AR6 Initial delivery & set-up by Thomas A. Hall
2-20-2003

I ordered my AR6 on Monday, February 3rd, from B&H Video, & it arrived on Wednesday, February 5th (only took 2 days!).I don't know why everyone orders from those other places & wait several months for them to arrive?

It arrived via Fed-X & was in 2 boxes, the OTA in one, & the tripod, etc, in the other.
Initial inspection revealed no scratches, broken screws, etc.
I had never owned a refractor before, & this looked really cool out of the box!
Assembly was pretty easy, if you follow the manual.(I made the mistake others have made of when trying to attach the EQ head to the tripod not making sure the 2 fine adj. knobs were backed-off first).
I balanced the scope, inserted 8 "D" batteries into the battery holder & hooked it & the AutoStar Controller onto the mount & flipped the "ON" switch on.

The (dare I say..) WEATHER has not been co-operating, so the only observing I've done so far is "Training" the system. This was pretty easy & is a must as the procedure "trains" the computer to compensate for gear anomalies, etc.

I DID mess with the controller menus, and after you go thru the different menus a few times, it get's pretty easy!
One thing you'll probably want to do is "slow-down" the scrolling display, and this is done by the two arrows at the lower right & left on the controller..(Unless you can speed read!).
I DO want to check the set-screws in the gearbox, as I've seen recommended by various sources..
Until the weather becomes accommodating, I'll just be getting ready for "First-Light" by doing my "preventative maintenance" which will consist of checking set-screws, maybe a little lithium grease, & fine tweaking the balancing and..Oh, I WILL be ordering A William Optics 2" Diagonal (they're $99) as the supplied one is (expletive deleted!).

I ordered my "$99 Eyepiece Deal" from Meade yesterday (I used a money order & sent it to them "Priority Mail-USPS, so let's see....) Any one out there get their eyepieces quickly, or does it take forever?..This 26mm will get old fast!
I'm going to check into Radio Shack & see if I can get a Power Supply from them, as $60 + is a little steep (from Meade) for that..The cig. lighter adapter, the same..I'll make that...I will also (maybe a birthday gift if I hint to my Wife??) get a longer DewCap..(from AstroZap), but might make one too..hmmmm?

Will keep you all informed, but for now (till the weather allows)..there is one fine looking refractor sitting in my living room.

Meade outdid themselves this time (at least on the looks so far..next step.."First-Light"......)