Mike was not able to get this to post earlier so I’m putting it up for him. He originally entered this into the comments section of “I’m a bad boy!” Here is what he wrote:

This is my first entry ever to any blog so I hope this goes to the right place. House calls? Customer support? Integrity? Tech savvy? Above and beyond the call of duty? I wouldn’t be surprised if most people needed to google these terms. But they are alive and well in the person of Steve Forbes and company. For me it began with an open plea for help on the web over a year ago. I had purchased an old MotoTrak V to be part of an autoguiding array for my old Meade DS16 (the only thing that would fit the bill). I couldn’t get the dec buttons to work correctly. After drawing many blanks from around the astro world, I finally heard from Steve that he could definitely be of help. His message radiated confidence. I felt immensely relieved that someone actually knew what I was up against. I quickly sent the unit to Trapezium and they fixed it. Or so we all thought. When I hooked it up again same problem. Steve took it back with no hesitation. It seemed to work again. Then there came a long winter of inactivity. The following summer I had to disassemble the whole rig in order to make mods to the mount (another story!). When I tested the whole set-up, guess what didn’t work. Now I hadn’t spoken with Steve for more than 6 months, but I didn’t know who else to turn to. Without a nanosecond of hesitation, Steve insisted on making a house call. A house call? It’s about a 5 hour trip! And I am in the middle of nowhere (good dark skies). As an answer to a prayer Steve appeared with his son Steve(smart?!)and proceeded to the patient. They first discovered that yours truly had inserted the dec motor plug into the focuser (or was it the reticle?) input. Clever, huh? The ghost seemed to be exorcised. But when the remaining cables were all reconnected, the ghost reappeared. Did I mention “persistence?” Steve and Steve wouldn’t quit. They finally tracked down the ghost in the machine in the form of a wrong type of cable. That’s why the unit worked in their shop, but not in my system. I kept connecting this stupid (do I have a lot to learn!)cable and sabotaging the MotoTrak. We then spent the next 3 hours over dinner (it was the least I could offer)talking about this, that, and everything else. Then these angels of mercy got in their truck and headed back to New Hampshire. What a visit!
The moral of this tale is that these guys are much more than any ordinary businessmen. They are like the pioneer neighbors of old who would drop everything to run and put out a barn fire and then to help build a new one the next morning. Many thanks to you, Steve!
ps. When I get some decent photos I will try to post them asap.

michael hamburg