Perry Genis had the audacity to enter this telescope for a merit award and the judging committee, thinking it some kind of practical joke, gave it an award for best stability. The USGS later requested that it be used to anchor the San Andreas Fault!

Tim Parker with his Merit Award winning Springfield 8" F/6.3 telescope made with wood and metal and having an eight sided tube

Tom Greska's Merit Award winning 8" F/6 Newtonian

Norman Butler of Kansas with his Merit Award winning Cassegrain binoculars. This telescope has twin 6" F/15 alignable cassegrain optical tube assemblies

Larry Stancil's 12-1/2" F/16 Cassegrain

Attendance: 1,012

The 1981 RTMC was the year of the wooden telescope with several works of art being brought that would grace anybody's living room.

First, Larry Stancil and friends of the San Diego Astronomical Association brought a beautiful 12-1/2" F/16 Cassegrain with a yoke/horseshoe mounting. It won a Merit Award for Best Wood Construction. Despite this telescope standing over 10 feet high, it disassembled into light pieces for transporting.

Then Wayman Lee Reams won a Merit Award for his 8" F/8 Newtonian which was made of laminated plywood with brass and aluminum fittings. It was of the English Yoke design and had graceful curves to the yoke and polar housing.

There were several other all wooden telescopes including Tim Parker's 8" F/6.3 Springfield Telescope with a beautiful 8 sided wooden tube.

Perhaps what the 1981 RTMC will be best remembered for is the visit of our Keynote Speaker, Bart Bok. He was distressed because a thief in Los Angeles stole the slides he had prepared for his talk. Cliff told him not to worry, just get up there and he will wow them anyway.  And he did! Using just his hands to describe faraway galaxies and Bok Globules, he delivered one of the best Keynote Speeches ever.

Speakers):

• Dennis Gallagher, "Seeing the Corona Without An Eclipse"
• Alan Gorsky, "Deep Sky Astrophotography with a 5-1/2" Celestron Schmidt Camera"
• Rick Hill, "Kitt Peak Today and the Warner and Swasey Observatory"
• Hal Jandorf, "Deep Sky Photography with a Small Telescope"
• Art Leonard, "Modified Gaviola Test"
• David Levy, "William Herschel: Thoughts and Memories"
• Jack Marling, "Using Gas Hypered Kodak Pan 2415 Film"
• Ben Mayer, "Video Astronomy"
• Pat Michaud, "Something Old, Something New, Something Blue"
• Joel Nelson, "The Visable Guider"
• Rick Shaffer, "Advanced Dobsonian Style Telescopes"
• Bill Schramm, "IAPPP"
• George Scotten, "Telescopes of Stellafane"
• Roger Silva, "The Finishing Touches"
• Norm Sperling, "Local Polish, Thin Flint, and Glass Ring"
• Thomas Venable, "The Visible Guider Off-Axis System"
• Bart Bok, Keynote Speaker - "The Milky Way REvisted, Or a STar is Born"

Merit Award Winners:

• Dennis Gallagher - 4" F/31, Best Chronograph
• Norman Butler - 6" F/15 Cassegrain Binoculars, Engineering
• Walter Clark - Original Design
• Wayman L. Reams - 8" F/8, Best Wood Design
• David Pitou - Workmanship
• Larry Stancil - 12-1/2" F/16 Cassegrain, Best Wood Construction
• Ray Coutchie - Excellence in Design and Construction
• Tom Greska - 8" F/5.6, General Merit
• Charles Bennett - Junior Award
• Tim Parker - 8" F/6.3 Springfield, Design Application
• Rick Shaffer - 18-1/2" Newtonian, Unusual Design
• Perry Genis- Twin 10" telescopes - Best Stability

Warren Estes Award: Dick Housekeeper

Cliff Holmes Award: Richard Berry

Wayman Lee Reams' Merit Award Winning 8" F/8

An antique brass refractor restored by Pat Michaud,
head of the Merit Awards Committee