Hi,

Please have a look at my small web page about my trip with the charitable foundation I support!

My name is Dan Gray.  I live in West Linn Oregon, a town about 10 miles south of Portland Oregon.  I was born in 1956 in Portland Oregon.  I'm looking at the bright side, that puts me less than 50 years old at this writing!!!!




This is a photo of myself and Roberta, at an Open Mike where I play the guitar sometimes.

I have been involved in a 12 step program for more than 2 years.  If you would like more information about my 12 step program, please email me.

I have two daughters of my own, Malaika (born in 1979) and Anna (pronounced Onna) who was born in 1983.  Malaika graduated from Occidental College, and is currently living in Los Angeles California, where she is involved in a housing co-op for low income folks, and working at a bookstore.

Anna attended Pacific Lutheran University during 2003-2004, and didn't really like it to much.  During late summer of '04, she took a European trip with a friend of hers, and now plans to attend school here in Portland.  She is an artist and a photographer.

I have been married to Roberta Gray since October of 1999.  She has 2 children, Kelly (born in 1988) and Christina (born in 1992).  Kelly lives with her father in Santa Cruz, California, and we see her during the summer, and during holidays throughout the year.  Christina lives with us, and I have adopted her as my own daughter.



Left to right: Kelly, Anna, Me, Malaika, Christina

I've always been interested in astronomy, being the obsessive compulsive type, it has always bordered on obsession.  My first interest in astronomy was because of my Dad.  I had a book called "You will go to the moon".  During my childhood, I lost this book, but my friend Mel Bartels gave me another copy recently!  I grew up at the beginning of the space age, and my father always kept me up to date with the latest happenings.  I remember well, going to a neighbors house to watch the first lunar landing on television.  It made a lasting impression on me.  I was 13 years old at the time.

Once I could actually afford a telescope, I purchased a Meade 8" F6 Newtonian, on a polar mount. I made a drive corrector for this scope, modified the drive, etc.  This was my first ATM project, and I really enjoyed the creativity of the modifications.

My next ATM project was creating a computerized Polar telescope.  I purchased a 14" mirror from an ad in Sky and Telescope (before the internet!!!).   I acquired an old "283" small block Chevy engine.  I disassembled the engine, and I literally (believe it or not) cut the V8 engine in half using a hacksaw and several blades!!!!), turning it into a V4 engine.  I then inverted it, used the flywheel as a mounting plate for the fork, inserted two 4X4's in two of the cylinders, and made a rock solid (albeit very heavy) telescope!  The mounting I made had two stepper motors, one for RA, and one for DEC, it had a synchronous motor for the RA, and there was a planetary gear that was used to connect the synchronous tracking motor to the stepper motor.  I wrote software for an old IBM PC that drove the stepper motors, via the parallel port.  It actually worked, and I used it a few times.  It was really fun to find objects, and have them track. 

This mount was very heavy, and I got tired of setting it up!!!  It has since been discarded.  Since I had a good back at the time, the weight of the mount was not a factor for me.  At that time, current ATM thinking was the heavier the mount, the more solid it was.

At about this time, my friend Dennis Jackson and I started Technical Marine Service (TMS).  We work on control systems, mainly on large ocean going ships.  This new business completely overshadowed my interest in astronomy until Comet Shoemaker/Levy collided with Jupiter.  At that time, I got out my 8" scope, and had a look at Jupiter, not knowing what to expect.  I was absolutely blown away by what I saw.  I have been heavily into astronomy since that event in 1994!.  In late 2003, I purchased the other half of TMS from my partner, and am now the sole owner.

My next ATM project was turning my old Meade 8" F6 scope into an alt az scope.  I made this out of wood.  I made a micro controller based (I used an 8051 micro processor) micro stepper system to control this, and used the famous "Taki" basic routines (I converted them to "C") to control the pointing. The controller card was connected to a PC via the serial port.  The PC did all the data base stuff, and the trig, the controller did all the micro-stepping, etc.  Now I had a portable lightweight telescope that worked really well.  Currently, I'm using this same system on my 14 inch telescope.  I plan to upgrade this to the new Servo/ScopeII system soon.

Here is a photo I took using the 8".  It is a 10 minute exposure of Hale/Bopp from Freemont Peak State Park.


I then took the mirror from the old 14" scope, and made a new alt/az mounting out of fiberglass and honeycomb.  This was the first telescope I know of using the "Flex Rocker" design.  Ed Harvey, a fellow ATM'er and Employ of TMS invented the Flex Rocker, during my design of the 14 inch.  This has been a rock solid, very accurate mount.  I still use this telescope, it is in an observatory at our house.

Shortly after making this telescope, I was thinking about making a telescope for my then girlfriend Jane.  She was making a 16 inch mirror and needed a mounting for it.  One day I was discussing the possible mountings for this telescope during lunch, with Ed Harvey.  A different employee who wasn't an ATM'er made the comment.  "Dan, the next thing you know, you're going to design an inflatable scope!"  This made me think a bit, and I realized it would actually be possible.  It would need low-stretch strings to "capture" the position of the secondary cage.  I made a model out of a toilet paper roll, glue, and thread.  After playing around with this model, I knew the "string scope" was a valid design.  The first string scope to use this design that I know of is now the famous "Jane Scope" which I made for her.

Shortly after this, I met Roberta, and shortly after this, we were married!

Aperture fever now made me want a larger telescope, and I started planning the 28 inch telescope.  I knew it would be computerized, so I had that in mind when I designed and fabricated it.  After making the telescope, and using it as a push around "DOB",  I knew I wanted a new control system.  This is when I happened to attend a star party with Mel Bartels (I believe it was October of 2003), and we connected on the new Servo System.  More on this story later.

Enough about me, how about you?  Email me here.


Taken on our vacation to mexico.