CORE-A018 (Continuous Observations of the Rotation of the Earth-A018) 1997 September 9 Notes prepared by Cynthia Thomas, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: CA018.SKD on CDDIS Nominal Start: 18:00 U.T. on September 9 (day 252) first observation at 18:00 U.T. on 0059+581 for GC-MA-WF first observation at 18:00 U.T. on 0003-066 for HH-HO Duration: 24 hours Nominal Stop: 18:00 U.T. on September 10 (day 253) last observation at 17:55 U.T. on 1815-553 for HO last observation at 17:57 U.T. on 1357+769 for GC last observation at 18:02 U.T. on 1741-038 for HH-MA-WF Correlator: Washington **Frequency Sequence**: CDP-WBCA - Modified CDP wide-band SX sequence. (720 MHz wide at X, 125 MHz wide at S), Shifted to avoid RFI at Matera 1 letter 2 letter Station Code Code # of tapes # of obs Occupation Code Fairbanks A GC 1 (TT) 424 40476601 HartRAO J HH 3 (HDT) 277 72326201 Hobart H HO 2 (HDT) 226 72425901 Matera I MA 3 (HDT) 388 72435701 Westford E WF 1 (TT) 415 72097301 Purpose ======= The purpose of the CORE-A sessions is to measure EOP simultaneously with NEOS, using a network of comparable precision, to assess the true accuracy of VLBI results. Both daily and hourly estimates of EOP for the NEOS and CORE-A sessions will be compared in detail. We hope to determine if there are any systematic differences between measurements of EOP with different networks because we will have sufficient data to make statistically significant studies. This is probably the most important set of experiments for this pre-CORE year because it will provide such a rich comparison data set. Schedule ======== This is a new schedule generated by C. Thomas with the automatic mode of sked. The following are the characteristics of the schedule: 1) This schedule was optimized for sky coverage. 2) Only the observations in the previous hour of the schedule were considered for the minor options. The best 70% of the configurations were considered for minor options. 3) The "minor options" were set to select observations to maximize the total number of observations, to minimize the idle time between scans, and to minimize time between scans on the same source by twenty minutes. 5) The minimum SNR limits for most baselines were set to 20 for X-band and 15 for S-band. 6) This schedule was made using 47 sources which helped improve the sky coverage. 7) The source models were updated as of the middle of December by Dave Shaffer. Procedures ========== Please use the modified CDP Wide-band SX sequence, CDP-WBCA, for this experiment. Correlation ========== This experiment will be correlated at the Washington Correlator with all baselines being correlated. SKED Summary from file ./ca018.skd.auto for experiment CA018 (all scans with at least one subnet station) SOURCE |0 6 12 18 | #SCANS #OBS #Obs/bl 0003-066I xx x xx x xxx xxxxx xx xx I 18 18 4.3 0048-097Ix x x x xxxxx xxx xxx x I 16 28 7.3 0059+581Ix xx x x x xx x x x x x x x xx xx x xx xxx x xx I 28 84 16.8 0104-408Ix xx xxx x x xx I 11 15 4.9 0208-512Ix x x x xx xx xxI 10 10 4.1 0229+131I x xxx xxx x I 8 8 1.5 CTA26 I x xxxxxxx I 8 8 2.0 0454-234Ixx x xxx xxxx xxxx xxxxI 20 20 7.4 0458-020Ixx x x x x xxx x xxxx x x x xxxI 20 20 4.6 0528+134Ixxx xx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xx x x xxxI 33 67 14.1 0537-441Ixxx xxxx x xx I 10 10 3.4 0552+398Ix x xx x xxxxx xx x xxxx xxxx xx x x xxI 28 61 9.8 0637-752I x x x x x x x x x xI 10 10 4.1 0718+793I x x x x I 4 4 .8 0727-115I xx x xxxxxx x xx x xx x I 16 20 7.1 0749+540Ixxx x xx x xx x x xx x x xxx xxx x xxx xx x I 28 80 16.3 0804+499I I 0 0 .0 0823+033I x x x x xxx xxxxxxxx I 16 16 3.4 OJ287 I xx x x I 4 4 .6 4C39.25 I x x x xx x xx xxxx xxxxx x xxx xxxxx I 27 61 8.5 0955+476Ixxx xx xx xxxxx x xxx x xxx xxxxx xx xxxxx xx xI 35 73 15.7 1034-293I xxx x xx xx xxx x I 13 15 5.0 1044+719I x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x xI 21 63 12.6 1057-797I x x x x x x x x I 8 8 3.3 1124-186I xxxx x x I 6 6 2.0 1128+385Ixx x xx xx xx x xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xI 28 55 6.8 1144-379I xxxx xxxxx x x I 11 15 4.9 1255-316I x x xxxx I 6 6 2.0 1300+580I x x x I 3 3 .6 1308+326Ix x x xx xx x xxx xx x xxxxx xxxxI 23 35 4.6 1334-127I x xxxxxx x xxx x xx I 14 14 4.1 1357+769I x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x I 19 57 11.4 1424-418I xx x xx xxx xx x I 12 16 5.2 1606+106Ixxxxx x xxxxx xxxx x xx xx xx xxxx xI 27 33 6.3 1610-771I x x x x x x x x x x I 10 10 4.1 NRAO512 Ix xxxx x xxxx x xx x x x xxx xxxI 22 43 6.7 1739+522Ixxx xx x xxxxx xx xx xx xx xxx xx xxxx xxx xxxxI 35 95 19.9 1741-038Ixxxxxx xxxxxx x xx xxx xxxx xxx xx x xx x I 34 52 12.3 1815-553I x xx x I 4 4 1.6 1921-293I xx x xx xxxx xx x x x I 15 19 6.4 1954-388I x x xxxxxx x xx I 11 11 3.6 1958-179I x xxxxxxx xx xx x xI 14 14 5.1 2005-489I I 0 0 .0 2052-474I I 0 0 .0 2145+067I x xxx xx xx xx xxxx xxxx xxx x xxxxx x x xx x xI 34 42 8.6 2234+282I x x x x xx xx I 8 8 1.0 2255-282I xx x xx x xx x I 9 13 4.2 Total scans, obs: 737 1254 Average number of obs. per baseline per source (normalized by up-time) = 5.9 Min = .0 Max = 42.9 (Baseline Hh-Ma on 0528+134) RMS = 8.7 Total time: 1444 minutes ( 24.1 hours). Key: Gc=GILCREEK Hh=HARTRAO Ho=HOBART26 Ma=MATERA Wf=WESTFORD Gc Hh Ho Ma Wf Avg % obs. time: 44 37 32 46 51 42 % cal. time: 4 3 2 4 4 3 % slew time: 26 38 31 17 18 26 % idle time: 23 21 33 31 25 27 # of tapes : .8 2.2 2.0 2.8 .9 total # scans: 424 277 226 388 415 346 # scans/hour : 17 11 9 16 17 14.4 Avg scan (sec): 91 115 123 103 106 107 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Gc Hh Ho Ma Wf StnTotal ---------------------------------- Gc|424 8 53 230 349 439 Hh| 277 165 128 29 424 Ho| 226 21 12 423 Ma| 388 259 901 Wf| 415 321 Number of 2-station scans: 486 Number of 3-station scans: 246 Number of 4-station scans: 5 Number of 5-station scans: 0 Total # of scans, observations: 737 1254 Average baseline components for all observations Average XY = 6065. Average XZ = 5980. Average YZ = 4659. Average length = 7211.