths to make it work at 10 degrees
latitude.

I have a Losmandy G-11 on back-order (since November -
it had *better* be worth the wait!), and even if it
arrived in time (doubtful), it too would need fiddling
with for such a latitude. They also weigh a ton.

So I figured I might see what I could come up with
on my own. After an inventory of my apartment, some
doodling and weighing of things, and a trip to the
lumberyard, the solution is shaping up to be a portable
yoke mount.

I've come up with a design that goes together like a
piece of Ikea furniture, and that I can transport in
a single long skinny package, about the same size and
shape as a pair of skis. The piers are a pair of heavy-
duty camera tripods that usually hold up medium- and
large-format cameras, and they are more than strong enough.
They even have crank-up heads to set the latitude.
I will be taking one of them anyway; taking two won't
be a major issue.

A yoke mount blocks access to the polar regions, but
at 10 degrees latitude, Polaris is down in the trees
anyway. No loss there. The alternative (a cross-axis
mount) needs counterweights. Yuck.

The net result is going to look like something from
Scrapheap Challenge/Junkyard Wars, but as long as
it works, I'll only be using it at night when nobody
will see it anyway. It's also the most fun I've
had in quite a while... :-)

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte