KEY POINTS
1. Take care not to leave the telescope or case in a location where it can get rained on.

2. Disengage the RA or dec brake before moving the telescope by hand.

3. The telescope will tip over in dec if the brake is not engaged. Never leave the dec brake off when the telescope is not actually being moved.

4. Although the dec fine adjust knob can (should) be turned with the dec brake on, this is not the case for the RA fine adjust knob -- loosen the brake before moving even a smidgen in RA.

TRIPOD AND WEDGE SETUP
1. Place the tripod on the ground with the legs pointing up.

2. Remove the bungie cord and gently lie the legs flat on the ground. Do not let them fall there.

3. Lift the center pedestal so that the legs swing underneath. The tripod should be able to stand on its own at this point.

The tripod in its stowed configuration.

Let the legs splay out on the ground.

Lifting the central pedestal will permit the legs to swing underneath.

4. Pull the legs spars together at the center. Rotate the central hub cover CW to uncover the locking slots.

5. Hook the two loose spars into the central hub. Let the cover rotate CCW back into place.

Rotate the hub cover CW.

Hook the two spars into the center hub.

Let the cover rotate back to lock the spars in.

6. Unscrew the three screws from the top of the pedestal, or find them in the trunk. Be sure you're using the smaller-threaded screws, not the ones for the telescope base, which look very similar. Note which holes they're in (next to each leg) -- the other three holes are not threaded.

7. Place the wedge atop the pedestal and align the slots with the threaded holes on the pedestal. Put a screw through each slot, and then tighten all three.

Remove the three screws from the pedestal.

Align the threaded holes by eye before putting the screws in.

The wedge is fully mounted.

8. Move the tripod to a flat, stable location before mounting the telescope, and rotate the assembly so that the inclined wedge surface is pointing roughly north.

MOUNTING THE TELESCOPE
1. Unlock and open the trunk.

2. Note which way the telescope is pointed (base end towards the thinner foam) and rotated (with the piggyback finderscope nestled against the rear foam panel).

Unlock and unlatch the trunk.

The telescope, plus eyepieces and other hardware, inside the trunk.

3. Lift the scope using the grey Y-arm, and then carry it by gripping the Y-arm on each side of the tube. Try not to use the telescope tube itself as a handle.

Lift the scope from the trunk like this...

...and then carry it like this.

4. On the top edge of the wedge mount is a slot. On the bottom of the telescope base is a single screw. Slide the screw into the slot so that the bottom surface of the base is flush with the inclined surface of the wedge. It should rest stably in this position, but if there's more than one of you, one person can continue to support the telescope in its inclined position. Do not tighten the screw just yet.

5. Release the RA brake. This is the paddle on the top side of the telescope base. Turn it CCW, so that the telescope will turn freely relative to the base.

6. Find the other two screws in the trunk. They go in the two holes on the back of the wedge surface. Some wiggling of the telescope base may be necessary to get the screw holes aligned. Do not tighten any one of the screws until the others have been inserted and started. Then tighten all of them snugly. There will still be a slight gap between the wedge and scope base.

Release the RA brake by turning CCW.

The screw on the base slides into this slot.

Then the other two screws go in here.

7. The scope is now mounted. Rotate the telescope in RA so that the finderscope is on top, if it's not already there.

8. Unlock the dec brake, and rotate the front aperture (pointed towards the base in the storage position) upwards to the zenith. Lock the dec brake again.

Rotate the mounted scope to put the finderscope on top.

Point at zenith.

EYEPIECE INSTALLATION
1. Remove the eyepiece plug (a 35mm film cannister) from the eyepiece socket at the Cassegrain end of the scope. You may have to loosen the setscrew quite a ways, since people seem fond of tightening it all the way down.

2. In the white cardboard box in the trunk is the diagonal, a 90 degree reflector system. Remove the diagonal from its box and insert the shiny tube fully into the eyepiece socket on the telescope. Tighten the setscrew snugly.

The eyepiece plug is removed from the socket...

...and is replaced by the diagonal.

3. There are two eyepieces in the trunk, a 40mm and a 25mm. The 40mm will give a wider field of view and is better for alignment and focusing. You may replace it with the 25mm later if you want higher magnification on a target.

4. Remove the 40mm eyepiece from its box and take off the two dust caps. Insert it into the socket on the diagonal, and tighten the setscrew snugly.

5. To rotate the eyepiece assembly to the most comfortable position, loosen the collet above the first setscrew, rotate the diagonal, and retighten the collet.

The eyepiece and its dust caps.

The eyepiece goes in the diagonal...

...and then the diagonal can be rotated by loosening here.

6. Pull the front aperture cap off the telescope.

Uncap.

OBSERVING
1. Release the RA and dec brakes to move to a target on the sky. Relatch the dec brake before letting go of the telescope.

The RA brake -- CCW to release.

The dec brake.

2. To move slightly in dec, turn the dec fine adjust knob at the base of the fork. This knob has a limited range of motion, so try not to use it for really huge moves.

3. To move slightly in RA, turn the RA fine adjust knob on the base. The RA brake must be released for this to work -- if you encounter resistance turning the knob, check the brake. If the mount is set up roughly equatorial (pointed north), then RA adjustments will let you track objects as they move across the sky.

The dec fine adjust knob.

The RA fine adjust knob.

4. Use the finderscope to center the target object on the crosshairs, and then make fine pointing adjustments using the knobs.

5. Focus the object in the eyepiece using the focus knob, located next to the eyepiece mount.

The focus knob.

6. For suitable observing targets, see the Targets document.

SHUTDOWN AND REPACKING
1. Recap the main aperture.

2. Remove the eyepiece from the diagonal, put both dust caps on, and return it to its box.

3. Take the diagonal from the eyepiece socket on the telescope, and put it back in its box.

4. Put the eyepiece plug back into the eyepiece socket, and tighten the setscrew just a few turns -- enough to keep the plug from sliding out.

Recap top.

Recap bottom.

5. Rotate the scope in dec to the storage position (aperture pointing towards the base) and lock the dec brake.

6. Remove the two lower screws that hold the telescope base to the wedge.

7. Loosen (but do not remove) the top screw in the slot. A single turn should be sufficient.

8. Holding the telescope by the fork arms, lift it from the slot, and place it in the trunk, with the eyepiece end toward the left and the finderscope on the top rear. Lift on the front fork arm to rotate the scope so that the finderscope is snug against the rear foam, or else the lid may scrunch it.

Storage position.

Remove these two screws on the back of the wedge first.

Then loosen this screw one turn.

Lift.

Lower.

Place in trunk, with the finderscope snug against the back padding.

9. Unscrew the wedge from the tripod pedestal.

10. Unlock the spars from the hub, and fold the tripod legs back around to the storage position. Secure them with the bungee cord.

11. Close the trunk.