Telrad Help Please

[reeaal]

Hi,
I'm quite new to astronomy and have a 10" SW Dob which I'm getting to know through backyard observing. Will be taking it to a deep sky night with my local club later this month.
I have a Telrad but am very new to things like star charts etc and don't really know how I can begin to use it from a complete novice level. There're no instructions for use with the product and my online searches all assume a starting point that I'm not at yet.
Can someone please direct me to a link or give some absolute beginner tips for getting started with the Telrad?

Thanks

[Quark]

Hi Mark,

Turn your Telrad on and put your longest FL hence lowest magnification eyepiece in your scope. With your head back about 12" from the Telrad, ounce you are aligned with it you should see some bright red rings that appear out at infinity against the sky. Reduce the power to your Telrad by rotating the switch slowly back toward the off position until you can just see the red rings.

Stand back and look for a bright star, use the Telrad to align the red rings over the bright star. If you look through the wide field eyepiece you may now see that star or maybe not, even if you cannot see it in the eyepiece it should not be far out of view. Gently move the scope until you have the bright star in the centre of the field of view. Now look back through your Telrad and use the three adjusting screws on the back of it to adjust the red rings until they are over the bright star.

When you have achieved this then try the same procedure again with a mid range FL eyepiece for finer adjustment of the Telrad. That should about do it, now using a star chart or Star Wheel star hop to the objects you want to observe.

Regards
Trevor

[mozzie]

no more to say trevor nailed it ,youll be use to it after a weekend of use
mozzie

[reeaal]

That's fantastic. Thanks Trevor.

[wavelandscott]

A lot of times I use "the moon" instead of a bright star...at least to get the initial alignment as it is easier to find! Then as Trevor suggests increase magnification and adjust until it is aligned.

[rmcpb]

Mark,

Now that you have your Telrad working and aligned, have a look at this site (http://www.utahskies.org/deepsky/messier/charts/messierTelradFrameSet.html) for some really useful charts.

Cheers

[reeaal]

Rob abd Scott, thanks for the extra tips and link. Those charts look simple enough to get me started. Just waiting for the clouds to part now.