[Kokatha man]

Greetings omnivorr - good to hear from you: I wasn't going to encourage this thread anymore (it was a promise I made to get me out of "high security") but since I've been let out and have "gone back to my own planet" they won't be able to restrain me anymore - so here goes.....

I actually started all this to ascertain the merit of putting setting circles on a dob mounted scope: ie was there any merit in it?

I wasn't getting into debating any value in declination indicators (I've triggered enough confusion!) - just Right Ascension scales; concluding that if you used them, they only give one (possibly two) correct positions/points in the sky that are correct RA points (both of these are meaningless from the point of useability because you can't slew/move your scope along these longitudinal positions to get the necessary Declination required to fix/pin-point/locate objects because moving the dob mount's altitude axis will instantly change the RA setting you have supposedly set with your RA indicator - even though you have set this scale from a zero or reference point of geographical north south.)

You're right, jargon can be really annoying, but in specific subjects it helps for people who are interested in the same pursuits. (eg your use of mechanical analogies is fine with me, but half of today's mob wouldn't know what the crank is, let alone the gudgeon pin!) It has also become evident to me during the life of this "thread" that many people really have no real innate/intimate understanding of RA (what Gary called "the mental gymnastics in how lines of RA and Dec are mapped out....." but are happily functional accepting the "it is so" viewpoint - and good on them!

However, if we align with the Earth's polar axis (which is an EQ set-up) we aren't aligning our mount base parallel with what it would be at the equator - rather we're aligning it with how it would be at the north or south poles, off-setting it to these positions with respect to our latitude, to arrive at an analogous positioning - which is why a dob mount sitting on the poles instantly becomes an EQ mount.

Having said all this, I will be putting setting circles on my dob-mounted GSO 10" Newt - but only because I'm waiting for my Round Table equatorial platform to arrive; and in that set-up they will have some relevance - especially as this purchase postpones the likelihood or me getting an Argo Navis system for some time!

Regards, Darryl.