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The first I knew of Astro Optical Supplies, though it was then The Amateur Astronomers Supply Company, was in 1969 when I met him at an Astronomical Society of NSW meeting. I had just joined the Society,and am still a member. We became friends and I use to go to the shop after work on Thursday nights.and we would talk telescopes. My first serious telescope was the one I assembled from the components from Eric's shop. It was a 8 inch Newtonian on an equatorial mount. I built a variable frequency 240 volt AC power supply for tracking and guiding it for photography.
In early 1973 I was at the shop when Eric said this looks interesting but too expensive, and handed me a brochure for the Celestron 8 inch SCT. The next time I visited the shop, I said Eric, get me one, so he did. I believe it was the first one sold in Sydney and possibly in Australia. I still have it but I removed the forked mount and mount it a German equatorial mount.
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