Takahashi Teegul Sky Patrol II - arrived

[Omaroo]

I picked up my Tak mount this afternoon from Emanuel (the seller) while I was in the city. A really top bloke who will come and visit IIS. He's lso selling a couple of nice Nikkor Ai lenses on AstroB/S - a 50mm f1.2 and the legendary 180mm f/2.8. Hmmm...... thinking...thinking....

Anyhoo - I just got it home and mounted it temporarily on my AZ3 mount - with the baseplate tilted and tightened at around 34 degrees. The base of the Sky Patrol has a 1/4x20 threaded hole to mount the whole unit as you would a camera on a tripod.

I've connected the unit up and so far it seems to be rotating in RA beautifully - and silently. There is no noise, even if you stick your ear directly on the gearbox. Clutch release on both axes is via a set of small knurled knobs on each housing. You can completely relax it in RA and Dec to get your camera/lens in perfect balance. Everything about it is smooooooth.

It came with the optional polar scope which is attached to bottom of gearbox. It peers through the counterweight shaft assembly to find Sig Oct (which is etched on the scope optics). It also came with a spare counterweight so I'll be able to run a 60-70mm scope along with a camera body.

The Hand controller has a simple switch to select Northern or Southern hemisphere - so it'll be great for travelling. The whole thing will fit in my camera case along with a selection of meaningful lenses and a couple of bodies.

Can't wait to try it out. Clouds - go away!

[Omaroo]

First image using the Sky Patrol. Tracked for 1 minute - roughly polar aligned. Plonked on ground, made level-ish and pointed in the direction birds fly in summer.

Nikon D40 w/Nikkor 300ED. 5 x 30secs stacked @ISO800

Turned out Ok for the first effort. Will have to make serious effort to align and balance it properly. :thumbsup:

[gbeal]

Great to see it all worked out Chris, definitely nice gear. Now you will be able to venture to some really dark sites.
Gary

[Omaroo]

Thanks Gary - and for your advice. I'm now going to organise the FS60-C.

[iceman]

How do you align it? Does it have a polar scope? I guess there's no opportunity to drift align?

[Omaroo]

Hi Mike

It does have a polar scope (as mentioned in my opening post), but you need dark skies to use it. In my suburban setting you can't see diddly through it, even though the optics are crystal clear. Last night it was still cloudy, and even when clear of direct cloud cover the transparency was unbelievably woeful.

Alignment was surprisingly accurate for just plonking it down. Stars (which were somewhat lacking last night) are still nice and round, and it took exposures of around two minutes to see any trailing. You can be a bit lucky I guess. You can drift align it like any other EQ mount by first mounting a small refractor and illuminated reticle as per usual. Once done - swap the scope for the camera.

I'm shortly going to order a Tak FS60-C for it, which really is the perfect scope/mount combination. Alignment and prime focus wide field should be a dream with it.

[Omaroo]

I just put it into a small (400x250mm) aluminium case from Jaycar. For scale, I've positioned my mobile phone next to it. A really beautiful little package ready to go anywhere :)

[snaggs]

Congrats!! Welcome to the Tak club. I always wanted a Tak, and if I'd just started with one it would have saved me some faffing around. I've seen some awesome wide field astro shots done with the FS-60.

Daniel.