! Start with a big cover letter. coverlet / BW067A SUMMARY: This project needs about 100 hours times 45 baselines to meet the sensitivity requirements. This time can be accumulated in many separated sessions. One session should be a full track with all antennas to set the calibration and ensure full uv coverage. The other sessions can involve as little as 2 hours and as few as 6 antennas. The sessions can be run as filler in gaps between other projects. The observing frequency is 327 MHz. Tropospheric weather is not an issue - any conditions are ok. The ionosphere is a potential serious problem. For the next several months, 3C120 is a daytime object. We wish to start with a short test to see if this is a sufficiently serious problem to warrent postponing the start of the main observational sequence. The first session of 2 hours (BW067A) revealed that neither 3C120 nor 3C84 are strongly detected to MK, and to some extent, HN and SC. It was tricky getting delays etc for those sources. -------------------------------------------------------------------- For the second session, please observe for 2 to 4 hours with 6 or more antennas INCLUDING MK. That can be any 2-4 hours schedule. Then allow us to reduce the data to check to check the calibration sources. This is much like session A, except that we are trying different calibrators. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is the official dynamic scheduling sheet: ================================================================ Preferred Dynamic Contraints. Alter [defaults] as desired. ================================================================ Equipment constraints: Stations. Below each station code, the "o" indicates an [optional] station that is to be used if it is available. Change "o" to "r" if the station is required or change "o" to "n" if the station is not to be used. SC HN NL FD LA PT KP OV BR MK o o o o o o o o o r Minimum number of stations [6]: May we swap PT for a single VLA antenna? [yes] Consult http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/~gtaylor/y1gotcha.html to decide. If you adopt the default, then both PT and VLA1 must be in the stations list in the keyin file. Bands and polarizations. Below each band code, insert "R" if the righthand polarization is to be used, "L" if the lefthand polarization is to be used, "d" if dual polarizations are to be used, or "o" if the band is in your setups but scheduling should not be constrained by its availability. 90cm 50cm 20cm 13cm 6cm 4cm 2cm 1cm 7mm 3mm d Weather constraints: [appropriate for bands marked "L", "R", or "d" above and for at least the minimum number of stations] Date constraints: Preferred date(s), usually a series start [none]: Excluded dates plus reason [none]: Preferred interval between segments in days [none]: Special conditions (e.g., a series with different spacings in time) [See the comments at the top.]: endcover / ! ================================================================ ! ========================================================== ! ================= Cover Information ==================== ! ========================================================== ! version = 1 expt = 'Image 3C120 at 90cm - calibrator test' expcode = bw067b piname = 'Craig Walker' address1 = 'National Radio Astronomy Observatory' address2 = 'P. O. Box O' address3 = 'Socorro, New Mexico, 87801' address4 = ' U.S.A. ' phone = '505 835 7247 ' obsphone = '505 835 7247 ' email = cwalker@nrao.edu fax = '505 835 7027 ' obsmode = '6cm 128-4-2 ' obstype = VLBA note1 = ' ' ! ========================================================== ! ============== Correlator Information ================== ! ========================================================== correl = Socorro coravg = 1.05 corchan = 64 cornant = 10 corpol = on corwtfn = uniform corsrcs = standard cortape = DAT corship1 = 'Craig Walker' corship2 = 'P. O. Box O' corship3 = 'Socorro NM 87801' cornote1 = '' ! ========================================================== ! ================== Program control ===================== ! ========================================================== overwrit autotape = 2 minpause = 10 prestart = 20 sumitem = el1, az1, tape1, tape2 ! ========================================================== ! ======================= Setup file ===================== ! ========================================================== ! setini = bw051.set / band = '90cm' ! Observing band. SCHED had frequency. nchan = 4 ! Number of baseband channels. bbfilt = 8.0 ! Bandwidth per baseband channel (MHz) pol = dual ! RCP, LCP, or DUAL. bits = 2 ! Bits per sample ! Move the frequency up 2 MHz from the default to help VLA ! bandpass shape. freqref = 324.49, 324.49, 332.49, 332.49 / ! Note: Total bit rate = 2*bbfilt*nchan*bits endset / ! ========================================================== ! ======================== Optmization ===================== ! ========================================================== optmode = 'scans' opminant = 5 opminel = 12 ! ========================================================== ! ================= Initial Scan Information ============= ! ========================================================== !year = 2003 !month = 8 day = 59570 lst = vlba_pt start = 02:30:00 ! Should be 23:00:00 or later. opdur = 04:00:00 ! Uses optimization so can set overall ! duration (like pointing schedules) ! Should be 11:00:00 or less. ! ========================================================== ! ======================== The Scans ===================== ! ========================================================== ! MK down at start. setup = bw051.set stations = VLBA_SC, VLBA_HN, VLBA_NL, VLBA_FD, VLBA_LA, VLBA_PT, VLBA_KP, VLBA_OV, VLBA_BR, VLBA_MK, VLA1 vlamode = vs ! 3C286, 3C454.3, and 3C84 are potential calibrators group 8 rep 12 source = 3C147 dwell=05:00 / source = 3C120 dwell=20:00 gap=02:00 / source = J0503+0203 dwell=05:00 gap=00:00 / source = J0459+0229 dwell=05:00 gap=00:00 / source = J0423-0120 dwell=05:00 gap=00:00 / source = J0431+2037 dwell=05:00 gap=00:00 / source = 3C120 dwell=20:00 / source = 3C286 dwell=05:00 gap=00:00 /