Good day Harry,

Stability:

1.       No issues so far.

2.       No slippage or weird sounds from the mount when slewing or tracking

objects.

3.       Tripod legs are fully extended

4.       No vibration pads

5.       Unleveled angled ground

6.       Imaging over cement; (oh yeah, I am a rule breaker)

Things you should know:

1.       Your system has to be balanced.  My idea of balancing in the RA differs from

most:

a)      I can move the scope anywhere along the RA axis of rotation and the scope will not move

2.       Dec balancing is a little different:

a)      I can move the scope +/- along the DEC axis of rotation at 180-degrees and it will not move

       to make this like the RA, I will have to experiment with stick on weights.

3.       Make sure you have all counterweights installed and the RA with Dec axis locked down before

placing your scope on top.

4.       You will need a bushing in order for the 11.25-pound counterweight to be balanced on the counterweight

shaft.  I made my bushing out of PVC tubing.

Why Explore Scientific 11.25-pound counterweight:

1.       Mr. Kent suggested it.  It is countersunk, so it extends the length of the counterweight shaft

by 58.48mm (using my measurements).  It is a tight fit on the countershaft screw knob, but I am

not going to turn down the knurled knob.   

Tracking:

1.       Not very good since I can’t see any Northern stars due to tree foliage.  Can’t do a real polar alignment;

even Sharpcap needs stars.   Currently I am doing blind polar alignment.  I use apps to point me north

and “celestial pole” to get a false sense I am aimed at the NCP.  Currently, I can run 5400mm with a

digital zoom of 5 and the image will cross my FOV in 1.5-minutes.

This is a picture of my current setup which I will use for all  planets for 2020.  I have to get Mars working.

I believe Mars comes around  every 2-years.  Reminds me of Tom Petty’s song, “Don’t come around here no more”.

JR