Hey Bob,
Sorry to hear about the delays.
Ed brings up a really good point. And I have to say I have heard of so many people who started out with an SCT and then after months are ready to through up their hands because of all of the issues. I would strongly recommend starting with a Refractor and then later after you have some time on under your belt you upgrade to an SCT. Because in the beginning, almost every single piece of Astro gear will have a learning curve associated with it. So to not have to deal with Collimation, and the other issues associated with SCT's, will help you greatly along your journey.
Here is my suggested list of gear to get you started based on what I use.
ZWO - AM5 mount : it's a near perfect mount. No balancing needed, it guides great and it is future proof in that it can handle the heavier SCT later on.
ZWO- ASI2600mc Pro Duo : It's a perfect astro camera, no thermal noise. The 2600mc Pro has been what I would say is the Defacto standard among a large portion of the Astro community since it was released. The ASI1600 used to carry that mantle, but it's now the ASI2600.
Askar FRA 500 with reducer: It's a scope that doesn't make you have to worry about back focus (a big stumbling block for new astrophotographers). The ASI2600 allows you to crop more then you might think, so with the FRA500 you still end up with nice reach for smaller objects. With the reducer giving you about a 340mm reach you can go wider if you want.
ZWO - ASIAir Plus: It controls it all in an easy to use package. It takes Nina, PHD2, etc and streamlines them to give you complete control.
ZWO - EAF: You can add this onto the Askar Fra500 to give you auto focus. I started out without it, and you can manually focus any scope, but I also lost lot's of images as the temperature would change and the focus changed and I didn't realize it. With the EAF you can set it to refocus as the temp changes during the night. It's one thing I will always include from now in. Manual focusing is a real pain. so EAF is a great quality of life you want.
(For guiding if you get the ASI2600 mc Pro Duo you don't need a guide camera and it's one less set of cables. But if you don't get the Duo version and you want to save $500 by getting the regular 2600mc Pro, then you need a guide camera. You can buy the ASIAir Plus as a package with the Guide camera)
I haven't looked up current prices, but I think those will fall into your price range.
And this is just my suggestion, but I will say I have found there are a lot of people who have built rigs similar to mine. which kind of made me feel good that I had gravitated to the same items as a lot of others have.
