[ATMoB-discuss] Re: NEAF Report

[valleli at rcn.com]

Rif, and all:

Bruce Berger and I left at 2PM Sunday and got home in one
piece plus some real goodies. 

There was a record crowd of attendees including members of
both ATM and STM organizations. I heard from Bob Summerfield
that Texas Star Party was down about 200 attendees from last
year -gas crunch. It will be interesting to hear how well 
Riverside does. 

For the rich, there was a 50 pound RFT in super-lightweight
carbon fiber mounted on a S-B Paramount. With ST1000 CCD - $25K.

I have found that Burgess Optics is selling the Red Dot Rifle
Scope/Finder for 49 USD. This is a great little unit, well
made, compact, multiple reticles, and a good ranges of LED
brightness settings. Runs on a silver oxide battery, the 2122,
I believe.

This unit came with my 12-inch deluxe LightBridge and I fell
in love with it. I had been hoping to find a supplier to get a
second one for another telescope. Camera Concepts also had the
finder but for 89 USD. They are made in Taiwan and can also be
used with big binoculars. 

The finder has a dichroic filter on the reflex mirror that
transmits all wavelengths at high efficiency except a narrow
band of far red at 6880 Angstroms that the LED emits. This
means you can see much fainter stars through it than a
standard reflex finder.

Astronomy Shoppe ( Tony Costanza) had lots of versions of his
ScopeTotes and a new product - a black skirt to go around the
truss struts. This is a great idea if there is stray light
around the observing site and keeps a dropped item from
falling into the mirror bucket.
   
William Optics had micro-drive Crayfords at nearly half-the
cost of the Moonlight Optics original versions (185 USD vs.
325 USD). I like it because it has graduations and the roller
bearings are enclosed to protect against dirt and contamination. 

For the first time, Rivers Camera, Dover NH, exhibited and had
a well stocked display and a variety of goodies.

Finally, I bought a 2X 'Big Barlow' with auxilliary pupil
adjusting lens to try out on the Daley Schupmann. (100 USD).
We could probably do with a 1-1/4" model but I prefer to use a
2-inch Crayford to support the weight of a Digital SLR. Eric
Johansson wants to be able to access the focal plane with a
webcam but needs F/30 or so. The Barlow extends the back focal
length as well as amplifies the focal length. If it works as
desired I will sell it to the ATMoB.  
We will probably need a 4X PowerMate to get to F/60 and it
would be better to use a lipstick-style CCD. 

Regards 'til Thurs. night meeting at HCO - Mario and Scott
Milligan.   

Geezer-Gazer Paul