I have a lifting limitation due to a back injury received in Veitnam.

Subsequent to my military service, I trained, and practiced 28-yrs as an
Occupational Therapist, learned about solving problems such as this.

I used 12-volt powered lift originally intended for lifting a wheelchair in
and out of a pickup truck bed, a friend found it at a garage sale and gave
it to me. The lift is rated at 200-lbs, and has a convenient up/park/down
switch. The lifting medium is a 1-inch nylon strap winding onto a drum.

By setting up my tripod adjacent to the trailer I use to haul the telescope
to/from field locations, I am able to lift the OTA out of the travel
container, swing it out and lower it onto the tripod.

Not only saves the back, but ensures the OTA cannot be dropped during this
exercise.

This particular lift is no longer manufactured, a friend found it at a
garage sale for me, but the motive power is a common automobile electric
window motor. Lifts available at this time tend to be more comples, and
spendy, but are definitely cheaper than either a replacement of the optics,
or a round of back treatment, let alone surgery.

George

-----Original Message-----
Joe McLeod
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2001 2:21 PM
Subject: [M]: Re: 12" LX200 (vs 11" Celestron) and other stuff


I have a 12" that I keep in a closet. I strap the tube (in original padded
shipping case) to a heavy-duty dolly and cart it out for field setups
regularly. You do need to be, um, "sturdy", to cart it around in this
fashion(not to mention placing the OTA on the tripod), though. A GPS field
unit also helps tremendously when being nomadic with an auto scope.

Joe

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2001 3:10 PM
Subject: [M]: 12" LX200 (vs 11" Celestron) and other stuff




I hope I'm using the right list for these questions. I'm a Celestron 8"
PEC owner
and I want to upgrade to a larger aperture telescope so I'm considering a
Meade 10" / 12" or a Celestron 11". I have a couple of questions and I've
seen
similar questions on this list so hopefully this ok. My main application
is going to
be spectroscopy.

1) Is the 12" really a portable instrument ? I know it's large, but how
many of you really
move it outside and bring it back in when you're done ? I think my
wife would shoot me
if I said I wanted to permanently mount (at least right now)

2) Considering the Meade vs a Celestron. It seems any software out there I
see says
it works with a Meade LX200 telescope, but nothing about Celestrons.
Is the Meade
just support more than Celestron (or the de-facto standard) ?

Again, sorry if this isn't appropriate for the list, if you feel it isn't
and want to send me mail
offline, that's fine (and would be appreciated).

Matt Ganis

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Matt Ganis - (914) 784-5759
17 Skyline Dr.. - office J2-F22
Hawthorne, NY 10532

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