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Thread: 20232 Alt-Az Workshop announcement and agenda

  1. #1
    Member Howard B's Avatar
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    Update - 2023 Alt-Az Workshop final agenda and Zoom links

    Portland XVI Alt-Az Workshop


    October 27 – October 29, 2023 Portland, Oregon


    The 16th annual Portland Alt-Az Workshop will be held Saturday October 28 and Sunday October 29 at Dan Gray's Technical Marine Service (TMS) plant. An informal BBQ on Friday evening, October 27 will also be held at TMS for those who attend in-person.

    BBQ’s will also be available for Saturday lunch and dinner, and Sunday lunch. A $5.00 donation for each meal is requested to help pay for the food – and feel free to bring your own. A limited continental breakfast will be available Saturday and Sunday mornings, but bring your own coffee if you can’t live without it.

    The Alt-Az Workshop is held in a relaxed, informal environment. There will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions, discuss the presentations, and examine the telescopes that will be on display.

    There is no registration fee for the workshop, and the only requirement is to inform the chairperson (hbanich at gmail dot com) if you plan to attend in-person.

    Just like in 2022, this will be a hybrid workshop - we’ll have both in-person and Zoom-only presentations. All presentations will be seen live via Zoom to all attendees, and recordings will be available on YouTube soon after the workshop is finished.

    Throughout its history, the Alt-Az Workshop has brought together advanced amateurs, professional telescope makers and astronomers in an informal collaboration. Our goal has always been to adapt technologies used in the world’s largest telescopes for the design and construction of low cost, high performance 1.0 to 2.0-meter amateur telescopes. We’ve never been closer to achieving this goal.

    Dr. Russ Genet founded the workshop, Howard Banich is the chair, and Dan Gray is the local host.


    Workshop Location

    6650 N. Basin Suite E/F

    BLDG 4

    Portland, OR 97217

    (503) 285-8947


    Accommodations near TMS:

    Shilo Inn Rose Garden
    1506 NE 2nd Avenue – 866-430-2692
    Portland OR 97232

    Monticello Motel Station
    4801 North Interstate Avenue - 503-285-6641
    Portland, OR 97217-3623

    Super Value Inn
    5205 North Interstate Avenue – 503-285-2556
    Portland, OR 97217-3726



    Portland XVI Alt-Az Workshop Agenda



    October 27 through October 29, 2023

    Russ Genet – Founder, Dan Gray – Local Host, Howard Banich – Chair and Zoom Host

    All times are Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)

    (U.S. west coast time zone)

    If possible, please wear earbuds or headphones while logged on to the Zoom presentations to reduce feedback.


    Friday October 27

    BBQ Social at TMS (for in-person attendees): 5:00pm to ~7:00pm


    Saturday October 28

    8:30am – Morning Social at TMS (for in-person attendees)

    9:25am - Welcome to Portland XVI (start of Zoom meeting for day 1) – Howard Banich

    9:30am – Making a 16 x 3/8 - inch F2.9 Thin Meniscus Mirror, and the new Ronchi Unwrap Test – Mel Bartels

    10:30am – The Lateral Image Test (L.I. T.) - Bill Thomas

    11:30am - The EZ Hartmann Test - Lonnie Robinson



    BBQ Lunch Break: 12:30pm – 1:30pm



    1:30pm – At the Focus Hartmann Test – Jeff Baldwin

    2:30pm – Beyond Stiction & Friction - Applications of Fluid Motion Mechanics on Dobs and Other Scopes – Ed Allen



    Break: 3:30pm – 3:40pm



    3:45pm - SkySolve Plate Solving Finder – Dale Eason

    4:45pm – The Peter Abrahams Astronomical History talk: Anguish at Yerkes: The Hitherto Untold Story of Early Grave Concerns over the 40-inch Objective - John W. Briggs



    End of day 1



    Sunday October 29

    8:30am – Morning Social at TMS (for in-person attendees)

    9:25am - Brief welcome back (start of Zoom meeting for day 2) – Howard Banich

    9:30am - One year of automated speckle interferometry of close binaries on the 1m PWI telescope in Chile, and the 60-inch at Mt. Wilson. Also, a report on the 0.5m PWI telescope at our local community college, and my custom L mount observatory - Russ Genet

    10:30am - 24-inch Alt-Az Cassegrain - Bruce Howard

    11:30am - UL40 update – Tong Lui



    BBQ lunch Break: 12:30pm to 1:55pm



    2:00pm – Epoxy Putty Tools – Gavin McGrath

    2:30pm – Adventures in Making a 16-inch Meniscus Mirror – Rob Brown



    Break: 3:20 – 3:40



    3:45pm – Radio Telescopes Upgrade to SiTech – Dan Gray

    4:45pm – The Reanimation of the 36-inch Boller and Chivens – Alan Sliski


    End of workshop
    Last edited by Howard B; October 26th, 2023 at 01:27 AM.
    Howard
    30-inch f/2.7 alt-az Newtonian
    https://sites.google.com/site/howardbanichhomepage/
    https://sites.google.com/site/sprays...pemirrors/home
    Contributing Editor, Sky & Telescope magazine

  2. #2
    Member Howard B's Avatar
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    Hi everyone,

    The 2023 Alt-Az Workshop will begin Saturday morning, October 28th, and I hope many of you will be able to tune in. The Zoom meeting links, along with the topics to be presented in each session, are shown below.

    Although I never discount the possibility of technical difficulties, the plan is to livestream and record each session on YouTube for those who can't watch the presentations in real-time.

    We'll have a mix of in-person and Zoom-only presentations again this year, and all will be livestreamed and recorded.

    There's no registration fee, although we ask for a $5 donation to cover the cost of each bbq that in-person attendees partake in. Feel free to bring your own food if you prefer.

    The Friday, October 27 bbq for in-person attendees will begin at 6:00pm at the new TMS location at 6650 N. Basin Ave, Suite F, Portland, OR.

    I'm looking forward to another fascinating Workshop, and hope to see many of you there!

    Howard
    Chair, moderator, Zoom host, and head bottle washer

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Saturday October 28, 2023
    Day 1 morning session - 9:25am to 12:30pm Pacific Time Zone (western US):

    https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8810127505...opbxWpbqOo6d.1
    9:25am - Welcome to Portland XVI – Howard Banich

    9:30am – Making a 16 x 3/8 - inch F2.9 Thin Meniscus Mirror, and the new Ronchi Unwrap Test – Mel Bartels

    10:30am – The Lateral Image Test (L.I. T.) - Bill Thomas

    11:30am - The EZ Hartmann Test - Lonnie Robinson


    - Lunch break -

    Day 1 afternoon session 1:30pm to 5:45pm Pacific Time Zone (western US):
    https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8859098833...rp8gdRHzFpWi.1
    1:30pm – At the Focus Hartmann Test – Jeff Baldwin

    2:30pm – Beyond Stiction & Friction - Applications of Fluid Motion Mechanics on Dobs and Other Scopes – Ed Allen

    Break: 3:30pm – 3:40pm

    3:45pm - SkySolve Plate Solving Finder – Dale Eason

    4:45pm – The Peter Abrahams Astronomical History talk: Anguish at Yerkes: The Hitherto Untold Story of Early Grave Concerns over the 40-inch Objective - John W. Briggs


    Sunday October 29, 2023
    Day 2 morning session: 9:25am to 12:30pm Pacific Time Zone (western US)

    https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8965735575...3YN5EcjTrykr.1
    9:25am - Brief welcome back – Howard Banich

    9:30am - One year of automated speckle interferometry of close binaries on the 1m PWI telescope in Chile, and the 60-inch at Mt. Wilson. Also, a report on the 0.5m PWI telescope at our local community college, and my custom L mount observatory - Russ Genet

    10:30am - 24-inch Alt-Az Cassegrain - Bruce Howard

    11:30am - LIGO A+ upgrade – Joe LaCour



    - Lunch break -


    Day 2 afternoon session: 2:00pm to 6:00pm Pacific Time Zone (western US)
    https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8151403852...bhystVDWb1kn.1
    2:00pm – Epoxy Putty Tools – Gavin McGrath

    2:30pm – Adventures in Making a 16-inch Meniscus Mirror – Rob Brown

    Break: 3:20 – 3:40

    3:45pm – Radio Telescopes Upgrade to SiTech – Dan Gray

    4:45pm – The Reanimation of the 36-inch Boller and Chivens – Alan Sliski

    5:45pm – The Future of the Alt-Az Workshop – Howard Banich
    Howard
    30-inch f/2.7 alt-az Newtonian
    https://sites.google.com/site/howardbanichhomepage/
    https://sites.google.com/site/sprays...pemirrors/home
    Contributing Editor, Sky & Telescope magazine

  3. #3
    Member Howard B's Avatar
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    The YouTube videos of the 2023 Alt Az Workshop are now posted, and I've added the start times for each presentation in the description of each video. That will make it easier to find the individual presentations in each of the four sessions.

    You'll note that the 2023 sessions are not listed in order, but at least they're at the top of the page. If I can figure out how to reorder them, I will, but I don't think this isn't a fatal flaw for now.

    Again, my thanks to all the presenters, and to everyone who attended in-person and online - I think this year's Workshop was another wonderful success. If you have ideas about how to improve the Workshop starting in 2024, please contact Mel or myself - and if you weren't able to tune in to the presentations live, please see my introduction (beginning of the morning session of day 1) and my closing comments and discussion (at the end of day 2 afternoon session) to hear some preliminary ideas that are being discussed.

    Howard
    Howard
    30-inch f/2.7 alt-az Newtonian
    https://sites.google.com/site/howardbanichhomepage/
    https://sites.google.com/site/sprays...pemirrors/home
    Contributing Editor, Sky & Telescope magazine

  4. #4
    Member Howard B's Avatar
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    Important update to the YouTube link - below is the correct link to the 2023 Alt Az Workshop videos:

    https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...yIT-kaZKDPo6GB

    The link in my message from yesterday is for my YouTube studio page, which I now know is accessible only to me! Sorry about that - for as little as I know about Zoom, I know even less about YouTube...
    Howard
    Howard
    30-inch f/2.7 alt-az Newtonian
    https://sites.google.com/site/howardbanichhomepage/
    https://sites.google.com/site/sprays...pemirrors/home
    Contributing Editor, Sky & Telescope magazine

  5. #5
    Member Howard B's Avatar
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    I've put together a YouTube playlist for each of the four years the Alt Az Workshop has used Zoom and YouTube. We started using Zoom and YouTube in 2020 so this was our fourth year of videos.. The link below will make it easy to find - and enjoy - all the Alt Az Workshop videos in one spot, plus I added a playlist of the video shorts of Mel Bartels spray silvering his 30-inch meniscus mirror. Here's the link:

    https://www.youtube.com/@howardbanich8599/playlists
    Howard
    30-inch f/2.7 alt-az Newtonian
    https://sites.google.com/site/howardbanichhomepage/
    https://sites.google.com/site/sprays...pemirrors/home
    Contributing Editor, Sky & Telescope magazine

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