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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: The Wild T4 Theodolite - Don't Sneeze!
From: Geoffrey Kolbe
Date: 2016 Apr 4, 07:39 +0100
From: Geoffrey Kolbe
Date: 2016 Apr 4, 07:39 +0100
On 3 April 2016 at 20:28, David Pike
Well, I've got myself a theodolite to play with
This (I am sure) is a 'building site' theodolite and so the scales are marked in tenths of a degree or six minute intervals. This is not such an impediment as it sounds for celestial work, as it is easy to interpolate to the nearest minute.
What is an impediment to celestial work is the fact that it will (almost certainly) have no solar filter for taking sights of the sun, no right-angled viewer so you can take sights of Polaris (you cannot get your eye behind the telescope for altitudes greater than about 50 degrees), no means of illuminating the telescope cross hairs at night for taking sights of the stars and no means of illuminating the scales for reading the scales at night time.
However, on the plus side, it is almost certainly made of aluminium and so much lighter than a brass equivalent, making it handy to lug about the place.
I have a Soviet equivalent which I use for celestial work and I find it very handy to use and accurate - but I have spent a considerable amount of time and effort overcoming the deficiencies listed above!
Geoffrey Kolbe
