KnightRider Teaser

I think we can come to some arrangement Dave

An update to the update.....I've already spent the €325 saving :blush:

Just ordered an iPhone 32gb 3GPS ahead of schedule. I needed a new phone anyway but down through the years I vowed I wouldn't buy a smartphone because tbh I didn't think they were that smart. Twas always the cheapest phone on the O2 site for me when it came time to replace a phone. This amazed family and friends because I am usually such a gearhead and gadget freak. They always assumed I'd be the one to own the latest phone at any given time. I don't think there is any paradox there either. It was the very fact that I am a gearhead that made me buy the cheapest simplest phones I could. They just weren't up to my gadget standards and not worth the price.

We've finally reached the point where reality caught up with my smartphone expectations. Now what does all that iphone talk have to do with Astronomy or my scope?

Picture this:

I use the iPhone to call messers Lunartic, Murphy and Brannigan to confirm that we are all about to get in the cars to head down to the Burren Starparty 2010. I hop into the car, pop the iphone onto the stalk on the dash and input my destination into the iPhones SatNav app, I cue up the song playlist for the journey which plays through the car stereo system. Satnav voice directions play through car speakers. I hands free voice dial the lads to confirm that we'll meet up for lunch somewhere in the midlands. We arrive at the site in the Burren. I check the weather forecast and sat images on the iPhone. Things are looking good. I set up the scope waiting for it to get dark waiting for the first stars to appear so I can do my alignment. I can see 2 stars in the still bright sky. But which are they? I initialise the Carina Software SkyVoyager iPhone planetarium app. The GPS, Compass and tilt sensor tell the IPhone exactly how its screen relates to the universe. I hold up the iPhone in front of the star and onscreen is a perfectly scaled representation of the sky behind the screen. Its like the iPhone just went transparent with the real star visible through the screen except with its name and info printed beside it in the sky. So I use these stars to align now I know which they are. Now I use the planetarium view in Skyvoyager to select one of 300,000 named stars or 30,000+ DSO's from the usual catalogues. Dragging the view on the iPhone screen with my finger and pinching to zoom in on interesting objects, pulling up info and astroimages of the objects as I go. Once I decide on which object I want to view. I tap the screen. The iphone communicates via Wifi with the Sky-fi (Wifi to serial) interface connected to the scope. The servocat GOTO's the object. Hmmm, what EP should I use on this object. Pull up the EP FOV reticles I have previously inputted into the software and decide which one nicely frames the object. Then pull out the EP. A few hours later its time for bed. We all head back to the B&B's. I get lost on the way and use the iPhone Satnav to direct me there. Arrive a little while later. Still excited by the nights session, I can't get to sleep. Well, I'll just watch an episode or two of a TV show or film downloaded to the i-Phone or maybe use the iPhone to post a report to the forums of the nights event..............

Talk about Convergance!!

I will be in gadget heaven

Calibos wrote:

I will be in gadget heaven

Awesome arrangement of gadgets already Keith!

Seanie.

I know there is a lot of money sunk into the scope and now the iPhone too but rest assured its not a case of gadgets for the sake of gadgets. The iPhone is a prime example of this. Like I said in my previous post, if I was a true gadget freak I would always have had the latest phone. Instead I'd always pick up the €49.99 phone at the O2 webshop when a mobile finally died.

With every 'Gadget' I buy, I am very much interested in the Price/Performance Ratio and the Utility of it. Up till now the Smartphones didn't have any features I wanted/needed and the Price performance ratio was massively skewed in the wrong direction. The iPhone while just as expensive as its smartphone predecessors from years past now has the features I want/need to match the price. The Price/Performance ratio has settled within my comfort zone. ie I'm not so much price sensitive as Price/Performance ratio sensitive.

I apply the same thinking to my scope mods. There is no gadget on the scope that is there for the sake of it (Excluding the Knightrider LED bar ) There is a specific need/utility for every gadget on the scope and its Price/Performance ratio is in my comfort Zone. I'll pay a lot for something, buy the 'Best in Class' as long as I feel I am getting the quality and extra features to go along with the higher price.

In terms of a scope itself, I just thought the Price/Performance ratio of Premium Dobs/Mirrors was skewed in the wrong direction. Worth it to some but not to me. The prices rose exponentially above 16" while I didn't feel that the extra performance did. So thats why I bought a 'Cheap' 16" Dob but ended up fitting some expensive gear to it.

Back to the mods:
I have a small car. The Servocat&SkyCommander is the most expensive drive system for dobs but it gave me the goto and tracking functionality I wanted without the bulk of my Equatorial Platform. What price not wrecking the interior of your small car or not having to sell it and buy a bigger car to fit all your gear in easily.
The Dewbuster while the most expensive Dew Controller gave me the option to solve my dew problems and extend observing sessions while at the same time allowing me to power all my other gear from it, protect the battery, and simplify connecting everything up at the beginning of a session. Sure, my wiring for everything running through the Dewbuster was complicated to install but it means that in actual use I can have such a gadget laden scope set up and ready to go quite literally 1 minute later than a bare bones Lightbridge. Yes the Dewbuster was expensive but what price do you put on a frustration free, quick and easy setup with no dew worries for the rest of the life of the scope or my dob observing career if you know what I mean.
The Motorised Moonlite focuser is pretty expensive but what price frustration free, scope vibration free fine focusing while Planetary imaging. Moonlite filterslide. What price frustration free, risk free, quick and easy swapping of filters.
The Stellarvue F80 OPtical finderscope. What price, a great finder as well as Richfield scope and with the 2" helical focusser add on that gives the focus range to hook up a webcam to preview the Moon while the public queue to get a look at the real life High Def view through the scope proper. Again, I didn't get the Stellarvue for the sake of wanting to own the best lightweight finder. I got it despite its high cost because it offered me several other options, thus its utility was greater and thus its price/performance ratio was in my comfort zone despite its high cost.
Even something like the Gloss BLack vinyl which I covered the scope with which cost a few quid had a function. Same goes for the other aesthetic details. The scope needs to be stored inside in the new house so the scope had to look good if it was to be sitting in the corner of a room most of the time.

Finally back to the iPhone. Forgetting about all the other great non astronomy useful features it has. It means I have almost the same level of functionality in terms of Planetarium Goto&Slew control but safe in the palm of my hand or pocket. At public events or visual observing at home it means no hassle of setting up the laptop nor transporting yet another big bit of gear, no risk of someone running off with laptop, no risk of damage to the SkyCommander DSC or Servocat handset. Now I only need the laptop if doing video outreach or planetary imaging at home.

In other words. I am Gadget Mad but not as Gadget Mad as I look. Theres Method to my Gadget Madness




........Ok, yeah......I'm a looper!

I believe one of the ACP users operates his observatory completely remotely - with nothing but an i-Phone...

........Ok, yeah......I'm a looper!

Well, D'uh!: blink:

Paul