by David Skitt, Observatory Co-Chair

The pulley system for opening the flap has been replaced and improved which significantly reduces the effort required to open the flap to the highest position needed to clear the telescopes. And, thanks to Gene Ramsey and his trusty belt sander, we’ve managed to increase the distance between the flap and the scopes by another one quarter to one half inch!

The new setup does not change the rope-pull/opening sequence, so no additional training is needed in that department. However, even with the improvements, please continue to watch as the roof opens to be sure that it clears the telescopes and their accessories.

Thanks to Jim Poinsett, we’ve put together a laptop to use with the refractor and Paramount. It has The Sky6 running on WinXP. It was destined for the recycle bin, but after some TLC, it seems to be running fine. With some added RAM, it would likely run The SkyX if we move in that direction before upgrading the computers. It has been set up similar the current desktop, with a Keyholder account and an Admin account. It will be on the desk between the two mounts for now and connected to the mount via a USB to serial port adapter.