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February 19, 2005.

We regret to inform you that Dr. Jack Chambers was fatally injured in a car accident while vacationing in New Zealnd. Mrs. Chambers received only minor injuries and has been discharged from the hospital. The remains are being returned to Ottawa, and visitation will take place at Tubman's Funeral Home at 3340 Richmond Road (near the Queensway Carleton hospital) on Thursday, February 24 from 2pm to 4pm and then again from 7pm to 9pm. The funeral itself will take place on Friday, February 25 at 4pm at the Kanata United Church (33 Leacock Drive, next to Stephen Leacock Public School).

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Friends,

The Friends of CRC Web Site: We need your help in expanding and revamping our Web site. If you have a favorite project that you worked on, let us know. If you give only the barest of information, e.g. the name of the project and the date, we will include it in the CRC Milestones page. If you include a paragraph or so of description or a photo, we will attach a note to the milestone. If you are willing to write a little more and hopefully include a few photos, then we may be able to place your contribution in the Articles and Anecdotes section.

There is also some interest in posting photos and perhaps personal information for members. The idea is to prepare passport-size photos of recent vintage to show your former colleagues what you look like now. IF YOU WISH, we would also include personal information such as address, phone number, and email address. As you know, our current policy is to not release such information to inquirers, but to email the enquiry to you so that you can answer it if you choose to do so. Let us know what you think about this idea.

Stu McCormick

Take a look at our Web Site to see if the projects you worked on have been listed in the milestones or have been written up, if not tell us about them. DRTE and CRC were involved in many interesting and worthwhile projects which should be included in our Web Site to give a better picture of what we accomplished over the years. A few I can think of are the Fibre Optic research which was termed "The Wired City", the history of the Scanning Electron Microscope and its success after CRC, research and development of the FET Amplifier for CTS, research and development of a Radio System for the RCMP and many others which don"t come to mind at the moment. As time passes our memories fade so lets try and get as much on the Web Site as possible.

It would also be nice to write up some of the practical jokes and funny incidents which occurred as this would provide interesting reading. I would still like to know more about how the ‘For Sale apply to 24 Sussex Drive" sign was created. and appeared at the entrance to CRC.

Give Stu lots of information and support so he can update the web site and make it even more interesting.

Jim Sawtell

Projects:

SMARTscope Project:

Update on SMARTscope as of Feb. 11, 2005 The SMARTscope system has progressed to the point where it can be used regularly for remote imaging using a very basic user interface. At the same time, we continue deal with an assortment of problems, large and small.

A major problem solved recently was instability in the primary mirror of our Meade 16" Schmidt Cassegrain telescope. This is a common problem with all commercially made SCTs. It stems from a typical design that focuses the telescope by sliding the primary mirror along the central baffle tube, and using an off-axis mechanism to drive the mirror. The result is some degree of mirror wobble on the baffle tube, and some flexing of the baffle tube. Although the mirror flop is really very small, and is not generally a particular problem for visual observation, it becomes a significant problem with remote CCD imaging. The shifts can cause defocusing, degraded collimation, and most seriously can shift the image of a desired object outside of the narrow field covered by the CCD. Finding something that you cannot see while searching with a narrow field of view then becomes a major challenge. After much debate, and consideration of many options, this Fall we decided to do some surgery on the telescope. Since telescope manufacturers do not make mechanical drawings of the internals of their telescopes available, the first step was to remove the telescope from the mount, and to carefully disassemble it. Then, with everything revealed and measured it was possible to come up with a design for a fix, and to get the parts machined. The resulting collet clamp for the back end of the mirror assembly allows us to lock the mirror firmly to the baffle tube, eliminates off axis forces, and further stiffens the baffle tube. Then everything was reassembled, put back on the mount and given a test run.

The results show much improved performance. Since no one on the team had prior experience with this sort of surgery, it was just a bit stressful, and we are happy that it has been completed successfully.

Other lesser problems such as CCD camera noise caused by the microwave communications link, proper grounding of all equipment, and some other minor intermittent faults are now pretty much under control. The last significant problem is the dome drive system. It is set up to automatically track the telescope position so that the shutter opening is always centered in-line with the telescope. From time to time the dome will skip to some other direction, for reasons that are not yet understood, and preventing normal imaging until things get sorted out. This may require a complete rebuild of the dome drive system and its software.

As noted, the control software is still at a very basic stage, and it limits operation to people who are thoroughly familiar with the nuts and bolts of the various components of the system. More sophisticated software will follow that will provide a better user interface, and that will incorporate assorted safeguards to keep less knowledgeable users out of trouble. - Al Seaman

Future Events:

February 24: "Fibre-Optic Communications in Ottawa" - Gordon Henderson of Telecom Ottawa will Speak to us on the topic. His address will include a description of the fibre-optic links between the CRC Badlab, Telesat, and schools, and collaborative internet work amongst schools worldwide.

March 31: DFL visit to view Radarsat II. Pre-registration will facilitate entry. Call of e-mail any of the Executive.

April 14: Our Annual Luncheon, more details next month.

April 28: A brief Annual General Meeting followed by "The Physical Significance of the Tsunami Phenomenon". An illustrated talk by CRC Friends Sam Altman and Hugh Reekie.

E-mails received:

Received January 22, 2005
Hi Jim,
Thank you for the most recent newsletter. On my part I want to reciprocate your wishes by mine and wish you all good things in the (not so) New Year. I also want to thank you for your selfless and tireless work of keeping all of us connected. I regard you as my lifeline with all those with whom I was fortunate to be professionally connected in the (by now distant) past.
Hope to see you all on Feb 10th.
Kasper Pawlikowski

Received January 23, 2005
Dear Jim, Sorry you had problems with my email address. I had to change it last summer as I was inundated with spam, and I must have omitted to tell you of the change. Thanks for continuing to keep me in touch with my old colleagues. I am only sorry that I cannot come to some of the meetings, but it is a bit far! Best regards - Alan Sewards

Received December 3, 2004
Hello, I would like to bring to your attention my change of address. I enjoy receiving the newsletters and now that Jacques and I are retired, perhaps we will be able to attend one of your events. Thank you to the executive team for all your time and effort. Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year. Sincerely, Tina Lachance

Deaths:
June 30, 2004 Ken Billings in Hull

Your Editor,
Jim Sawtell sawtell@igs.net

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"FIBRE-OPTIC COMMUNICATIONS IN OTTAWA"

An illustrated talk by Gordon Henderson of Telecom Ottawa

Sponsored by the Friends of the Communications Research Centre

Thursday, February 24, 2005
at 1:00 p.m.

in the CRC Auditorium