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I am here for the whole lot, I enjoy the hobby and all aspects of it.
When I started getting back into the hobby, after a long absence, I found that there was a LOT of conflicting information being bandied about especially in relation to equipment and what it was capable of. I felt that either my eyesight was very poor or that many overstated the capabilities of gear.
I am a self-confessed gear freak, so I decided rather than take other people's opinions as gospel, I would buy equipment and see for myself. This has meant that I have bought a lot of equipment, some just for the pleasure of owning it, much just to see if the hype had a basis in fact, and some just because it was cheap. I have also spent countless hours restoring, researching and building scopes, visiting observatories and even managed to take a look through Galileo Galilei's refractor in 2007.
This approach has allowed me to experience many fine telescopes, some have stayed with me since the early days, some have moved on to others.
In the process I have learned a lot about the hobby.
Most of my viewing is done on a rather less sociable scale, I like to view the heavens in silence with very little interruption once at the eyepiece, so I tend to go out solo. Unfortunately often the skies just don't cooperate leaving me with withdrawal symptoms....... that's where the forums come in.
I have met some genuinely friendly and knowledgeable people through this forum and been able to share my scope and its view with visitors from the northern hemisphere, showing them the southern gems for the first time.
I especially like reading posts by newcomers that show their excitement at seeing the moons of old Jove for the first time or the rings of Saturn or simply individual craters on Luna.
There is a lot of banter on the forum that really ought not be here, some threads are started purely to raise the ire of others, some threads seem to be very personal rants but all in all I find the IIS forum to be the best on the web at the moment.
Clear skies (and Taks Rule)
Matt
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