35 replies to this topic

[Steve W]

Registration for the 2019 Oregon Star Party is now open.

 

The link to register can be found here:  https://oregonstarparty.org/

 

Early registration will close on 6/15/19.

 

This years 32nd annual Oregon Star Party will take place from July 30 through August 4, 2019 at Indian Trail Spring in the Ochoco National Forest.  Well known for its dark skies, Oregon Star Party is one of the largest annual star parties in the United States.  Please see the OSP website for more details.

 

We are looking forward to another great year and hope to see you all there!

 

The Oregon Star Party Committee

Edited by Steve W, 19 April 2019 - 08:09 PM.

[bbbriggs]

Yay!

[RedshiftRob]

Registered!

[RedshiftRob]

Has anyone successfully registered?  

 

I filled the form and got the PayPal receipt, but never got anything from OSP directly (as they indicated I should)

 

I also sent email afterwards, but still no reply...

 

Thanks.

 

-Stephen

[WadeH237]

I registered on the site, but never got the confirmation email.  I also tried to contact them, but have not received a reply yet.

 

Since I always register with a check, I went ahead and printed my registration information and sent it with the check by (physical) mail.

 

If I don't hear back, at some point I will contact some folks that I know directly.

[Steve W]

Some of the early registrants were not getting confirmation emails.  We have fixed the issue and anyone needing immediate confirmation on their registration can contact me directly at registration@oregonstarparty.org.

 

We are also working to resend confirmation emails that weren't sent out.  But I'm not sure if that is possible yet or not.

 

Steve

Edited by Steve W, 28 April 2019 - 08:17 AM.

[RedshiftRob]

Thanks Steve,  I'll send off an email.

 

-Stephen

[WadeH237]

I registered on the site, but never got the confirmation email.  I also tried to contact them, but have not received a reply yet.

Just a follow up that I heard from Steve via email today, and he confirmed that he received my registration.

[Bill Jensen]

Please consider joining the fun crew of volunteers for OSP this year as you register. We truly appreciate the help offered by the large group of volunteers!

[Steve W]

Everyone who has registered for OSP has been sent an email confirmation.  But, we continue to fight confirmation email gremlins on our end and many are receiving emails with the incorrect payment type.

 

Those who paid via PayPal can ignore the payment instructions on the email.

 

Thanks for everyone's patience as we sort out these issues.

 

Steve Weiler

OSP Registrar

 

 

 

[RedshiftRob]

Hi,   Is anyone "in the know" for when the Observing lists may be out?   Not wanting to rush whoever is putting them together, just curious.

 

Thanks.

 

-Stephen

[Steve W]

I asked for an update on the observing lists and will post the answer as soon as I get it.

 

Steve

[RedshiftRob]

I asked for an update on the observing lists and will post the answer as soon as I get it.

 

Steve

Thanks Steve,

 

I like to create pre-filled log sheets to make it easier to record my observations and keep a database with all the previous lists as well...

 

-Stephen

[Steve W]

The preregistration deadline has been extended to 6/29/19.

 

Steve Weiler

OSP Registrar

[ctcables]

_{Looking forward to another great year, Have a new trailer to test out which is longer than my old one so hope it fits. Going to try for Tuesday and hope for better parking.}

[DarkSkyKen]

The preregistration deadline has been extended to 6/29/19.

 

Steve Weiler

OSP Registrar

What is the reasoning for doubling the fee for onsite registration?

[Steve W]

We raise onsite fees to encourage preregistration.  Preregistration (and knowing how many will attend in advance) helps with the work done prior to the star party to make things runs smoothly.  Preregistration also reduces the amount of onsite registration work that is needed.  Setting up and running a very large star party is a lot of work and there are only about 25 of us on the committee to spread the load.

 

Steve

[Steve W]

The 2019 observing lists have been posted on the OSP website.

 

Steve

[RedshiftRob]

_{Thanks Steve!}

 

_{I've got them all downloaded and started preparing my log pages...}

 

_-Stephen

[WadeH237]

Well, it looks like I am the first one on site.

 

I get up here at least a week early every year, and usually a bit more than that.  Normally, there are a couple of people here ahead of me, and this is the first time I've been the first one.

 

Looking forward to great weather and watching the temporary "city" slowly build up over the next week-and-a-half*.  My last check of the forecast looked pretty good, with just tomorrow night being a bit sketchy.  Of course, I have the moon to deal with, so I'll be observing planets, clusters - and the moon itself.  I've not settled on any imaging targets yet, but it'll probably be narrow band until next weekend.

 

See everyone soon!

 

-Wade

 

* Watching the star party build up is a lot of fun.  It takes many days, and things just keep building.  I have also been the last one to leave the site before, and that's a very different experience.  As slowly as it takes to set up, breaking down happens *very* quickly.  It's almost eerie to have just a couple of people, or even to be alone, shortly after having 500+ people on site...

[Bill Jensen]

See you in 8 days, Wade! 

Flight leaves for Redmond in a week. 

[WadeH237]

Just an update, since I haven't posted here for a couple of days:

 

There are about 10 of us up here now, pretty much all imagers.  The porta-potties are in place.  The weather is *great*.  We had a windy day on Tuesday, but yesterday was about 75 degrees and calm.  It was clear all night.  The moon is rising later each night, and is now a crescent.

 

I'm expecting the rest of my party to get up here late Saturday afternoon, and I expect that there will be lots more arrivals this weekend.

 

If you are on the fence about attending this year:  Get up here!

 

And finally, I would like to link to a post that I made over in the Beginning Imaging forum.  It's a really long post, but is relevant here.  It describes my activities of the last few nights, along with an offer for anyone interested in seeing what's involved in getting started with imaging:

 

https://www.cloudyni...wbie-long-post/

 

-Wade

[WadeH237]

Update on the site:

 

We got our first round of dust devils for the year.  We had a very large one come through, which took out one trailer awning, nearly took a motorhome awning, and hit my observatory tent directly.

 

The trailer awning is the worst of the damage, and it's his second lost awning in 2 years.  My tent collapsed (leaving just my AP1600 and scope standing), but no serious damage was done.  I picked up too small tears in the tent, which will be easy to fix.  The rain fly was more seriously damaged.  I don't know the extend because it's still too windy to spread it out and evaluate it.  I know that there are some large tears in it.  I have a place in Seattle that does my tent repairs, and they will likely be able to deal with it.

 

So if you are looking for me on site, I'm now easier to find.  Instead of the observatory tent with the light gray rain fly, I now have the only bright yellow observatory tent on the field.

[BradleyB]

Wade, What service are you using to get this connection?

 

Brad

[WadeH237]

I'm using Verizon pre-paid service on an old iPhone 6 from which I upgraded a few years ago, and sharing the signal as a wifi hot spot.  I also have a weBoost cellular signal booster with an antenna on the top of my motorhome.  With the booster, I have 4 bars of signal.

 

My normal phone service is AT&T, and I can't get a usable signal, even with the booster.  I get the pre-paid Verizon service specifically for this star party and Golden State, both of which have no AT&T service.

 

My voice access up here is pretty consistent, but the data is hit and miss.  When it's working, I have an LTE signal that is reasonably fast.  Occasionally, the data drops to 1x service, which doesn't work at all.  I'd say that I have internet access 80% of the time, with unusable 1x service 20% of the time.  And the drops to 1x are random.  When the data stops working, I just do something else for a while, and then resume with it's back on LTE again.

Edited by WadeH237, 26 July 2019 - 10:47 AM.