NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
MS-733,Simex,Astra IIIB + sextant calibration
From: Doug Royer
Date: 2004 Feb 2, 11:37 -0800
From: Doug Royer
Date: 2004 Feb 2, 11:37 -0800
Joel, Wow,working for the Tamaya Group!That must have been a great experiance. I looked in the archives also and came up dry.I know I posted the info but can't remember under what title.So,I'll give you a quick rundown of the sextant.I ordered and paid for the 733 in 1983 while in Japan.I picked it up while in Japan in 1984.The polarizing filters you wrote about that one places on the scopes are the type that I got with mine.I got one for each scope.I ordered the standard sextant,sight tube,3x scope,shades and mirrors and opted for a 6x scope to be supplied by a Japanese optics firm and fitted for the 733.I have to check the paperwork to get the name of the optics company as I can't remember it.I do know the firm makes high end astromomic telescopes for the Japanese market.The 6x scope has a very fine internal cross hair.The optics are 1st quality.The Germans don't have a corner on the optics market by any means.The Index error is a constant 0.1 off the arc.It hasn't changed in many years under many differant weather conditions. I've seen and used a few of the Simex sextants.Good quality instruments also.Do you know the history of these?Mike Burkes,a fellow listmember,has one and we were talking of and cxomparing them to the Tamayas in the past. I remember reading(maybe on Ebay)of the sale of the Tamaya or one like it to a retired naval officer.Was that you? The Astra IIIB is an excellant sextant.Especially for the price.I don't know what you mean by "navy types" in your last post.The men were in uniform so they were navy.The sextants were purchaced off the shelf and were the Deluxe model IIIB.They had the whole horizon mirror not the split mirror.I think the differance between the Standard and Deluxe IIIBs are the size of the Index Mirror.I may be wrong. Fred,I made inquires in the past and posted my findings to the list about calibrateing sextants and was told by more than one person in the industry no one in the states renders that service anymore.Mr. Luykes may have but he passed away last year.
