| It all started with a Meade ETX-125 and in the summer of 2000 I bought my first BIG scope, a Celestron GPS-11, I was in Heaven with that big scope |
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| After trying my hand at Astrophotography I quickly realized the GPS-11 was not going to do it for my needs, I then tried my hand at the Celestron CM-1400 |
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| Again I realized this mount was not going to work with the C-14 for astrophotography so the quest continued, the next mount to come to hand was the Losmandy HGM-200 and the winter of 2001 I worked the mount in my driveway |
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| Winter 2002 I caught phenomena while using the scope in my driveway |
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| I was sick for months and it wasn't till the summer that I was able to shake the phenomena and I decided in the fall to build a roll off observatory |
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| Once the observatory was up I installed the HGM-200 on a permanent pier with the C-14, this mount was not bad but I was not happy with the Gemini GOTO |
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| I was originally using the GPS-11 on the second pier of the Astroden but I ended up buying another HGM-200 |
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| With the help of my good friend Mike Stephens I was able to get an AP-1200 servo to put in place of HGM-1 |
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| While the AP-1200 was supporting the C-14 I purchased a TMB-152 from Ron Wodaski to use on HGM-2 |
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| The C-14 was soon sold and the TMB-152 was moved over to the AP-1200 and HGM-2 was sold, I then installed a Meade 12" LX-200 classic in HGM-2 place |
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| I finally came up on the list for a new Paramount ME, so the AP-1200 was sold and the Paramount was put in its place |
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| The LX-200 was removed and a Celestron CGE was put in its place along with a Takahashi FSQ |
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| I sold the TMB-152 so I could purchase a TMB-180 Refractor, this thing is BIG |
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| The TMB-180 was installed on the Paramount ME along with the FSQ on top |
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| The CGE was replace with a Losmandy G-11 for a while |
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| With time I was able to purchase a 12.5" RC telescope to use on the Paramount ME |
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| I then needed a place to put my TMB-180 so I picked up an AP-900 to replace the G-11 |
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| Realizing the AP-900 was not going to support the TMB-180 I decided to bite the bullet and purchase another Paramount ME |
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| Next scope transaction was selling the TMB-180 and purchasing an AP-180 |
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| I then wanted a fork mounted scope and with the price reduction of the Meade 16" LX-200GPS, I sold one of the Paramount ME and in came the Meade |
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| The LX-200 SCT was not cutting it for imaging so I installed my 12.5" RC on the fork arms |
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| I ended up not liking the AP-180 as much as the TMB-180 because of constant focus shift, the TMB was a better imaging scope so I aquired another TMB-180 along with a TMB-130 F6 |
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| I have now sold the 12.5" RC truss and replaced it and the 16" LX-200 forks with another Paramount ME and a Takahashi FRC-300 Astrograph |
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| So for now I am with the dual Paramount ME loaded up with the Takahashi FRC-300 and the TMB-180, we will have to see where we go from here 10/05 |
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