[Dennis G]

Thanks to all who replied to my questions. There’s no doubt IIS is a terrific web site and its members are a great lot. I was impressed by the member who admitted the difficulty he or she had working IIS I‘ve been there and thank Mike for his patience with my many requests for assistance. At 80 odd years I need all the assistance available when using a computer.
Reading the replies to my questions I can assume the Toucam does a good job for its cost and simplicity, but there is better CCD imagers if you are able to afford them .
Reply to Mike ‘s question regarding the stability of my platform.
It is a Warren Peter’s platform design and accurately built, but with my designed and built drive mechanism, – see IIS - and if I’m able to set it accurately to the SCP, Mag Var. 2.5° west - which cannot be seen visually from my home location, - using a quality compass and a jig, which holds the compass accurately to the platform alignment, 1200 mm from it, to reduce the magnetic error caused by the ferric metal parts used to build the telescope, I’m able to hold an image reasonably still, with constant adjustment of the controller, drift being my biggest concern. I work on 25 seconds at 10 FPS. My Laptop is a small Toshiba with an added 1gig memory. The compression time between recordings is a pain and I find the computer likes to be powered with its adapter and mains power, which at times requires a very long power flex. Numerous trees makes it necessary to move the viewing location over the months so it isn’t possible to provide a permanent marked angle to set up the platform.

Will a mono DBK 21 provide better B&W detail than a one shot colour? And are the DBK imagers easy to set up for recording?
This begs the question, from you Mike. Your terrific pic of Clavius crater in the latest S&T mag., was it recorded in mono without any colour filters?
And finally, was my attached pic so poor it didn’t warrant a comment?