[Laser] X-Y translator

[Art]

Hi Andy,

I'm not sure how usable your Zeiss XY translator will be. Most likely, you 
will be limited by the stability of your tripod(s) though. The Zeiss gear 
should be rock solid. If you can mount it on something fairly solid (like a 
car or tree), you should have a first class rig, at least as far as aiming 
goes.

I've been watching the Meade ETX-60 and ETX-70 on ebay. These are complete 
telescopes although the light gathering is really small. While the 
telescope is nothing to write home about, the mechanical drive appears to 
be dual axis and battery powered in a nice small base for putting on a 
table top or similar. The 60 and the 70 are identical mechanically, but the 
70 has a larger lens, so it sells for a bit more money. I'd mount the 
transmitter (and possibly the receiver) on the base and align it with the 
North Star.

I do not know whether it reads out in alt/az though, so I have not 
purchased one yet. Has anyone tried one of these low cost Meade 'starguide' 
telescopes???

Art



At 06:14 PM 6/4/04, you wrote:
>Hi folks,
>
>I just picked up a nice Zeiss X-Y translator at the hamfest today, 
>micrometers and all.  I'd like to impliment it as my aiming mechanism for 
>aiming my laser for LOS contacts.  Has anyone found a good way to do 
>this?  I'm tempted to mount it vertically to get side-to-side and up-down 
>motion, but I would like to hear from anyone else who'd done this before.
>
>Andy
>K0SM
>
>_______________________________________________
>Laser mailing list
>Laser at mailman.qth.net
>http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/laser