Posts Made By: John Weber

Just browsing the forums and thought I'd post a photo of our scope. We (Dale Asbury and Myself) spent 5-7 years (depending on how you look at it) building this 12.5" f/20 Tri-schief. We set out to do something with the design that, to the best of our knowledge, no one else had done. We decided to close the tube with an optical window. If anyone else out there has built a closed tube design, I'd like to hear about it. We installed Tech 2000's Dob Driver II but we integrated the azimuth drive into one of the foot pads of the ground board instead of the bottom of the rocker box. This provides rock solid support no matter where the scope is pointed. The white dots on the tube are stars, all with their correct positions and magnitudes. The tube weighs 220 lbs, the whole thing comes close to 400 lbs., so it's definitely a two person scope. First light was June 2002. We plan to take the scope to NIAG and Prairie Skies in 2005.

The dates for Prairie Skies 2005 are Sept. 29 through Oct. 2, 2005. We now have a website at www.prairieskies.org. Check it out for further info.

The 2005 Prairie Skies Brochure and registration form are now available on our website at www.prairieskies.org . Hope to see you at Camp Shaw this Fall!

If you have trouble viewing or printing anything, please contact us at [email protected] or 708 481-7970, with your mailing address, and we will be happy to send you a paper copy.

Just a quick reminder for those of you who are interested; The pre-registration deadline for PSSP is 1 week away!! If you plan to attend, register before the deadline and save some money. The deadline is Saturday, September 2. After that date, you must register at the gate (much higher prices). In my admittedly biased opinion, we have another great time planned. You can visit our website at www.prairieskies.org for more info.

John Weber

Rumors are just that, RUMORS ... so let me put it to rest for everyone. Prairie Skies is not going to be canceled because of low registration!! Short of a tornado, earthquake, etc., Prairie Skies WILL be held on September 9-12, 2004. I should know, I'm running the event! What's "low registration", anyway? Sounds like someone is making a last ditch effort to discourage registrations .. for some reason!? For what it's worth, we would [U]never take money from people and then cancel an event without refunding 100% of their registration fee!

Don,

It sounds like (from your report) the main problem you have with Astrofest is the way it's being ran. Keep in mind that the core people from the original Astrofest Committee (some of who had ran AF since its beginnings in WI, 25 years ago) are still at Camp Shaw with Prairie Skies. Not much has changed; same event, same beautiful site, just a new name and (for now) a smaller crowd. Of coarse the lights have gotten worse over the years, but Astrofest was never about dark skies anyway, with it's close proximity to Chicago.

However, if dark skies have become important to you, then IDSP is certainly darker than the Kankakee area, even with Springfield only 25 or so miles away.

If the reasons you liked Astrofest for all those years haven't changed, I would suggest you at least give Prairie Skies a try. You might find it pleasantly familiar.

John Weber

Jim,

I own a 2005 Caravan and the flashing "door opening" warning lights (front parking lamps and rear tail lights) CAN be disabled. As best as I can recall, it is done with the buttons on the key. The info is buried deep in the bowels of the owner's manual; I just tried finding it to no avail. Stop by or call any Dodge or Chrysler store; I'm sure they will help you out.

John Weber