DSC's and little box....

[frogman (Anthony Lord)]

Guys i havent researched it yet but..... am i able to buy the dsc's and extras then buy the "little box" leter on or are then just sold as a package..

umm second does anyone know of the best deals????? where from....

Anthony

[astroron (Ron)]

Hi the DSC,s are made up of three seperate pieces , (1) the hand computer (2)the encoders for each axis and (3) the mounting hardware,you need all three to make things work.
Depending on what type of telescope you want to use it on decides how much your mounting kit costs.
The most expensive part is the hand held computer which is the heart of the system.astroron

[gbeal]

While not disagreeing with astroron, you can take the minimalistic approach (like me) and use a Palm Pilot for the computer. You still need encoders, a decoder "box" and the Palm. Of course it is not as good as the Argo Navis (the ultimate), but it does work. Just depends where you want to be.

[iceman (Mike)]

Anthony you should've had a word with Gary from ArgoNavis when he came up on the weekend. He sells the encoders and mounting kit for your dob, as well as the ArgoNavis computer. Of course the ArgoNavis is the most expensive, but it's also the best.

The encoders and mounting kit can also be sourced from Bintel, I think they're around the same price. Expect to spend around $200 to get the kit for both axes.

You've seen how the DSC's work on my dobbie (and John B's) - it's the best thing i've done for my scope. It is nice to learn the sky and starhop to objects rather than be told where to push them to, but having DSC's does not stop you from learning the sky. It actually enhances your experience by removing the frustration of not finding something you want to find, and allows you to find 3 times the number of objects on a given night.

But to your original question, you *can* buy all the bits separately, but as Ron said, there's not really much point as you can't use one without the other. Better to just save the money and spend it all at once when you have enough for the computer as well. You could check astromart or other 2nd hand markets for older SkyCommanders or encoders (or both) which might save you some money (depends on postage costs). You may still need to buy mounting kit specific to your dob mount.

[astroron (Ron)]

How much does a Palm Computer cost? astroron

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Can the encoders for argo narvis work with just a laptop rather than actually buying the argonavis hand controller?

[astroron (Ron)]

Paul I think that you require something to read the signals from the encoders to your computer, a friend of mine who comes up here from Brisbane has done just that,but I carn't remember what it is called.astroron
PS the encoders are normally three speed 4000 ticks, 8000, or 10000and can be used with any telescope computer device with the right mounting kit.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Thanks Ron. ATM the Argo Narvis is on the wish list. The really really want one wish list

[astroron (Ron)]

Gary from ARGO NAVIS told me yesterday that he is an official sponser of QLD Astrofest and will be giving one as a prize. astroron

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Door prize? Best photo? Best promoter of Argo Narvis .......Best crawler?

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Hey I just hit 1500 posts. WoooooHoooo. Damn now its 1501

[Brendan]

astroron,
2nd hand palms can be got for as little as $50 on ebay, problems as i understand them is finding a connection cable from the palm to the encoder box (current model palms use a usb plug), I belive the palm V, III and m100 series are viable options, but i haven't looked into it very far

[astroron (Ron)]

Dont Know, that is upto the organising committy,if you look at the qld astrofest web site in the next couple of days it might tell you astroron
they usualy go as a door prize or raffle,so when you go to AstrFest buy lots of tickets, Tony Surma will be flogging them for all he is worth over the 6 days.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

The Palm III series has a real serial port and a cradle which can be used.
The downside is the serial port really chews batteries when active, along with the backlighting which is way too bright for dark adapted eyes.
You need to be handy with electronics to do the required mods and to build the Dave Ek encoder box, but if you can you get set up for about $400 ish compared to about $1k for the argo setup.

[gbeal]

I still reckon the Argo is the way to go, (not crawling Paul), but I have had good success with the Pal.
I paid NZ$50 for the Palm. It is serial, and when you connect the decoder box it takes this serial lead. The two encoder leads attach to the box as well.
From memory mine cost about NZ$350 total, but it was a mass build by a benevolent electrical whiz for about 20 of them at one time throughout NZ.
Encoders are about US$49 each from US Digital. Dave Ek makes/sells the decoder box.
I can also dispense with the Palm, and use the laptop with programs like Guide or SkyMap Pro.
Gary

[gary]

Hi Anthony,

As Mike suggested, just drop me a line or give us a call or have a word
with us next time we are up at Kulnura.

You don't even have to buy anything!

Anything you want to know about DSC's we can tell you about.
You may not realise that Wildcard Innovations is the world's largest
supplier of after-market DSC's, that we have the largest range of
encoder mount hardware kits and that all we do 24/7 is design,
manufacture and sell DSC's all over the world. DSC's designed &
manufactured by Australians only a short distance from where you
live.

In fact one of the leading American astronomical manufacturing and
supply companies, JMI, a name synonomous with DSC's, sell ours as their
flagship product, the NGC-SuperMAX.

So in a nutshell, you had one of the world's leading authorities on
DSC's including their design, both hardware & software, their manufacturing,
their installation, their marketing and their support standing next to you the
other night! Feel free to ask me anything you want to know as I love to
talk about DSC's.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[elusiver]

i've been looking into making up a dsc setup myself.. also based on dave ek's box.. u can get the encodes from US Digital as said for $49.. or.. wildcard innovations.. not too sure of the price though.. seems the high res and the low res are the same price $88.26?? but $25 for shipping from sydney seems a little steep Might have a look around local and see if there's anywhere else to get encoders.

The internal components alone would come up under $100 easy(maybe even under $50 if you've already got ciruit board printing quip and a pic programmer ).. then it'd just be the jiffy box and external cables and stuff.

There's always old palms and stuff going in the com trader or ebay or the trading post.. but I'll probably end up running off my lappy

Only real tricky bit i could forsee is the mounting of the encoders.. but there looks like there's a few good guides out there..

if you're abit handy it'd make a good project to improve some skills, gain some knowledge and learn a great deal of patience!. If you just want a dsc without fustration though.. probably best to go with a kit

el

[Starkler (Geoff)]

I got the encoders and mount kit for my GSO dob from Kendrick. It was a kit designed for the old classic Orion XT dob and the bits fitted perfectly.

[elusiver]

found this link for a dob mount..

el

[iceman (Mike)]

eww what is with the music on that site!

My encoders were homemade by westsky, fit very nicely. You can see some pics of them here. A good solution if you have the tools.