We placed a small flashlightbulb a few houses away, and tried to do a star test, and got rings that looked round, but it was pretty turbulent due to several blacktop driveways inbetween the light and scope.
Later that night, jupiter came up far enough to see properly, and I could see two very thin dark bands on the surface. With an unaluminized mirror!
So, I called it a good mirror, and sent it off to P. A. Clausing.
I ordered a diagonal from someone in Sky and Telescope, I'm finishing a mirror cell, spider, and getting started on the German equatorial mount.
Things are heating up.
I machined up an aluminum and brass slit light source powered by a 12 Volt lightbulb, and I would like to give it to someone who is just about ready to start figuring. After you are done, you can send it to someone else.
So if you are about to figure, send me Email (kilian@orbis.net) and I'll toss it in the mail to you.
-Alan Kilian