Richard Berry's Cookbook Camera Group takes over the center of the telescope field in an attempt to intimidate the other CCD camera venders

The Telescope Field with the Walker Observatory in the back on the left

Steve Swayze received a Merit Award for this 12" F/6 Binocular-Telescope

Mel Bartels received a Merit Award for his
computerized Dobsonian

Wayne Schmidt received an Honorable Mention for his binocular chair

Steve Ebner received a Merit Award for
his 10" F/8 motor driven Dobsonian

Shannon Culler received an Honorable
Mention for his first telescope

The RTMC AV Wizards - Ernie Williams (bottom) and Dennis Fandrich

Attendance: 1,611

With the New Moon, this year's theme was 'Deep Sky Observing', concentrating on deep sky telescopes with special talks and workshops.

We also did a CCD Shootout on Friday and Saturday Nights. The participants were given a list of four objects to image. Richard Berry and his Cookbook enthusiasts turned out in full force to show the capabilities of their systems. It was a real experience trying to bring up everybody's computer on the limited camp power supply. We learned a lot of things including - don't put five computers on one extension cord! Also, it is advisable not to plug in a microwave in the middle of all this. We did figure it all out and 8 venders participated brought their results in on Sunday for side by side comparisons.

We also started a Beginners Corner to get new amateur astronomers up to speed. It was an all day event hosted by Bill Seavey and Ken Grubbs and featured talks such as; 'Basic Telescope Design', 'Finding Your Way Around the Sky', and 'How to Use Those Eyepieces'. It was a smashing success with over 100 people attending.

Friday Night started a new show and tell tradition. This year's theme was the 'November 1994 Solar Eclipse'.

Dennis di Cicco was the Keynote Speaker and talked about the revolution going on in CCD work. Of particular interest was his description of just how easy it is to make scientific contributions such as discovering asteroids.

Speakers:

• Jeffrey R. Charles, "An Amateur Astronomical Society in Bolivia"
• Ben Mayer, "Multi-Dimensional Astral Position Finding Device"
• Nick Stillwell, "The Repulsion of Anti Matter"
• Jim Carlisle, "How to Patent Your Invention"
• Jeffrey R. Charles, "Determination of the Projected Altitude(s) of the Lunar Umbra on the Earth's Atmosphere"
• Paul Mortfield, "Deep Sky Photography with a Schmidt Camera"
• Douglas George, "Chip Wars"
• Jerry Armstrong, "CCD Imaging of Comets"
• Mike Rushford, "Remote CCD Solar Imaging"
• Lynn Wyett, "Rainbows and Other Atmospheric Phenomena"
• Chris Butler, "What's Up at RTMC"
• Dennis di Cicco, "The Current Revolution in Amateur Astronomical Imaging"
• Gene Cross, "Nyquist Criterion and Matching Your CCD to Your Telescope"
• Roy Tucker, CCD Camera Standards"
• Richard Berry, "CookBook CCD Camera"
• David White, Global Network of Astronomical Telescopes"
• Mike Newberry, "CCD Software"
• Bob Bell, "A Remote Control Observatory"
• Don Machholz, "Comet Hunting"
• Richard Combs and Alan Gorski, "Collimation of Newtonian Telescopes"
• Wayne Johnson, "Mr. Galaxy Discovers His Third Supernova"

Merit Awards:

• John Lightholder, Excellent Design and Craftsmanship in a Large, Lightweight Telescope
• Steve Ebner, Innovative System Design
• Mel Bartels, Well-Executed Computerized Telescope Drive System
• Gerry Logan, Design and Execution of a Sophisticated Optical System
• Donald Davies, Innovative Design Concept in a Equatorial Platform
• Dave Radosevich, Superb Craftsmanship of a Large Equatorial Newtonian
• Steve Swayze, Improved Collimation System - Large Newtonian Binoculars

Honorable Mentions:

• Wayne Schmidt, Unusual, Personally-Optimized Binocular Chair
• Peter Hirtle, Well-Crafted, Accurate Sundial
• Shannon Cullen, Junior Award - First Telescope
• Steve Rismiller, Well-Crafted Portable Telescope
• Philip Mallory, Junior Award - First Telescope
• La Merced Intermediate School, School/Group Telescope Building Project

Warren Estes Award:

Crystal Ackerman

Cliff Holmes Award: Don Machholz

Given to an individual for a "Major Contribution to Amateur Astronomy and Telescope Making"

Clyde Tombaugh Award: Richard Berry

Given for "Creative Innovation in Telescope Design"

Dave Radosevich received a Merit Award for his22" F/5
Dobsonian which was all hand made - including the tube!

John Lightholder received a Merit Award for his
22" F/6 ultra-light telescope - it weights just 196 lbs.!

Jackie Holmes and Rick Shaffer look on while Scott Roberts of Meade
Instruments gives away the big door prize - a 12" LX200!