Re: ATM Airline travel scope confusion=backpacking scope??

[ComaBereni@aol.com]

Hi everyone,

Mike Reed, myself (both from Salt Lake City) and others have been having 
dialogue about backpacking telescopes on sci.astro.amateur newsgroup. This 
eventually led to our starting a webpage to openly discuss our ideas and the 
ideas we have been receiving from others regarding highly portable telescope 
designs.

I built a 12 pound 6" f/5 truss Newt last winter that packs down to the size 
of an ETX. It can be viewed at the following URL:

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Campus/4788/

Mike and I have been hoping to hear more from fellow ATM'ers regarding 
thoughts about portable Newtonian telescopes. It would be fun to hear from 
the ATM list people!

Take care,

Paul Stock
comabereni@aol.com

In a message dated 6/17/1999 6:19:13 PM Mountain Daylight Time, 
paull@lucasarts.com writes:

<< Bill,
 Being sort-of in the same boat as you (planning a month-long trip to the
 Philippines at 5 deg. N latitude this winter, and don't want to miss the
 southern skies!), I'm building a 6" f/8 "travel scope" -- the entire scope
 except the 2-pieces-each truss tubes will break down into a carrry-on size
 case.
 I've been working on the design for a while now, and just this week
 purchased the 1/2" Baltic Birch plywood for it's construction, and I'll be
 starting this weekend.  I'd be happy to swap ideas with you if you decide
 you want to build a travel-dob.  It can be done, my design fits neatly into
 the 22"x14"x9" that is official carry-on size for all airlines.  I figure
 the design could be up-scaled to a 10" without much problem, particularly if
 the focal length is still around 48".
 
 I'll be posting the plans and pictures as construction progresses on my web
 site, but if you'd like to discuss things, contact me off-list.
 
 Paul
 
 http://www.slip.net/~lefevre/scope.htm
  >>