Orpington Astronomical Society

Society => Announcements, Meetings, Events => Topic started by: Fay on Mar 03, 2016, 19:47:14

Title: Kelling Spring
Post by: Fay on Mar 03, 2016, 19:47:14
Who is going to Kelling in April?

Fay
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: MarkS on Mar 03, 2016, 19:59:43
Me
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Roy on Mar 03, 2016, 20:53:58
We are and it's now only 5 weeks away. Yippppeeeeee. We'll be arriving on Wednesday 6th and leaving Monday 11th April.

Roy and Sue
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Delphine on Mar 04, 2016, 06:28:03
Ian and I are.   We are looking forward to it and staying in a caravan this time!
Delphine
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: doug on Mar 04, 2016, 08:34:25
Rose and I are going... but we have a static caravan type chalet thingy to stay in. We will be there from Sat 9th April until Sat 16th April ... one week. Hopefully Jean Clift is also coming with us.
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Carole on Mar 04, 2016, 11:04:49
I haven't booked, I tend not to go in the Spring.

Carole
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: julian on Mar 04, 2016, 11:21:37
We are as well.
Thursday to Monday

Lorraine and Julian  :brolly:
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Sue on Mar 31, 2016, 13:46:04

Just browsing the Norfolk geology site to discover that there is a guided walk next Thursday afternoon. I have sent an e-mail to book up for me and Roy (hoping still spaces)  so putting link here in case anyone else is interested too.

http://www.northfolk.org.uk/geology_walk_3.html
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Fay on Apr 01, 2016, 08:22:17
Thanks for that Sue. I wont be there until thursday and would not have the energy to do a challenging walk, but it does sound nice.
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: RobertM on Apr 01, 2016, 19:32:42
Hmmm...  That's a yes or a no depending on what happens Monday.

Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: julian on Apr 02, 2016, 00:03:27
Thanks for that Sue. I wont be there until late Thursday.
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Fay on Apr 05, 2016, 12:40:02
weather not looking good from thursday.

Fay
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Delphine on Apr 05, 2016, 14:05:40
Oh no! Thank goodness we will be in a caravan!
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Sue on Apr 05, 2016, 16:14:07
We have fingers crossed for tomorrow night at least, netweather shows it may be ok on Sunday night too. The forecasts have been so changeable in the past week I think it is a case of wait and see on the day.
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: RobertM on Apr 05, 2016, 22:06:10
It's alright for you lazy campers :-?

Mind you I don't blame you ;)

Robert
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: MarkS on Apr 06, 2016, 20:43:13
Who's there already?  I'll be arriving Friday lunchtime.  Can't wait!

Mark
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: doug on Apr 07, 2016, 09:01:15
Rose and I plus Jean are coming on the Saturday.
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: The Thing on Apr 07, 2016, 09:09:40
I am really feeling astrocamp-sick with you lot getting together. I must try and get to a DSC soooon. Might try a French event this summer as well if I get my camping gear here from Beckenham.
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Carole on Apr 07, 2016, 10:13:54
Well as Ivor can't go to Cairds after all I have been toying with coming to Kelling (if you can't beat em - join them) but was having difficulty getting a decent pitch, was gutted to miss the clear sky last night.

Now suddenly Robert can't go and is selling me his pitch (315), so see you all later today (Thursday).  Where is every-one else?

Carole
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: MarkS on Apr 07, 2016, 19:45:55
I'm pitch 312
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: ApophisAstros on Apr 09, 2016, 10:39:00
i take it no signal at Kelling as no reports in.
  Roger
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: MarkS on Apr 10, 2016, 17:34:10
Back home.  Friday night was cloudy and Saturday it rained most of the day.  The sky cleared this morning at 1:30am giving stupendous views and the darkest sky I have ever recorded: SQM 21.72.  Those few hours until dawn made the trip worthwhile.

Unfortunately my mount has a probable blown control board so I was unable to take advantage of the sky for imaging :(

Mark
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: ApophisAstros on Apr 10, 2016, 18:14:21
Is it right that rain clears the atmosphere and it is better conditions afterwards?
Roger
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: RobertM on Apr 10, 2016, 20:28:16
Sorry to hear about the control board Mark, at least you finally had some excellent sky.  The best sky I've ever seen was nearby (just south of Cromer) at this time of year after a brief snowstorm and that was incredible.

Robert
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Carole on Apr 11, 2016, 00:28:07
I too am back and Roger you are correct, no signal at all, couldn't even send a text. 

As Mark says last night's sky was fabulous even if we did have to wait up until about 1am for it to clear.

There are still some others there, Fay, Julian and Lorraine, Sue and Roy and Doug and Rose who are staying for a whole week. 

Carole
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: MarkS on Apr 11, 2016, 05:47:17
Quote from: Apophis
Is it right that rain clears the atmosphere and it is better conditions afterwards?
Roger

Sometimes rain leaves behind horrible murky humid air with terrible transparency.  Other times it clears out the atmosphere leaving pristine skies.

Quote from: RobertM
Sorry to hear about the control board

I took a look and it appears I have shorted a component out - not sure how.  Luckily I have a spare board, so the mount is already back in operation.

Mark
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Carole on Apr 11, 2016, 10:25:16
Glad you got the mount sorted Mark, maybe it was that dangling cable with the metal bit on the end that caused it as you thought might have been the case.

Carole
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: MarkS on Apr 12, 2016, 07:06:54
Quote from: Carole
Glad you got the mount sorted Mark, maybe it was that dangling cable with the metal bit on the end that caused it as you thought might have been the case.

The dangling cable was the GPUSB cable for controlling the mount.  It was plugged into the mount and it is likely that the free end touched either the mount leg or a battery terminal :(

Never leave dangling cables!

Mark
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: Fay on Apr 12, 2016, 10:08:10
My problem photo program, causing pink pictures was caused by the version being too old,  all sorted now
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: MarkS on Apr 12, 2016, 14:04:29
Quote from: Fay
My problem photo program, causing pink pictures was caused by the version being too old,  all sorted now

Glad it's sorted - it was a very weird problem.

Mark
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: MarkS on Apr 13, 2016, 06:57:21
Quote from: MarkS
The dangling cable was the GPUSB cable for controlling the mount.  It was plugged into the mount and it is likely that the free end touched either the mount leg or a battery terminal :(

I've identified that the surface mounted component labelled L1 has been shorted out.  If I bridge it with a thin wire, the board works again. This L1 component, along with L2 are the most common components to short out and mine is consistent with a short through the handset connector.  I just need to find a source for surface mounted components.

Mark
Title: Re: Kelling Spring
Post by: The Thing on Apr 13, 2016, 09:33:16
Old boards are good for this sort of thing. When my EQ6 board on 'Big Mick' went it was one of the stepper controller chips that burnt out, which is a bit more challenging to replace - 6 weeks and £100 for a new board. At least I have spares for the replacement now :{