Category: Portable

My Equipment for ECVAR star party

9/9/2015

After seeing the two video clips of my main RVA setup and my small portable RVA setup (see my 9/7/15 post), someone asked me which setup am I taking to ECVAR.

My Answer: Just for fun I'm bringing both :-)

The weather has been really poor this year in my area, so I hope to get some "quality" time on both setups at the star party.

I plan to also bring my MCR-80 ED which mounts nicely on my small portable RVA setup. I'm bringing my SkyRaider DSc too which will work well with both my main and small portable setups. I'm still learning how to use the DSc and hope to get some good tips while there.

One other thing I'm bringing is a prototype focus mask flipper (how is that for a name) that a long time friend of mine made for me and brought over to my house tonight. It allows me to remotely flip a focus mask in position over the end of my 5" dew shield for adjusting the focus as needed, and then flip it back out of the way, all from my laptop. (I have a JMI Motofocus installed on my Celestron 5" telescope so I can focus it remotely). He and I have also discussed how to add moving a dark cover in place to be able to easily take dark frames whenever you want.

I figure you can never have too much equipment with you. That's better than wishing you had brought something you left at home.

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"Portable" Remote Video Astronomy setups

9/7/2015

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Normally I keep my main Remote Video Astronomy setup covered in my garage and just roll it out onto my driveway, perform an alignment, and I'm ready to go in just a few minutes time.

I run a single USB cable from the telescope to inside to control the equipment from my laptop and can see the view through my telescope on my computer screen inside in near real time.

In about a week, my wife and I will be heading to Virginia with our camper to attend the ECVAR star party at Cool Breeze campground, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. I was wondering just how "portable" my main RVA setup might be. So this week I disassembled my RVA setup and figured out how to best package everything up for ease of transport and reassembly at the camp site.

I then began thinking about how long it might take me to set everything back up again once I get there. So I decided to find out...and recorded a time lapse video of the process. I had never used the time lapse video option on my iPhone but thought it was worth a try, and it worked great! I determined I could put my telescope wheel platform in the bed of the truck, so I used it as the base of my assembly. I could do without it, but it will give me the flexibility of easily moving my setup as needed at the campground.

So how long did it take? 45 minutes.

Once I had it set up, I rolled it from my patio to a viewing position in my backyard to verify everything worked as expected. I initially checked everything out next to the telescope with a single USB cable providing the link to control the scope and cameras. My laptop is a Microsoft Surface Pro2 with a single USB port, running Windows 8 using a Bluetooth mouse.

I then added an active USB extension cable between the telescope connection and the laptop to make sure I could control and view everything remotely from under a canopy, or even from inside our camper. I can power the setup from an AC extension cable or from two battery Power Tanks.

You can watch the time lapse video of my assembly process on You Tube for your entertainment by clicking the image below.

I also have a grab-and-go Remote Video Astronomy setup that I keep out in our sunroom. It is has a SkyProdigy mount (with StarSense built in) and is usually configured with a Celestron 5" telescope, JMI remote focus control and a MallinCam Micro-Super camera. It also uses a powered hub at the telescope and a single USB cable from the telescope to my laptop.

It obviously packed up in fewer carrying bags.

I again recorded a time-lapse video of setting it up. This was same song, much shorter second verse!

So how long did it take to set up? 7 minutes.

Once I had it set up, I carried it from my patio to a viewing position in my backyard to verify everything worked as expected. I checked everything out next to the telescope with a single USB cable providing the link to control the scope and cameras. I normally power this setup with battery packs instead of AC.

You can watch the time lapse video of the assembly process of my grab-and-go RVA setup by clicking the image below.

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My Equipment for ECVAR star party

"Portable" Remote Video Astronomy setups

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