ATMJ #12

[Atmj1@aol.com]

Greetings to all:

ATMJ #12 has gone to press. We have to get more envelopes printed, but we
should be going to the post office in about 10 days. 

For those who have not to this point heard the news, I would like to announce
that former Sky & Telescope Associate Editor, Barlow Pepin, has moved to the
Seattle area and that I have asked him to become Managing Editor of ATM
Journal. Barlow is an accomplished writer in his own right and we feel that
this move will be very good for all concerned. 

With my failure to be able to clone myself (now there's a scary thought),
bringing someone onboard to deal primarily with the Journal was the only way I
saw to get the Journal on a time table. I have tried everything else with no
success. Barlow will be working on the Journal out of his home and will not be
working on it 40 hours a week. Still, without the many distractions that pull
me away in order to attend to my "real" job and feed my family, things should
be considerably easier for him.

Those of you who know anything about Captain's, know that this move
(financially speaking) has taken a leap of faith on the part of Captain's
President, Emery Shrock. The outlay for salary, software, and equipment is a
gesture to show his support for my efforts at building the optical instrument
side of our business and the telescoping community at large.

One of the assignments given to Barlow is to come up with a cache of articles
of various lengths so that we can make last minute substitutions that won't
take us back to square one on layout. Even so, the reality of this must rest
with you as members of the ATMA. Don't be shy; send in those articles and
encourage others to do the same. There is no law that says you must be a
professional writer or have a 6-page article in mind to be published. It is
simply not so. How many times have you read an article on telescope making
only to find that only one paragraph in that article conveyed anything new,
and then realized that one new concept changed your whole outlook on a given
subject. YOU may well be sitting on concepts and experience that ATMers are in
need of. If so, The pages of ATM Journal is the place to share it. 

Please gang, let's rally and beat the bushes for new articles and new authors.

ATMJ #13, which will feature a article by Dennis Rech on his Mirror-o-Matic
granding / polishing, Gary Frishkorn's article on his award winning off-axis
design, and Dick Suiter's continued enhancements of the Foucault test, WILL GO
TO PRESS on Feb. 15. 

Thanks for your support and patience.

Kindest Regards,


William J. Cook
Editor / publisher, Amateur Telescope Making Journal