TRS Event 2025 TRS Fall Colors Campout

[Curious Hound]

Sneak preview spoiler.
@JohnnyO 's Ranger left the pavement.

 

[JohnnyO]

Sneak preview spoiler.
@JohnnyO 's Ranger left the pavement.

View attachment 134516

Oh no!!! Dirt!!!
Truth is that I did run it through a touchless car wash on the way home to get the big dirt off after we dropped off the trailer.

 

[Curious Hound]

I'm hoping to work on the video for this event today while I'm drying out the tent and gazebo.

Johhny, would you please pm your email address to me? I will make some still photos available for download on Google Drive. I have Mike's email already.

Everybody else; if you did not attend this event, you really missed out on a great weekend. I plan on doing it again next fall. However... we are going to move it to the New River Gorge area and might move it ahead or behind one week to avoid conflict with the Overland Expo East in Arrington, VA. Watch TRS Forums for details, especially early in 2026.

 

[Curious Hound]

The day after. Dry it out and give the creepy-crawlies achance to escape.

 

[sgtsandman]

I'm working on uploading photos and video to imgr so I can share and download the photos to my computer. Most of mine are from the train ride, but I'll try to post them in a way that one can make sense of what they are seeing.

The RTT, 270 degree awning, and shower tent are all open and drying at the moment as well.

 

[sgtsandman]

Enjoy your shut down time. We were told that our budget is in place years in advance, so not going to affect us. I really wouldn't mind having a couple of furlough days. Still couldn't make this trip on that short notice even if they did close down..

Y'all have fun and stay safe.

We get to go in and work for free until a budget or a continuing resolution is passed. Then we get retroactive pay. Until then, you are living on savings, a loan, or a credit card.

 

[Curious Hound]

The day after. Dry it out and give the creepy-crawlies achance to escape.
View attachment 134552

Dang it! I folded up the gazebo when it got dry. Then sprayed 3M waterproofing stuff on the tent until I ran out of stuff. Left it to dry some more. Went back out and a light mist had fallen and got the tent wet. Wadded it up loosely in my arms and threw it in the spare bedroom until Thursday, the next forecasted dry day.

 

[sgtsandman]

Some highlights from the trip. I'm still working on an how to do a bit of a write/article on the whole trip. We were the only one's who went on the train ride. Some, not sure if I should make a new thread or not.

A panoramic view of the stop we made next to the Senica Hikers Shelter.

This is one of the nicer hiker's shelters that I've seen.

It even had a pocket Jesus

We then stopped at the Thorny Mountain Fire Tower

And the final stop was at Clover Lick Railroad Station next to a Rails to Trails bike trail.

I need to work on some stock photos and information about the Green Bank Observatory. Being that nothing electronic was highly discouraged on the grounds before the main gate, no pictures were taken by any of us. Old fashioned film cameras were the only thing allowed.

 

[bobbywalter]

The day after. Dry it out and give the creepy-crawlies achance to escape.
View attachment 134552

i had an 8 inch centipede crawling up my pant leg sat night.....out by dinosaur when i was trying to figure out why my work truck was powering down and throwing traction control codes...

just glad it was not a scorpion or something like that.... i was looking at my gear real careful before taking it into the hotel room...scattered shit all over the parking lot...

 

[bobbywalter]

I'm working on uploading photos and video to imgr so I can share and download the photos to my computer. Most of mine are from the train ride, but I'll try to post them in a way that one can make sense of what they are seeing.

The RTT, 270 degree awning, and shower tent are all open and drying at the moment as well.View attachment 134555

the taj mahal

 

[sgtsandman]

Green Bank Observatory - Home of the GBT

The first national radio astronomy observatory, founded in 1957. Supported by the National Science Foundation and operated by Associated Universities,

greenbankobservatory.org

General Information

• The Green Bank Observatory is home to nine telescopes including the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT)
• Green Bank Observatory employs 100 people on the Green Bank site year-round, and ~150 people during summer months
• Approximately 50,000 visitors come to the Green Bank site each year
• More than 3,500 students participate in Green Bank’s educational programs each year, representing states from all across the U.S.
• Yearly, over 50 different groups come to spend at least one night and use the 40-ft educational telescope for research
• We average 12-16 residential workshops each year, for ages ranging from middle school through undergraduate students, graduate students, and teachers, as well as the general public
• Green Bank staff travel around the country and around the world to take part in educational programs and to talk about the science and technology of the Green Bank Observatory
• The site technology development program typically works with 5-15 college/universities at any one time
• 60% of the Green Bank staff are native from Pocahontas County and West Virginia
• The National Radio Quiet Zone is administered for Green Bank Observatory and the Sugar Grove Research Facility
• The site telescopes range in diameter from 40 feet – 330 feet (12 – 100 meters)

History

• The Green Bank site was dedicated on October 17, 1957
• The West Virginia Radio Astronomy Zoning Act was passed in 1957
• The National Radio Quiet Zone was established in 1958
• The first undergraduate summer students arrive in Green Bank in 1959
• The first telescope was completed in 1958 – an 85 foot diameter telescope which remains on site today
• The first NRAO interferometric measurements were in Green Bank in 1964 (with two 85 foot telescopes)
• Ground breaking for the GBT was in 1991, it was dedicated in 2000, and went into operation in 2003
• Full high frequency operation of the GBT was achieved in 2011.

About the Green Bank Telescope (GBT)

• The GBT cost roughly $95,000,000 to build
• The GBT is the largest fully-steerable telescope in the world
• The GBT is running observations roughly 6,500 hours each year, more than many other observatories
• For each hour of time available for science on the GBT, approximately 3-4 hours are requested
• More than 600 individual scientists and students proposed to use the GBT each year
• More than $25,000,000 has been invested in the GBT in the past five years by colleges, universities, the NSF, and the state of West Virginia
• The surface of the GBT is perfectly smooth to a noise level of 260 microns (5 human hairs)
• The pointing accuracy of the GBT is 2 arc seconds, able to resolve a quarter at 3 miles
• The GBT weighs almost 17 million pounds and stands over 485 feet above ground level
• The GBT’s collecting area is 2.4 acres

Green Bank Telescope

GBO Bunkhouse and Residence Hall behind it.

Green Bank Observatory. It houses the museum, gift shop, and the computer room for the telescope.

10 mile National Radio Quiet Zone

Tatel Telescope

140 foot Telescope

45 foot Telescope

40 foot Telescope

Original project photos. #1 and #7 were calibration models

 

[sgtsandman]

the taj mahal

Needed a privacy bathroom for Jessica and it also serves as a shower tent, if needed. It is pretty fancy though.

 

[bobbywalter]

i think its awesome.

 

[sgtsandman]

i think its awesome.

Thanks. She's heavier than I would like but so far, she's doing the job.