Author Archives: james

Jupiter, Venus and Mercury

Posted on March 5, 2012 by james

A poor quality photo, I know, but I was grabbing a few seconds when I should have been doing something else so had to make the best of it. Jupiter is at the top, separated from Venus by what appears … Continue reading →

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127 Mak Star Test

Posted on March 2, 2012 by james

There were patches of blue sky this evening, but plenty of thin cloud too, Jupiter and Venus were visible before sunset though, so I decided to get the Mak outside cooling and hope we’d have enough clear sky to do … Continue reading →

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Solar PV Generation Update, Mar 2012

Posted on March 1, 2012 by james

I was bracing myself for low numbers this month as December, January and February are apparently only expected to account for about 7.5% of our total yearly output, but was pleasantly surprised when I read the generation meter to discover … Continue reading →

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EQ3-2 DEC Drive Gearbox Stripdown

Posted on February 29, 2012 by james

With a new DEC motor drive in place, I decided I’d take apart my old DEC drive gearbox to see if it could be improved at all. Once split from the motor I used two pairs of pliers to hold … Continue reading →

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EQ3-2 DEC Motor Strip-Down

Posted on February 29, 2012 by james

Having done a fair bit of work trying to improve the motor drive for my EQ3-2 mount I wanted to look particularly at the DEC motor to see if I could improve its performance at all. It’s had a tough … Continue reading →

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My First FIT Payment

Posted on February 28, 2012 by james

Last week, two and a half months after I submitted the readings, I finally received my first FIT payment for the electricity generated by our solar PV installation during September, October and November last year. Very pleasant at last to … Continue reading →

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127 Mak Collimation

Posted on February 28, 2012 by james

I’ve been doing a fair bit of fiddling around with my 127 Mak recently. The initial reason for this was that the mirror had become loose on the carrier mechanism, meaning lots of trouble getting reliable focus. To fix this … Continue reading →

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Alternative Breakfasts

Posted on February 28, 2012 by james

I’m sitting here this morning eating rhubarb crumble for my breakfast. It makes an interesting change from the usual toast or cereals and I’m very much enjoying it. The thought also strikes me that as it was home-made from rhubarb … Continue reading →

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Starting This Year’s Fruit and Veg

Posted on February 28, 2012 by james

Well, kind of. I’ve already got broad beans under cloches in one of the veggie beds and a sowing of peas in the polytunnel, but they were all planted last year… Anyhow, my daughter has been getting at me to … Continue reading →

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This Little Piggy Went To Slaughter

Posted on February 27, 2012 by james

This morning at stupid o’clock I took our two Large Black pigs off to slaughter. Large by name and large by nature, too. I’d estimate they’re somewhere up around the 120kg to 130kg mark, live weight. We’ve had them eight … Continue reading →

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