David Radosevich received a Merit Award for his Beautiful 6" F/4

William Pheleps received a Merit Award for his binocular mount

Carter Roberts received a Merit Award for this sturdy 10" F/6.3 Newtonian

David Charles received an Honorable Mention for his "Barn Door Hinge" Astrographic Platform

Part of the Los Angeles Astronomical
Society with their 31" F/4.6 Dobsonian

This elegant Schiefspiegler was built by Jim Hendrick

Ray Martin built this 6" F/15 Refractor patterned after Dobsonian Mounts

David Levy with his fishing reel controlled 6" comet searching telescope

Doug Ostroski with his 18" Horseshoe Mounting built from scrap materials

Gangsta Astronomer

Attendance: 2,002

This was the 20th Annual Riverside Telescope Makers Conference which made it an event of celebration. The Saturday Night Program was a remembrance of the previous 20 years, with special guests from conferences past being honored.

This was also the second time the conference got snow. Friday Night, Big Bear was the coldest spot in the nation as a weather system blew through putting a light dusting of snow on the ground. Fortunately, it cleared up and turned warmer later in the weekend. This year many large, refined telescopes were brought to the conference. Dominating the field was the 31" built by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. Built by over 40 members of the LAAS, it is made from welded steel and is computer controlled.

Speakers:

• Rod Wheeler, "Restoration of a (1958) six inch Goto Refractor"
• Tom  Quinn, Burt Patterson, "TV Set up with Your Scope"
• Rick Shaffer, "Tuning Up Your Small Import Telescope for Your Mars Observations"
• Federick N. Ley, "Astronomy in Greece"
• Clyde Tichneor, "Low Cost Video"
• Tom Dorff, A Thirty-one Incher and Why Not To"
• Lynn Wyett, John Reinert, "Telescope Spectrometry of Rocket Engine Plumes"
• Gene Lucas, "The Spin Casting Laboratory"
• George T. Keene, "Astrophotography Today"
• Charles Townsend, "Photographic Astrometry With a Single Axis Micrometer"
• Robert Buchroeder, Ph.d., "A Nearly Perfect Eyepiece for Newtonian Telescopes"
• Bob Goff, "The Hale Laboratory"
• Dan Gordon, "Something New for Astrophotography"
• Michael Geller, Richard Rouse, "The Transit Telescope at Table Mountain"
• Chris Schur, "Advanced Color Schmidt Camera Photography"
• Jeffrey R. Charles, "Adventures in Astrophotography with a Small Telescope"
• David L. Charles, "Sophisticated Version of a Haig Mount"
• Michael Carroll, "The Next Ten Years of Mars Exploration"
• Pete Manly, "Weird Telescopes"
• Joel Harris, John Sanford, "March Eclipse Tales"
• George Keene, "Astrophotography Today - with a Surprise"
• Dr. Michael Klien, "Seti--the Search"
• Ben Mayer, "Observational Astrology"
• Tom Mathis, "Sky Simulation on a Macintosh"
• Astronomy Forum Computer Conference
• Robert Suding, "14.5 Inch Binoculars"
• Gene Lucas, "Eliminating Stray Light in Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescopes"
• Dr. Robert Suding, "Computers in Amateur Astronomy Tutorial"
• Dr. Robert Suding, "Design Construction and Alignment of Large Binocular Telescopes"
• David Chandler, "The Depth of Space; Custom Star Computer Charts"
• Norm Sperling, "The American Telescope Business"
• Chris Schur & Rick Rotramel, "The Pegasus and Perseus: Two Compact Newtonians For Scanning the Southern Skies"
• Peter Ceravolo, "The Ross Null Test and High Finesse Figuring"
• Bob Eklumd, "The Mount Wilson Epic"

Merit Awards:

• William B. Phelps, Outstanding Binocular Mount
• Dewey Burkes, Outstanding Design and Execution of Complete Telescope System - 16" F/4 - F/16 Newtonian-Cassegrain
• Jack Tickner, Well Executed Collapsible Dobsonian - 14-1/4" Dobsonian
• Tom Fox, Outstanding Craftsmanship - 12-1/2" F/8 Newtonian
• Carter Roberts, Very Rigid Astrographic Telescope - 10" F/6.3 Newtonian on a Fork Mount
• David Radosevich, Overall Craftsmanship - 6" F/4 Tabletop Dobsonian
• David Barosso, Inverse Flotation Cell
• The Los Angeles Astronomical Society, Outstanding Cooperative Effort for a Large Telescope - 31" F/4.6 - F/12 - F/20
• Robert Quimby, Junior Award - 6" Dobsonian

Honorable Mentions:

• Rick Shaffer, Disgustingly Simple Improvements for Small Tripods
• Jack Borde, Thought Provoking Historical Possibility: A Natural Solar Filter???
• David L. Charles, Dual Axis Platform, and astrographic platform with stepper motors

Warren Estes Award:

Douglas Ostroski, 17-1/2" F/4.5 Newtonian

Cliff Holmes Award:

Kevin Medlock

Many speakers and attendees from the first RTMC in 1969 were honored at the Saturday Evening Program. From Left in front are Mr. & Mrs. Bob Dixon, John Parks, Bob Buchroeder, Art Leonard, Bob Goff, Tom Cave

Conference Director Cliff Holmes presents a plaque to Robert Dixon who was instrumental in getting the first RTMC going at Riverside Community College in 1969

Carter Roberts received a Merit Award for his 10" F/6.3

Dewe Burkes with his 16" F/4 - F/16 Newtonian-Cassegrain

Rick Shaffer doesn't seem to realize that tripods seem
to work better when placed on the ground