beginners problems-help!

Hey guys,
Shazzie here-thanks so much for your helpful suggestions-I wasnt going to ask cos I felt silly-I'm glad I did now!
:lol:

Dear Dave
Shazzie here-that would be great!See you next week

Hello all,
What kind of connection would I have to use to be able to control the etx 70 with my laptop,

Sean,

You need a special cable from meade its a proprietory cable which can be bought on its own or also comes with the LPI camera. The cable also allows you to update the inbuilt software and database.

Talk to Wally Mee at andromeda optics or see here
www.greenwich-observatory.co.uk/acatalog...s_for_the_ETX_4.html

Its the #505 cable you need.

Regards,

Dave

Talk to Wally Mee at andromeda optics or see here
www.greenwich-observatory.co.uk/acatalog...s_for_the_ETX_4.html

Its the #505 cable you need.

No! the #505 is for everything except the ETX-60/70! Bad things will happen if you use that cable instead of the correct one which is #506.

This costs more but on the plus side won't fry the electronics in the scope.

The 505 is for connecting the autostar to a PC, but the ETX70 autostar cant do that you have to go through the mount, which requires using a cable that can interact with the bus.

Cheers,
~Al

No! the #505 is for everything except the ETX-60/70! Bad things will happen if you use that cable instead of the correct one which is #506.

Oops thanks Al!

Dave.

Hello all,

I'm another complete beginner.

I started in October by buying "The Stars: A New Way to See Them" by Hans Augusto Rey (which I find to be a great introduction).

I also bought the Lidl Meade ETX-70 as I thought it a too-good-to-miss beginner scope. Though to date, I've hardly touched it, as I wanted to get a bit more familiar with the stars / constellations before using a scope.

The major problem I'm having is getting clear skies / acceptable weather. I live int he west, so I only expected to get one good nights weather every week or two, but since October there have been only TWO, half reasonable, nights for any type of viewing, and these conditions only lasted an hour or two or both occasions.

Is this normal? - or is has the weather been unusually poor ? I'm worried that the lack of even half clear skies, may mean taking up astronomy in the west of Ireland is unfeasible, or just not practical due to the poor weather? I know the summer should be better, but I want more than a summer only hobby.

Maybe my expectations are too high ?

I've read that amateur radio astronomy is not weather dependant to the same extent. Would it be a good alternative worth looking into?

Many thanks in advance for any help / advice.

Looney