No, I haven't been dumpster diving. I have an older Explore Scientific AR102 that I bought used. I probably paid a bit too much for it, but really wasn't that much money to begin with. With a lot of TLC it turned out to be a good scope. Everything needed attention, including aligning components and re-drilling and tapping holes so fasteners would actually fasten, and drilling out stripped threads and re-tapping. I flocked the tube with Stone-it paint and Ultra Flat Black, laser aligned the objective and focuser, etc. I even had to make three new spacers for the Crown/Flint objective, then tune it. Cleaning outside of the tube with solvent and finishing with car polish revealed a finish that was in good shape. I installed a second finder shoe, a Vixen standard, so I could use my RDF or GLP, as well as the factory finder scope. Even the focuser sucked before I transformed that uncooperative witch into a princess. The ugly duckling morphed into a swan.

I refer to this scope as my Junker Scope, or a beater scope. No, it's no piece of junk, to be sure, but it is my low cost scope. This is the scope that lives in my garage and is ready to use at a moment's notice. The views are superb for a 4" achromat, with surprisingly well controlled CA. With a 70deg 2" eyepiece it gives amazing wide field views, even from my back yard. With one of my Tele Vue Barlows and Vixen NPL eyepieces the planetary images show nice detail, nothing like my 6" Mak, but nice. When viewing the moon with my Baader 495nm Longpass filter at stupid high power I'm amazed at the sharp and detailed images. I have even used this scope for imaging with good results.

I'm closing in on full retirement and my wife and I are preparing to relocate when the time comes. It's amazing how much stuff one accumulates over the course of 30+ years. I have been busy selling off astronomy gear, most of which I just haven't used in longer than I can remember. Yesterday I packed up the AR102 to get it ready to sell. Well, this morning I got up early. Looking outside the clouds were rolling through but Jupiter was beckoning. The only two scopes I had out were my 10" Dob and 6" Mak. Both of these are not exactly grab-and-go and require time to cool. With morning twilight fast approaching and the looming threat of rain I wasn't about to take either one out. The Tele Vue TV-85? No thank you! I'm not risking getting that diamond rained on, or even exposing it to the very high humidity. No observing Jove this morning - BUMMER!

So, I'm finished with breakfast. Time to get dressed and take our Lab for her morning walk. Can you guess what's next on my agenda? I remembered this morning why I keep that scope with the huge salad bowl of a dew shield. I had planned on only keeping the TV-85 and 6" Mak, which are very nice scopes, and selling all my other scopes. I missed my Junker this morning and realized it does indeed fill a niche for me.

Thus, that's my case for the Junker Scope. It's a low cost scope that performs and that I don't mind using under harsh conditions I wouldn't dare subject my premium scopes to. It's also an easy to use scope that sets up fast, and can also be taken indoor fast when I see a wall of water coming at me. If that wall of water should get me I'm not crying about it. It's an easy scope for me to clean up and get back into service, and after all the work I know it like the back of my hand, maybe better.

Ed D


My Junk Scope with the hideous salad bowl sized dew shield.