Me want me want me want!

[LewisM]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Takahashi-EM100-Mounting-with-Dual-Axis-Drives-Tripod-for-telescope-/390973565972?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5b07d72c14

Don't think I could fit the Temma 2 to it though, but it is the RIGHT colour and time period for my FCT-100 :)

My NJP arrived on Friday - almost had to call Mr. Sidonio to make a visit to heft it out of the box :) :P

[tonybarry]

Hi Lewis,

I am dubious about the eebay item. I would definitely use Paypal :-)

Regards,
Tony Barry

[LewisM]

I don't like his non-Paypal edict too. Odd, and worrying.

Not buying anyway... the NJP is enough :)

[cometcatcher]

Looks like something from the 1950's. :P

[LewisM]

Yeah, delicious ain't it!!! :)

[Paul Haese]

No it isn't and you know it. :P

Besides if you ever want to go automated, the you won't be using an NJP. No Tak mount has a home position. That is why I got rid of the EM400 which makes the NJP look a bit like a toy anyway. This is Taks only real failing is that they don't have home positions in their mounts.

[Terry B]

I park my NJP to the same position each time. This is the mount horizontal. I then just start it up and slew to a target. Isn't this the same as a home position?
It remembers the position and I just synch on the first pointing just to refine the pointing.

[DavidTrap]

Terry,

What you have is a "park" position - provided you park the mount each time, you can unpark it, the controller will still know where it is pointing. If you release a clutch and move the mount, the controller doesn't know where it is pointing. If you were to have a power failure before parking the mount, it may well get "lost", so would need to be resynced to the sky before you can goto again.

Paramounts (and others) have a "home" position that the mount can find all by itself. It then knows where it's pointing and can navigate across the sky. I'm still learning about this, but I believe you have to do some sort of sync after homing the mount. As I understand it, the biggest benefit of this in a remote observatory situation is recovering from a power/computer failure, but I guess that is less of an issue now days with all-sky plate solves being possible.

I'm sure others will correct my inaccuracies.

DT

[Paul Haese]

What David said. :)

[Terry B]

This makes sense but as you said is less of a problem now with plate solving.

[LewisM]

Automation is a VERY VERY distant possibility for me - heck, I removed 2 Sharpsky auto-focus systems! (I enjoy the trivialities of this hobby). I could never automate. I do enjoy being out there with it - half the fun - escape the kids for a night :)

Put it this way, at least it's not a Losmandy :scared3: :P

[Terry B]

I agree. I love being outside in my observatory. No kids but a few moths and bugs tonight. :P
My observatory is 100m up in my paddock. Even if I did try to automate it it isn't much of a problem to walk up and check it.