The mount's drive base and dual fork arm assembly is made of heavy-duty die-cast aluminum. For added strength and rigidity the base and forks are cast in one continuous U-shaped piece, rather than being a less-rigid three-piece assembly of two vertical arms bolted to the sides of the drive base. The optical tube has two factory-installed declination housings which bolt to the tops of the one-piece U-shaped fork to complete the very rigid optical assembly.

There are two carrying handles on each declination housing for lifting the tube. At least two people are needed to lift the 125 pound optical tube up onto the fork arms and bolt it into place. Analog setting circles are provided on the mount (12" in declination and 17" in right ascension, both with verniers), in addition to the digital r.a. and dec readouts on the AutoStar computer hand control. The drive base has a 7-port multi-function control panel, including two RS-232 serial interface ports for communication with an external computer and other ancillary equipment.

The mount includes servo-controlled 18VDC high torque slewing and tracking motors with 11" worm gear drives in both altitude and azimuth. The declination axis is supported by four 80mm roller bearings (two per side). Two additional roller bearings, one 100mm and one 150mm, provide smooth motion in right ascension.

The drive system has over 2000 individually selectable drive speeds in both right ascension and declination to permit observatory-level precision in tracking, guiding, and slewing. You can choose from 0.01x to 1.0x sidereal, variable in 0.01x increments; 2x, 8x, 16x, 64x, or 128x the sidereal rate; as well as 1°/sec. to 6°/sec., variable in 0.1° increments. You can also select either a pre-set sidereal or lunar tracking rate, or you can custom-select a drive speed from 2000 incremental rates to match solar or planetary motions.

There is a supplied adapter with a 25' cord that lets you power the scope from 110-120 volt 60 Hz AC household current in your back yard or observatory. An optional #1812A adapter lets you power the 18VDC scope from your car's 12VDC cigarette lighter plug or a rechargeable 12 volt battery for extended use in the field. Maximum power draw is 2 amps, so choose a battery with a sufficiently high power capacity to last for a full night's observing.