CORE-A024 (Continuous Observations of the Rotation of the Earth-A024) 1997 December 02 Notes prepared by Cynthia Thomas, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: CA024.SKD on CDDIS Nominal Start: 18:00 U.T. on December 02 (day 336) first observation at 18:00 U.T. on NRAO512 for GC-MA-WF first observation at 18:00 U.T. on 0528+134 for HH-HO Duration: 24 hours Nominal Stop: 18:00 U.T. on December 03 (day 337) last observation at 17:57 U.T. on 0208-512 for HH-HO last observation at 18:00 U.T. on 1739+522 for GC-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) 434 40476601 HartRAO J HH 3 (HDT) 262 72326201 Hobart H HO 2 (HDT) 194 72425901 Matera I MA 3 (HDT) 389 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 mid August 1997 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 ./ca024.skd for experiment CA024 (all scans with at least one subnet station) SOURCE |0 6 12 18 | #SCANS #OBS #Obs/bl 0003-066I xx xx x xx x x I 9 9 2.3 0048-097I x xx xx xx xxxx x x x xx x x xx I 20 32 8.2 0059+581Ix x xx xx x xx x x xx x xx x xx x xxxx x x xx x I 29 87 17.4 0104-408I x xx xxxxx xx x x I 12 18 5.8 0208-512I x x xx x x x I 7 7 2.9 0229+131I xxxxx xx x xx I 11 11 2.1 CTA26 I xxx x I 4 4 1.0 0454-234Ix xxx x xxxxxxx x xxxxx I 19 31 10.8 0458-020Ix x xxxx x x x x x x xx xx xx x x I 20 22 5.3 0528+134Ix xxx xxxx xxxxxxxx x xxxx xxxxxxx I 29 53 11.1 0537-441I xI 1 1 .3 0552+398I xx xxxxxxx xxxx xx xx xx xx xxx xxx x xI 29 67 11.9 0637-752Ix x x x x x x x x x x I 11 11 4.5 0718+793I x x x x I 4 4 .8 0727-115Ixxx x x x x xxx x xxx xxxxxxI 21 31 9.5 0749+540I x x xx xx xx x xxx xx xx xxx xx xxx xx x xxI 29 83 16.9 0804+499I x I 1 1 .2 0823+033I x x xxxxx x xx x x I 13 13 2.8 OJ287 I I 0 0 .0 4C39.25 I xxx x xxxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxxx x xx xxx xI 34 85 12.9 0955+476Ixx x xx xx x x xxx xxx xxxx x xxx xxxxx xx x x xI 33 71 15.3 1034-293Ixx x xx x xxx xxI 11 17 5.5 1044+719I x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x xI 22 66 13.2 1057-797I x x x x x x x x I 8 8 3.3 1124-186Ixx x xxI 5 5 1.7 1128+385I x xx xxxxxxxxxx x xx xxxxxxxxx xxxxI 29 59 7.7 1144-379Ixx x x x xx I 7 7 2.4 1255-316I I 0 0 .0 1300+580I x x x I 3 3 .6 1308+326Ix x xx x xx xxxxx xx xxxxxxxxx xxx I 26 26 3.3 1334-127I xx x x xx x xx x x x I 15 15 3.3 1357+769Ix x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x I 21 63 12.6 1424-418I x xxx x x x xx I 9 9 3.1 1606+106Ixxxx x x xxx x xxxx x xxx xxxxx x xx I 28 34 6.5 1610-771I x x x x x x x x x x I 10 10 4.1 NRAO512 Ixxx x xx xxx xx xx xxx xxxxx xxx xx xxxxx I 32 83 15.6 1739+522Ixxx xx xx xxx x x xx xxxx xx xx xxx x xxx x xx xI 34 92 19.3 1741-038Ix xxx x x x xxx xx xx xxxxxx x xxxxxx xxx I 31 49 11.6 1815-553I x x x I 3 3 1.2 1921-293I xxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xx xx I 20 20 6.9 1954-388I x xxxxxx xxxxxxx x x I 16 16 5.4 1958-179I xxxx xx xI 7 9 3.0 2005-489I I 0 0 .0 2052-474I I 0 0 .0 2145+067Ixx xx xxx x xx xx x x xxxx xx xx xxI 26 32 6.5 2234+282Ixx x xx I 5 5 .6 2255-282I x x x x I 4 6 2.0 Total scans, obs: 708 1278 Average number of obs. per baseline per source (normalized by up-time) = 5.9 Min = .0 Max = 38.1 (Baseline Gc-Ho on 0727-115) RMS = 9.0 Total time: 1441 minutes ( 24.0 hours). Key: Gc=GILCREEK Hh=HARTRAO Ho=HOBART26 Ma=MATERA Wf=WESTFORD Gc Hh Ho Ma Wf Avg % obs. time: 44 38 31 44 50 41 % cal. time: 5 3 2 4 4 3 % slew time: 26 37 27 19 19 25 % idle time: 23 21 39 32 25 28 # of tapes : .8 2.3 1.9 2.7 .9 total # scans: 434 262 194 389 415 338 # scans/hour : 18 10 8 16 17 14.1 Avg scan (sec): 88 125 139 98 104 110 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Gc Hh Ho Ma Wf StnTotal ---------------------------------- Gc|434 22 47 242 359 467 Hh| 262 138 141 39 424 Ho| 194 22 12 442 Ma| 389 256 894 Wf| 415 329 Number of 2-station scans: 444 Number of 3-station scans: 250 Number of 4-station scans: 14 Number of 5-station scans: 0 Total # of scans, observations: 708 1278 Average baseline components for all observations Average XY = 6008. Average XZ = 5982. Average YZ = 4791. Average length = 7222.