COVER INFORMATION Station: VLBA_BR (Code Br ) Experiment: Image 3C120 at 90cm - calibrator test Exp. Code: bw067m Schedule Version: 1.00 Processed by SCHED version: Release of 18 Sept. 2003 PI: Craig Walker Address: National Radio Astronomy Observatory P. O. Box O Socorro, New Mexico, 87801 U.S.A. Phone: 505 835 7247 EMAIL: cwalker@nrao.edu Fax: 505 835 7027 Phone during observation: 505 835 7247 Observing mode: 6cm 128-4-2 Notes: COVER LETTER: 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. I have submitted a schedule as bw067c for that session. The other sessions can involve as little as 2 hours and as few as 6 antennas. The observing frequency is 327 MHz. Tropospheric weather is not an issue - any conditions are ok. The ionosphere and the solar corona are potential problems. An outcome of the test observations (bw067a and bw067b) was that we should not observe near the sun. So please don't schedule this in the months of April through July. As per discussions with Dave Medcalf, I have set up this schedule to use a SCHED optimization mode that allows any subset of a full track to be designated by only changing the start time and the overall duration. So, with only modifications to those parameters, this schedule can be used repeatedly to build up the required baseline hours. See the "Initial Scan Information" section in the key file. The schedule uses 1.3 tape passes per hour. 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]: April through July (too close to Sun). Preferred interval between segments in days [none]: Special conditions (e.g., a series with different spacings in time) [See the comments at the top.]: Schedule for VLBA_BR (Code Br ) Page 2 Image 3C120 at 90cm - calibrator test UP: D => Below limits; H => Below horizon mask. blank => Up. Early: Seconds between end of slew and start. Dwell: On source seconds. Tapes: Drive, Index, Start footage / Direction, Head Group, End footage. TPStart: Tape motion start time. Frequencies are LO sum (band edge). Automatic tape allocation specified. Tape positions are just estimates. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Start UT Source Start / Stop Early Tapes TPStart Stop UT LST EL AZ HA UP ParA Dwell (see above) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Fri 12 Dec 2003 Day 346 --- Next scan frequencies: 324.49 324.49 332.49 332.49 Next BBC frequencies: 824.49 824.49 832.49 832.49 Next scan bandwidths: 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 08 28 56 3C147 05 52 45 87.6 -42.1 0.2 136.0 0 1 1 0 08 28 36 08 31 56 --- 05 55 45 87.3 -49.5 0.2 128.1 180 F 1 1330 08 35 35 3C120 05 59 25 43.5 210.2 1.4 19.7 40 1 1 1330 08 35 15 08 55 32 --- 06 19 25 41.6 216.5 1.8 23.5 1197 F 1 9442 08 55 52 J0423-0120 06 19 45 34.5 216.1 1.9 23.2 0 1 1 9442 08 55 32 08 58 52 =0420-014 06 22 45 34.2 216.9 2.0 23.6 180 F 1 10774 08 59 12 3C120 06 23 05 41.3 217.6 1.8 24.1 0 1 2 10774 08 58 52 09 19 09 --- 06 43 05 39.1 223.5 2.2 27.5 1197 R 1 16313 09 19 29 J0423-0120 06 43 26 32.0 222.5 2.3 26.8 0 1 2 16313 09 19 09 09 22 29 =0420-014 06 46 26 31.6 223.3 2.4 27.2 180 R 1 14982 09 22 49 3C120 06 46 46 38.7 224.5 2.2 28.0 0 1 2 14982 09 22 29 09 42 45 --- 07 06 46 36.2 230.0 2.6 30.9 1197 R 1 6870 09 44 47 3C147 07 08 47 75.9 285.0 1.4 88.8 36 1 2 6870 09 44 27 09 47 46 --- 07 11 47 75.4 285.1 1.5 88.2 180 R 1 5540 09 50 13 3C286 07 14 14 19.6 425.8 -6.3 -44.9 29 1 2 5540 09 49 53 09 53 12 --- 07 17 14 20.0 426.3 -6.2 -45.2 180 R 1 4210 09 55 27 3C120 07 19 29 34.6 233.3 2.8 32.5 0 1 3 4210 09 55 07 10 15 24 --- 07 39 29 31.8 238.2 3.1 34.7 1197 F 1 3902 10 15 44 J0423-0120 07 39 49 24.8 236.3 3.3 33.8 0 1 3 3902 10 15 24 10 18 43 =0420-014 07 42 49 24.4 237.0 3.3 34.1 180 F 1 5232 10 19 03 3C120 07 43 09 31.3 239.1 3.2 35.1 0 1 3 5232 10 18 43 10 39 00 --- 08 03 09 28.3 243.7 3.5 36.9 1197 F 1 13342 10 39 19 J0423-0120 08 03 29 21.4 241.6 3.7 36.0 0 1 3 13342 10 39 00 10 42 19 =0420-014 08 06 29 21.0 242.3 3.7 36.2 180 F 1 14671 10 42 39 3C120 08 06 49 27.8 244.6 3.6 37.3 0 1 4 14671 10 42 19 11 02 35 --- 08 26 49 24.7 248.9 3.9 38.7 1197 R 1 12420 Schedule for VLBA_BR (Code Br ) Page 3 Image 3C120 at 90cm - calibrator test UP: D => Below limits; H => Below horizon mask. blank => Up. Early: Seconds between end of slew and start. Dwell: On source seconds. Tapes: Drive, Index, Start footage / Direction, Head Group, End footage. TPStart: Tape motion start time. Frequencies are LO sum (band edge). Automatic tape allocation specified. Tape positions are just estimates. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Start UT Source Start / Stop Early Tapes TPStart Stop UT LST EL AZ HA UP ParA Dwell (see above) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- Fri 12 Dec 2003 Day 346 --- 11 03 58 3C147 08 28 12 63.2 289.4 2.8 77.6 0 1 4 12420 11 03 38 11 06 58 --- 08 31 12 62.7 289.6 2.8 77.2 180 R 1 11090 11 09 26 3C286 08 33 40 32.2 438.7 -5.0 -49.4 43 1 4 11090 11 09 06 11 12 25 --- 08 36 40 32.7 439.2 -4.9 -49.5 180 R 1 9760 11 14 37 3C120 08 38 52 22.8 251.5 4.1 39.5 0 1 4 9760 11 14 17 11 34 33 --- 08 58 52 19.6 255.6 4.4 40.5 1197 R 1 1649 11 35 56 3C147 09 00 15 58.2 292.0 3.3 73.7 0 1 4 1649 11 35 36 11 38 56 --- 09 03 15 57.7 292.2 3.3 73.4 180 R 1 319 11 40 55 3C286 09 05 15 37.4 444.0 -4.4 -50.4 12 1 5 319 11 40 35 11 43 54 --- 09 08 15 37.9 444.5 -4.4 -50.4 180 F 1 1649 11 45 54 3C147 09 10 14 56.6 292.8 3.5 72.6 12 1 5 1649 11 45 34 11 48 53 --- 09 13 14 56.2 293.1 3.5 72.2 180 F 1 2979 SETUP FILE INFORMATION: NOTE: If DOPPLER, FREQ, or BW were used, see the individual scans for the final BBC settings. Setup file: bw051.set Matches group v5090n in /home/filehost/cwalker/sched/catalogs/freq.dat Setup group: 1 Station: VLBA Total bit rate: 128 Format: VLBA1:4 Bits per sample: 2 Sample rate: 16.000 Number of channels: 4 Passes/head pos: 1 Speedup factor: 2.00 Tape speeds: Low density - 133.330 ips, High density - 80.00 ips Time per pass for 17600 ft, High density tapes is: 00:44:00 1st LO= -500.00 -500.00 -500.00 -500.00 Net SB= U U U U Pol. = RCP LCP RCP LCP BBC = 1 2 3 4 BBC SB= U U U U IF = B D B D VLBA FE= omit 90cm omit 90cm VLBA Synth= 15.4 15.4 15.4 The following frequency sets based on this setup were used. Frequency Set: 1 Setup file default. Used pcal sets: 1 LO sum= 324.49 324.49 332.49 332.49 BBC fr= 824.49 824.49 832.49 832.49 Bandwd= 8.000 8.000 8.000 8.000 The following pulse cal sets were used with this setup: Pulse cal detection set: 1 PCAL = OFF PCALXB1= S1 S2 S3 S4 OFF OFF OFF OFF PCALXB2= M1 M2 M3 M4 OFF OFF OFF OFF PCALFR1= 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PCALFR2= 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Track assignments are: track1= 2, 18, 3, 19 barrel=roll_auto SOURCE LIST -- Image 3C120 at 90cm - calibrator test Catalog positions marked with *. Precession of date coordinates is based on stop time of first scan. Names used in schedule marked with *. Short names used in VLA and SNAP files marked with +. Observation date used in B1950/J2000 coordinate conversion (PRECDATE): 1979.900 No adjustments are made for rates (DRA, DDEC). Source Source position (RA/Dec) (B1950) (J2000) (Date) * J0423-0120 04 20 43.539850 * 04 23 15.800727 04 23 28.364010 0420-014 -01 27 28.70002 *-01 20 33.06531 -01 19 56.57079 J0423-01 /home/filehost/cwalker/sched/catalogs/sources.vlba ICRF - Ext.1 Source - 1998 IERS Annual Report J0433+0521 04 30 31.602066 * 04 33 11.095535 04 33 24.196787 0430+052 05 14 59.61664 * 05 21 15.61942 05 21 49.80578 * 3C120 /home/filehost/cwalker/sched/catalogs/sources.vlba J0433+05 ICRF - Ext.1 Source - 1998 IERS Annual Report J0542+4951 05 38 43.517539 * 05 42 36.137917 05 42 55.393994 0538+498 49 49 42.83693 * 49 51 07.23356 49 51 17.84078 * 3C147 /home/filehost/cwalker/sched/catalogs/sources.vlba J0542+49 ICRF - Ext.1 Source - 1998 IERS Annual Report J1331+3030 13 28 49.657691 * 13 31 08.287984 13 31 17.843927 1328+307 30 45 58.64021 * 30 30 32.95885 30 29 15.02329 * 3C286 /home/filehost/cwalker/sched/catalogs/sources.vlba J1331+30 VLBA Calib. Survey - ICRF Frame - reduced by GSFC group - Aug 2001 The solar corona can cause unstable phases for sources too close to the Sun. SCHED provides warnings at individual scans for distances less than 10 degrees. The distance from the Sun to each source in this schedule is: Source Sun distance (deg) J0423-0120 152.4 3C120 159.5 3C147 152.7 3C286 76.0 Barry Clark estimates from predictions by Ketan Desai of IPM scattering sizes that the Sun will cause amplitude reductions on the longest VLBA baselines at a solar distance of 60deg F^(-0.6) where F is in GHz. For common VLBI bands, this is: 327 MHz 117. deg 610 MHz 81. deg 1.6 GHz 45. deg 2.3 GHz 36. deg 5.0 GHz 23. deg 8.4 GHz 17. deg 15.0 GHz 12. deg 22.0 GHz 9. deg 43.0 GHz 6. deg