Date: May 25-27, 1974
Attendance: Approximately 200For the second
year, the RTMC set up in Camp Isomata, the USC Music and Craft Conference Center in
Idyllwild. This was the first time ever the conference was held on a Memorial Day Weekend.
It was moved in order to improve the chances of clear weather and to coincide with the New
Moon weekend. It wasn't until later that the conference became permanently established on
Memorial Day Weekend.
During the years in Riverside, the conference was
cosponsored by Riverside Community College and the Riverside Astronomical Society. For its
first year in Idyllwild, the RTMC was solely an event of the Riverside Astronomical
Society. In 1994, it was cosponsored by the College of the Desert. Of course, this was
merely an excuse for Professor Ashley McDermott to sneak thousands of dollars of AV
equipment out of the college in his VW van, "Boffo." The College of the Desert
didn't share in any way of the conference proceeds. The cat's out of the bag now, Ashley.
Good thing you're retired!
Fifty telescopes were brought and an astounding 43 of them
were entered for Merit Awards. John Dobson of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers
brought an 18" this year.
Speakers
 |
Tom Cave, "Astronomical Optics" |
|
Dr. Robert Chambers, "Photoelectric Astronomy
for Amateurs" |
|
Marvin J. Vann, "Building an Observatory and
Planetarium in Mexico" |
|
Patrick Michaud, "Photography for Small
Telescopes" |
|
Ernest Piini, "3-Way Camera Telescope
Design" |
|
Arthur Leonard, "Recent Advances in Yolo
Reflector Design" |
|
Dr. Frank Melsheimer, "Building and Using a
Schmidt Telescope" |
|
John Sanford, "Techniques of
Astrophotography" |
|
A. B. Gregory |
|
Harry O. Leitner, "Building and Equipping an
Observatory" |
|
Maurice King, "Anodizing Telescope Mounting
Parts" |
Merit Awards (partial list)
|
Bob Pfaff, 10-inch Newtonian with tape drive |
|
.