by Ed Mizzi
February 2, 2017 Monthly Meeting
David Surette welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the agenda.
Bob Prociuk provided an update on present membership numbers. He also welcomed the new members present in the audience.
Ed Mizzi discussed Outreach, past, present and future. He encouraged members to get involved and offered assistance to anyone who needed tips on how to make group presentations. Ed also mentioned a meeting that he and Bill Leggitt attended at Westfield Heritage Village. He told the group that Westfield is still interested in having the Hamilton Centre provide outreach during Hallowe’en, Christmas and their summer star party.
Bob Prociuk discussed a meeting (organized by Ed Mizzi), with a representative from the City of Hamilton regarding tree removal at the observatory. He indicated that the rep. promised to proceed with the process to obtain a permit for the club, making it possible 
to remove some of the taller trees to give better sight lines for viewing and astrophotography.
David Surette then discussed AstroCATS 2017. He told the audience about the venue, including vendors, sponsors, location and the volunteer program. He is very excited about this year’s event and is hopeful that it will be the best AstroCATS ever. David invited Andy Blanchard to speak about the second annual CAPS (Canadian Astrophotography School). Andy explained how the courses will run and that there are three great speakers lined up to provide lessons for beginners and experts alike.
David invited Colin Haig to discuss a new piece of equipment he is using in his Milton observatory. It involves a Micro-Start battery with several attachments, making power retrieval and management much easier, especially when in a remote location.
David introduced the guest speaker for the evening. Chris Talpas, one of the Hamilton Centre’s members and Directors, had prepared a talk about Radio Telescopes. Chris provided an in depth discussion of everything from the history of radio astronomy to the latest technology. 
He explained how radio telescopes function and what they can provide that optical equipment cannot. Chris used several informative and interesting slides to complement his description of this fascinating topic. Kudos to Chris for all the time he spent preparing this talk and giving those present an enlightening look into radio telescopes.
David asked if there was any “other” business and seeing none, he invited everyone to the Royal Coachmen for refreshments and further discussion and adjourned the meeting.
