---
Ignore below. I'm using it as scrap paper.
---
COTTON CARRIER LTD
930 W 1ST ST UNIT 103
NORTH VANCOUVER BC V7P
3N4
CANADA
Hello, Tad
A couple things, I'm struggling trying to understand what has been done and what you need. I first want to mention that you should refrain from doing any disassembly and repair yourself as that would void the warranty. Should something stop working on the unit send it to us and we'll repair the product. Additionally, my guess here is that you have a NON-Arca Swiss Tripod foot right now and you're asking if we could swap it our for and Arca Swiss compatible foot? I don't believe that can be done but I can check with our colleagues in Austria.
Thanks Del
Del Lavature
Assistant Manager Customer Relations
2022/07/18 14:25:55 UTC
\I now understand the issues and have developed workarounds for the Swarovski Professional Tripod Head / Gitzo Gimbal Fluid Head and the Feisol UA-180 Carbon Gimbal.
If you too are stuck with one of these I highly recommend the UA-180 - if you're OK with the volume issue. With my modifications I can go from Swarovski Standard clamped through Arca-Swiss clamped back to Swarovski Standard clamped in about a minute and a half.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3lyZAfBp1g
https://www.rokslide.com/swarovski-atx-btx-review/
9400111105501071949282
9200190207211325476115
heavy but what the hell.
1/32 - - 0.03125
1/16
0.571
https://lovethenightsky.com/
Jupiter mass "solar system" planets asteroids
Swarovski
2024/10/07 - FedExed
1369.3 - 095 Objective
0188.0 - 1.7x Magnification Extender
1723.5 - UA-180
eric.1416@yahoo.com
And Happy New Year - although I doubt either one of us will be having one of those.
I did the 2017/08/21 Eclipse on centerline in SE Idaho with my nephew. My binocular glass - filtered and tripod mounted - became a station for a small flock of chasers who showed up with two dollar eclipse glasses. That experience got me rolling towards and into the spotting scope game primarily for wildlife applications. But then I started drifting into astronomy.
Nowadays I'm spending a lot of dark hours at the Church View Farm parked a little over half a crowflight mile to the west of home. Gets me some elevation and distance from treelines and obnoxious local light pollution sources. Between 16:17 yesterday afternoon and 07:00 this morning I got the Sun. Venus, Saturn and Titan, Neptune, Jupiter and its four Galilean Moons, Uranus, the Pleides, Andromeda Galaxy... When I'm out in public places I set up and often get people lining up. "Wow!" is the virtually universal reaction when the individual first gets his or her eye in the right place.
Also did the 2024/04/08 Solar on centerline just north of Jackman, Maine. Ran my 85 and 95 millimeter Scopes for anyone who cared to get in line - mostly a flock of MIT students.
Real sorry about your vision situation and the abusive circumstances which condemned you to it. My right eye (as you probably know) got a boomerang impact back in '77 which tore the retina. And if anything serious happens with my left...
101
014 - scope
087
003 - bino
084
pounds
4.5 to bottom
2 revs plus 150 degrees - operational
--
Step 1 is the Foot element of the Tripod Ring / Foot component (Arca-Swiss - 43 millimeter length x 38 millimeter width) and we need to amend it by dropping down from its bottom face with Shims.
I used cereal box cardboard, carpenter's square, pencil, scissors, drill to produce a stack.
And we can use our Template to cut enough 43x38 millimeter Shims out of cereal box cardboard - about seven or eight - to raise the 115 up about 8 millimeters above the top face of our GS5370LDR Plate - our Step 2. Our Plate is slotted to give us a fore/aft adjustment range of 100 millimeters. Its Mounting Screw is threaded 1/4-20 and can only be installed at the like drilled and threaded points full fore or aft. And the slot in between the fore and aft point is narrowed to 0.192 inches so a specialized Screw is requried. The bottom 0.143 inches of its shaft is unthreaded and narrows to 0.164. So our long replacement Screw will need to be modified / filed down accordingly.
Understanding the geometry and measurements of Swarovski Spotting Scopes' Arca-Swiss Foot...
We can then cut cardboard Shims to raise the Foot (Scope) up about 5/32 inches /
- Step 2:
.021 - cardboard thickness
.165 - screw diameter
.192 - slot width
.127 - slot depth
.343 - screw length
.164 - unthreaded diameter
.143 - unthreaded length
.125 - platform depth
.049 - strips elevation
.012 - strips base
.030 - washer thickness
.320 - foot socket (3/8-16) depth
Best idea at this point...
Escalante
.15625
We need the 3/8-16 to 1/4-20 Adapter screwed in 'cause we'll be needing to engage the smaller diameter.
Then a Button Head Socket Cap Screw - 1/4-20 x 7/8 inch
1/4-20 Button Head Socket Cap Screws,
.320 - Foot depth
.265 - Spacer
.045 - Plate Strips
.130 - Plate thickness
.030 - Washer
.790
.875
Full Moon
This event is visible to the naked eye from user-specified location.
THU, 17 OCT 2024 AT 06:26 GMT-05:00 (11:26 UTC)
4 DAYS AGO
2024/11/18
And now I'm close to advising not to get it with the possible exception of as a free gift. I've done a tremendous amount of work to develop and implement a solid balance solution and I've heard and am hearing, suspecting, fearing that the optics fall well short of snuff. In theory our view is brighter. In practice I'm not noticing the advantage when I swap in the 95. Seems like the only thing of somewhat usefull substance it has going for it is a large exit pupil. I don't need it and I'm pretty effective at getting newbies quickly operational behind my 85.
And it weighs a ton.
95 versus a 115 in the same condition at the same price... Definitely go with the 95.
The largest lenses on the market? So how come no other manufacturers are putting out even lower quality humongous front end objectives? And what was it which inspired Swarovski to blaze the path?
Any glass we get will involve trade-offs - beyond just price tag. Can we think of any circumstances in which we might have a 115 while really wishing we had a 65? Other than packing for a flight or hiking in a half mile to an observation point?
Act Blue
Bob - 2024/06/19 06:49:21 UTC
Jebb
Bob
2024/11/03 - 115 cracked, dried
Kamala Harris - Timothy James Walz
Donald John Trump - James David Vance
---
As of 2024/11/22
My technique of bore sighting through my empty Handle Cylinder is, I'd wager, a fair bit superior to this antenna crap. And I've gotten pretty effective using it. But I don't just sight and assume that my stationary target, flying bird, planet will be nicely centered in my glass after I've done my best. I frequently have to spend a few seconds looking around my initial field of view.
9434909105459109636157
2024/11/19 21:04:17 UTC
2024/11/22 17:40 UTC
With a gun to my head I'd say that my newly reconditioned 95 edged out my compromised 115 by a hair's breadth or two but I'd wager that after the latter comes back from Rhode Island after it gets cleaned and purged...
The math say's that we're getting a brighter image with all those extra square millimeters up front. But good freakin' look figuring out which of my three ATX Objective flavors you're behind based upon that parameter. And I'm pretty sure I'd say the same after amending my fleet with a 65.
Long term my intention is to use the 115 as my primary locally 'cause:
- operating with it is more challenging for me
- it's:
-- less challenging for guests to get lined up behind
-- in theory more theft resistant
-- loss would be mourned less than that of my 95 would be
- on the plus side maybe a bit more stable in wind
0916
0536
556
336
210
112204
0004
660
022
682
Sound seems a fair bit distorted.
And SUNGLASSES? And here I was thinking that BRIGHTNESS was a substantial quality afforded by the front end glass...
The Sunshade diameter tapers down as we move fore and aft from its longitudinal midpoint. That means that we gotta be real careful when operating with its Seymour Solar Filter. Good news... We're virtually always tilted up - usually to a substantial degree - when in solar mode.
2024/11/205. Safety Lock
To safeguard the Quick Release Plate and camera/lens from falling accidentally. Push the pin to insert and remove the Quick Release Plate to/from the Quick Release Clamp.
----------
Condensation - Objective Module
---
Seal Integrity
2024/11/02 the 115's condensation issue really started ramping up. Afternoon solar was getting compromised, early night astro started getting mediocre and rather quickly ramped to total garbage. The environment between the two front end glass elements had become a total swamp. Before the following dawn I decided to open up the Objective element. Steps:
- With the Locking Screw hard lock the Tripod Ring at 12. (And leave it locked - Tripod Ring fully/normally engaged - until after completion of reassembly. (And if you must pull the Tripod Ring / Foot component first pull the Set Screw and recover the Spring. Then pull the component and recover and secure the Detent Button.))
- Mostly as described in my 2022/06/28 entry... (With the Locking Pin engaged...) With left (or right) hand gripping the Objective Module and right (or left) hand gripping the ATX Ocular Module twist/torque counter and break seating of the fore and aft Objective Module components. The effort required for this one was suprisingly moderate - little more than what's required for a normal Objective/Ocular Elements disengagement.
- Cover the aft end of the Fore Element and fore end of the Aft Element with Lens Cloths and secure them with rubber bands (to allow drying while protecting from dust contamination).
Next to the kitchen and one of the four burners on the top of the electric oven. Or a hot plate would work.
- Limit the heat to what the palm of a hand can take indefinitely when pressed down on it.
- Three plastic Coke bottle caps rightside up defining an equilateral triangle with 115 millimeter sides.
- Park the Fore Element fore end down on the bottle caps.
- Monitor frequently and kill heat a bit after the point at which all the condensation has been baked out.
- Reassemble everything.
I've been left with a few internal specks which will do nothing to degrade any observations. Brings to mind experience with the 95 which would develop minor issues the better part of a year after servicing. I'll report the issue to Swarovski but refrain from sending it in minus the excuse of a more significant issue.
---
2024/11/13
Condensation came back with a vengeance shortly after nightime temperatures start dropping to seasonal.
Another safer approach...
After looking around on the web I harvested a ton of silica gel beads from the caps of (empty) plastic Pradaxa pill bottles. They extract with zilch effort, mess, waste.
I nuked the hell outta them in the microwave. Early on water condensation droplets formed on the glass above the deposit. Nothing bad appeared or smelled to be happening so they got a real good measure. The glass bowl was fine until i pulled out the base (glass) plate and it slid a little - then cracked. Feel bad about that. Had thought that with the water baked out the heating would stop.
Let's try another method. Electric oven set to 250°F.
Dumped all the silica gel into a stainless steel pot, put it in the oven, baked it for an hour and a half plus, killed the heat, put the lid on the pot, allowed cooling for 45 minutes, dumped it into three Pradaxa bottles (two and a half required), capped them tight.
Put chosen full (plastic) Pradaxa bottle into a washed and dried Microfiber Pouch - minus Cord Lock. Separate the Fore and Aft elements, lower the Pouch into the Fore (stood on its nose), screw the back end back on tight, leave it alone until we need to start prepping for a mission.
Went out on a wee hours mission under clear, cold, mostly cloudless skies. Temperature dropped to a degree above freezing. No problem. Left the gear in the car (out on the driveway) until well after sunrise. No hint of fogging.
I think after I get my 95 back from Swarovski I'll send the 115 back to get the specks cleaned out and another nitrogen purge.
18262903
800-777-7904
7300
Not Sirius...
...Capella, it suddenly occurred to me right after end of our session. If it had been Sirius you wouldn't have had to ask - 'cause Orion would've been blazing straight and well above it well before it had broken the horizon. Which would've been about 22:20 EST last night. Capella would've surfaced damn near precisely six hours earlier a helluva lot farther north. It's our fourth brightest at this latitude - also behind Arcturus and Vega - and our sixth brightest from San Juan and way south beyond. Canopus and Alpha Centuri take third and fourth place from this planet's perspective.
----------
Gitzo GS5370LDR Long Quick Release D Profile Plate
http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50918936961_d1a4fa5a67_o.png
It's ridiculous to think that we can achieve reasonable balance with all four current Objective options with variables such as the ATX, STX, BTX Oculars; 1.7x Magnification Extender; Solar Filter; Swarovski Standard / Arca-Swiss thrown into the brew. Possibly the only good thing to result from my acquisition of the 115 front end was that it forced me to engineer a balance solution and consider the Gitzo GS5370LDR Long Quick Release D Profile Plate as a permanent element of my 85, 95, and 115 Objectives. Any decent Head with an Arca-Swiss clamp.
-----
84 mm - 85 balance
0.288 - shaft useable
0.15625 - 5/32 inch
89 - George Washington - Benjamin Harrison - George Herbert Walker Bush
93 - George Washington - Steven Grover Cleveland - William Jefferson Clinton
97 - John Adams - William McKinnley - William Jefferson Clinton
01 - Thomas Jefferson - William McKinnley - Theodore Roosevelt - George Walker Bush
05 - Thomas Jefferson - Theodore Roosevelt - George Walker Bush
09 - James Madison - William Howard Taft - Barack Hussein Obama
13 - James Madison - Thomas Woodrow Wilson - Barack Hussein Obama
17 - James Monroe - Thomas Woodrow Wilson - Donald John Trump
21 - James Monroe - Warren Gamaliel Harding - Joseph Robinette Biden -
23 - James Monroe - Calvin Coolidge - Joseph Robinette Biden -
25 - John Quincy Adams - Calvin Coolidge - Donald John Trump
29 - Andrew Jackson - Herbert Clark Hoover
33 - Andrew Jackson - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
37 - Martin Van Buren - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
41 - William Henry Harrison - John Tyler - Franklin Delano Roosevelt -
45 - James Knox Polk - Franklin Delano Roosevelt - Harry S Truman -
49 - Zachary Taylor - Harry S Truman -
50 - Millard Fillmore - Harry S Truman
53 - Franklin Pierce - Dwight David Eisenhower
57 - James Buchanan - Dwight David Eisenhower
61 - Abraham Lincoln - John Fitzgerald Kennedy -
63 - Abraham Lincoln - Lyndon Baines Johnson
65 - Abraham Lincoln - Andrew Johnson - Lyndon Baines Johnson -
69 - Hiram Ulysses Grant - Richard Milhouse Nixon
73 - Hiram Ulysses Grant - Richard Milhouse Nixon
74 - Hiram Ulysses Grant - Gerald Rudolph Ford
77 - Rutherford Birchard Hayes - James Earl Carter
81 - James Abram Garfield - Chester Alan Arthur - Ronald Wilson Reagan
85 - Stephen Grover Cleveland - Ronald Wilson Reagan
89 - George Washington - Benjamin Harrison - George Herbert Walker Bush
customerservice@swarovskioptik.com
ATX 115 Objective Module service
On 2024/09/03 I landed a used ATX 115 Objective Module (HA1224748A) off of eBay and used it without apparent problems through mid October. At that point I started noticing a minor condensation issue occurring between the two front end elements. Wasn't much of a problem for a while, was drying out during the days between nighttime astronomy outings. But in early November that space rather abruptly became a total swamp.
Separated the Module's front and back end components, got things dried out and operational using low heat and silica gel, continued using it until getting my 95 back from you 2024/11/23 (in fine shape - thank you very much) with no recurrent fogging.
But now I'd like to send the 115 in to deal with two or three issues:
- a little condensation residue spotting on a surface or two of the inaccessible (to me) surfaces of the front end elements
- nitrogen purge
- hopefully identify and deal with the issue which precipitated the leak (could find no problem with the O-ring or the relevant contact surfaces)
Thanks very much,
Tad Eareckson
info-us@swarovskioptik.com
SWAROVSKI OPTIK NORTH AMERICA
2 SLATER RD
CRANSTON RI 02920-4498
Also... I compared the image sharpness I'm getting from the 95 with that from the 115 (by setting up two tripods, putting solar filters on both scopes, centering on a prominent sunspot) and the 115's sharpness was well short of a match. But I'm doubting anything can be done about that issue.
Thanks much,
Tad Eareckson
www.usaa.com/verify
SWAROVSKI OPTIK NORTH AMERICA
2 SLATER RD
CRANSTON RI 02920-4498
My technique of bore sighting through my empty Handle Cylinder is, I'd wager, a fair bit superior to this antenna. And I got pretty effective using it. But I don't just sight and assume that my stationary target, flying bird, planet will be nicely centered in my glass after I've done my best. I frequently have to spend a few seconds scanning around my initial field of view.
Swarovski ATX STX introduced
So if you're halfway serious about this game (and if you're reading this you are) DO NOT purchase one of these white elephant models. A seller who understands the downsides will also understand that Joe Buyer WON'T and thus the selling prices of 1.0 and 1.1 will be virtually the same.
If you're in acquisition mode recognize that you'll be operating less efficiently, effectively in the field where and when seconds often matter bigtime
edit:
Condensation - Objective Module
---
- Pull the Tripod Ring / Foot Component aft off of the aft end of the Objective Module Fore Element.
- Separate the Click-Stop Button and stow it along with the Set Screw and Spring Elements.
- Cover the aft end of the Fore Element and fore end of the Aft Element with Lens Cloths and secure them with rubber bands (to allow drying while protecting from dust contamination).
east astronomical
completion of reassembly. (And if you must pull it then pull the Click-Stop Spring Screw and associated Spring first.)
2024/11/10
*
2024/11/12
Good explanation of Declination and Right Ascension at:
http://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-resources/right-ascension-declination-celestial-coordinates/
Celestial Coordinates for Beginners - Sky & Telescope - Bob King
---
9534610351474347270276 - Filter
9534610351474347270290 - Scope
2024/12/12 14:05 EST
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4198
9388
6705
707
632
315
317
2024/12/17 17:06:34 UTC
Reply
Hi back to Rick, sorry for the slow response. I've had - for at least the better part of a decade - a staph infection that really ramped up a several years ago and costs me a lot of time, effort, sleep.
And/But I do get out get out to my nearby cattle farm - 1.2 miles from the driveway (and as away from light pollution as I'm gonna get in this chunk of the country) - most nights when the sky is tolerably open and hit my planets, moons, stars, constellations, asterisms. Was getting fair shots at the current comet until the Moon started wiping me out a few nights ago. And sometimes I set up outside of stores, restaurants, concert venues, the Annapolis Library and get people lining up.
Current prominent stuff... Venus (showing up high right around Sunset), Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Capella, Vega, Cassiopeia, Altair, Orion, Regulus, Arcturus, Spica...
Rick's Capital One account is being closed out due to inactivity. Looks like a good thing since the only charges we were getting were annual ones from his Skype account - which we were unable to cancel.
Thanks much for efforts to help get him out of that vile situation into which our government has placed him.
And a little dot here...
08-011202
15:00 should work - despite complications of the day.
This morning drove the Passat in to Annapolis Fitgerald for routine service, came back with Jim in the Camry. Then Gambrills for Jim's Navy Federal Credit Union and on to the Crofton Post Office to find out that both 115 Objecive I'd handed them Thursday afternoon for delivery to Cranston, Rhode Island and solar filter I was returning to Escalante, Utah had been delivered and weren't still stuck in a chute at Square 1 - as both tracking numbers had begun indicating before I'd gotten home and continue to indicate as I'm writing.
And gotta be at Sandi's at 17:00 for another Zoom session with Emily from Fort Collins but that should still leave plenty enough room.
So see ya.
TELESCOPE
FEATURES
As of 2024/11/22... I have TONS of experience hitting targets with my Swarovski ATX Scopes - 85, 95, 115 - primarily mostly stationary astro stuff but occasionally the International Space Station and other prominent satellites and I'm pretty damn proficient at it
410-
You specify an operating temperature range of -13°F to +131°F. I've experienced a couple degrees down from that bottom end but +17 is the coldest in which I've operated to date
Virgil Lusk Hill, Jr.
Right Ascension
Bomstad
52381125769
Dale Forbes
EL Bino
074400 - DH 101 - pan locking lever
103705
103818
104617
104810
110018
110105
110218
110401
110421
110607
110915
111100
111411
111715
Swarovski ATX temperature
http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/asteroids
Dale
binocular forehead rest
rotation
And if it's not balanced you're shit outta luck.
SEYMOUR SOLAR
195 N 700 W #520
ESCALANTE, UTAH 84726
TAD EARECKSON
1174 TANAGER DR
MILLERSVILLE MD 21108-2222
Beehive Cluster
Messier 44, NGC 2632 - Beehive, Praesepe
Astro Tower - 3.61 miles - 135.98 degrees
SONA – RC# 00367062
ATTN: OPTIC REPAIR
2 SLATER RD
CRANSTON RI 02920-4498
tripod nutcracker
Swarovski Standard Ring
Al Kab
kids - held/standing
17 degrees
Venus "greatest elongation"
https://myservice.swarovskioptik.com/s/article/Spare-parts-catalogue-Binoculars-Spotting-Scopes?language=en_US
4:33:10
3:50:10
3:93:10
3:50:10
And we can't do it by gripping it with our available fingertips. We need to press it hard to starboard to transmit the torque. And that means we have to use our right hand to counter that push to starboard. The right hand we'd often rather be employing to hold an element to be installed or hold one we'd just pulled. And do this a lot - like I do - and we we're looking at Repetitive Strain Injury issues (like I well may be).
SONA – RC# 00367062
ATTN: OPTIC REPAIR
2 SLATER RD
CRANSTON RI 02920-4498
SEYMOUR SOLAR
195 N 700 W #520
ESCALANTE, UTAH 84726
Neptune fried
2025
02/09-06/01
2026
02/11-06/03
fwfallon@ymail.com
Re: Annapolis & Gibson Island CBC - Sunday Jan 5, 2025
I'm available for the usual.
wbnh rbnh wtts
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Mallard
Black Duck
Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Vulture
- Turkey
- Black
Eagle
- adult
- immature
Harrier
Sharpie
Coopers
Red-Shoulder
Redtail
Killdeer
Ring-Bill
Chickadee
Nuthatch
Cormorant
Woodpecker
- Pileated
- Hairy
- Downy
- Flicker
- Sapsucker
Sparrow
- White-Throat
- Song
Warbler
- Myrtle
Creeper
"Christmas Bird Count" 2025 Annapolis "Gibson Island"
