Cuttin’ Edge Observatory
Cuttin’ Edge Observatory
The Beast Stirs
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
2012 was a waste. Mid last year, after I repaired my computer and hubs from lightning damage nearby, I tried powering up my scope. Nothing. The Telescope Control Box (TCC) was dead for a second time. I tried reaching out to RCOS and was given a $7500 repair quote for such a small part. This put the brakes on bigtime. I had to do some thinking of where I wanted to go, and left the observatory offline. Later in the year, I heard “The News”. RCOS is out of business. Astromart began to fill with panicked RCOS owners dumping their scopes. I was nearly ready to dump it. Then, a blessing arrived. James Olson, an ex-RCOS employee, started up a company called RA-Limited.com, and purchased some IP from RCOS to allow servicing of customers. I was able to purchase spare TCC-II’s and he repaired my bad TCC. He also picked up my scope, cleaned the optics, re-collimated it, and returned it two weeks later. This completely changes things. Now with this refresh and support of my big scope, I have refocused efforts on getting the observatory back online. I replaced my aging old primary computer with a new Core i7 MacMini dumping XP and moving to Windows 7. I refreshed the second older MacMini on the FSQ with Windows 7 as well. I replaced all of the old analog cameras with new IP PTZ cameras with IR lights that can be scripted on and off. I also installed a new Synology NAS device with 12TB of storage to house all images and hold OS backups of the three computers. ACP was updated to v7 and a new Scheduler is due out soon. I refreshed my licensing with Bob Denny, Maxim, and Bisque. I also purchased a new Paramount MX for field and home use. I’m on the home stretch, and hoping that I can get the RCOS looking at light this weekend if the clouds agree with me.