[Lvas] FW: NGC 404 Sketch

Tue Jan 27 16:26:45 PST 2009

Paul,

Seems as if the old RV-6's have become very popular again. I too remember looking at those "enticing" adds and wished that I could somehow get one. I had a 4 1/4-inch Edmund Equatorial reflector at the time and thought if I could have the RV-6 that I would be set for life. It was 1975 and I was 22 years old and had really struggled to put together the $159.99 for the Edmund scope. The advertised price of $199.99 for the RV-6 seemed like all the money in the world. Life and finances got better and a couple of years later I was able to get an RV-6. 

You got a great deal....$100 is a great price if it is decent and in "restorable" condition. Google: RV-6 and go to "Company Seven" and they will tell a story about purchasing a "rough" RV-6 (see picture) for their "vintage" telescope museum.

A list of my scopes are as following;

60 mm Sears (Jason) Japanese made refractor with a nice wooden case with bunches of extra's. Interesting this was actually my brothers scope...sounds like you. I found out who really owned this scope when he sold it. It left me with no scope and I was only 10 years old with no money to purchase another scope. Life was not good...

4 1/4- Inch Edmund Equatorial. Life got better.

6-inch Criterion RV-6- Life got "much" better.

4.5 inch Jason reflector (Japanese) 

Celestron C-5 with wedge and HD Celestron tripod

4-inch Meade 2045D Schmidt-Cassegrain mounted on a Meade 8-inch wedge and HD tripod. Rock solid. It looked so tiny "perched" on this wedge, the same goes for the following scope.  

90 mm ETX also mounted on an 8-inch Meade wedge and HD tripod...impressive looking. Did a great job on double stars. At high power on a very steady night the airy disk was slightly brighter on one side (exactly 180°)indicating a very slight miscollimation. You could actually find perfect collimation if you would move the star slightly form the center toward one side. It is interesting to note that it was not detectable doing a star test and expanding the diffraction rings. The concentric rings seemed perfect or at least you could not see any variation around the secondary when focusing in and out. This was basically textbook. The scope could actually exceed "Dawes Limit" for resolution as I could separate a 1.1 arc second double star with both being an equal 5.5 magnitude each. "Dawes Limit" 4.5/diameter of aperture with an equal pair of 5.5 mag stars...  

80mm F/15 equatorial refractor (Japanese) 

90mm F/10 equatorial refractor (Taiwanese) 

Current Scopes:

10-inch Meade DS-10A (18 years old)...I have spent almost 2,000 hours at the eyepiece of this scope. It's still in "like new" condition and is my primary scope at current. It has an "extraordinary" mirror for an F/4.5 scope. 

4-inch Vixen F/9.8 mounted on a Vixen GP mount. I have had this scope for over 10 years, and I really like this scope also. Easily exceeds "Dawes Limit on double stars.

Paul, thank you very much for sharing your story also and good luck with your RV-6. You are fortunate indeed to have been able to purchase such a "venerable" scope for so little money. Keep me posted on your progress...

Best regards, Roger Ivester

       I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.      Abraham Lincoln

Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:51:29 -0800From: mnstargazer at gmail.comTo: lvas at lvlug.orgSubject: Re: [Lvas] FW: NGC 404 Sketch
On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 8:55 AM, roger ivester <drivester at hotmail.com> wrote: 

 I was fortunate as well as Dr. Dire to have owned a Criterion RV-6 which was a 6-inch F/8 reflector. A high quality scope for the time and was considered by many to be the  "workhorse" of astronomy for amateur's back in the 60's and even as late as the early to mid 70's. Dr. Dire told me only recently that he regretted getting rid of his RV-6, which are my sentiments also.An interesting story Roger, thank you for sharing that.When I was growing up in the 60's and 70's I would often look at the RV-6 advertised in Sky and Telescope, and wish... At the time I used my older brothers Jason 60mm refractor and always thought the RV-6 looked so elegant.About 4 years ago while living in Minnesota my brother called me and gave me the number of a gentleman who wanted to sell a telescope.  I put it off for a few weeks then finally went out for a look, and there it was, an RV-6.  I bought it on the spot for $100.  It is in pretty rough shape but I have been planning a restoration now that I am settled in LV.clear skies,Paul
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