Hello!

[mookins (Mikey)]

Hello everyone. My name is Michael—Mikey or Mick—I reside near Sunshine, Victoria and I have had an interest in astronomy for quite some number of years. I was originally drawn by the prospect of building a telescope from scratch (can't even remember how I stumbled upon that idea), it fits in nicely with my love of anything scientific/technical and also helps fill in some of the wonder of our existence on this tiny little planet in the vast sea of the cosmos.

I purchased this weekend a second hand Saxon 130 with an equatorial mount with clock drive. It seems in reasonable condition and looks fantastic set up in the lounge room. I may however also buy a 70mm refractor before the trip as more reading indicates that these are pretty swish to start with and a lot more portable.
I bought the equipment in preparation for a two week trip to the Snowy Mountains over Easter where I am hoping I can test out all the theory I have been reading up on and listening to (Astonomy 161 podcasts).

I hope to come along to some star parties when I can; go to dark sky areas close by for short weekend trips; design, machine, assemble and test bits and pieces both mechanical (I am already unhappy with the mount the Saxon came with) and electrical/electronic; and eventually build a telescope from scratch including the grinding of mirrors.

In general I hope I can give back as much as I am sure will take from everyone on the forums and that I meet in the hobby, although I doubt it.

-Mikey

[iceman (Mike)]

Hey Mikey welcome to IceInSpace!

I love those podcasts!

[Kunama]

Hello and welcome Mick, Bring you winter woollies for Easter in the mountains!!! My car was still frosted over at 8am this morning!
Last year I was skiing on ANZAC Day !

[ZeroID (Brent)]

Hi Mikey, to IIS.
With that atitude you're going to enjoy this place for sure. Plenty of good advice and support with any project you decide to go with and lots of DIY people on board. I've built (and rebuilt) a couple of scopes in the 2-3 years I've been hanging around this place and plenty of others have done heaps more.
Keep us posted with your progress and don't be afraid to ask. We all had to start somewhere.

Cheers
Brent

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Mikey
My first scope was a Saxon 130mm on on an EQ2 mount. The scope itself is not too bad. Collimation is a bit painful using scredrivers and it desnt have springs, rather little rubber O-rings. That said at that aperture and fl, it doesn't need super exact collimation.
The mount is a bit of a "wobbletronic" but works OK for visual use. The most frustating thing is with Newtonians on an EQ mount you will find yourself learning new contortions to look in the eyepiece!

I am not saying above to put you off in any way, just I know the pitfalls with these and too let you know that it is not you. After I bought mine a spent a lot of time thinking it was me causing the issues.

Enjoy trying it out and let us know how you go!

Cheers

Malcolm