CORE-A026 (Continuous Observations of the Rotation of the Earth-A026) 1997 December 30 Notes prepared by Cynthia Thomas, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: CA026.SKD on CDDIS Nominal Start: 16:00 U.T. on December 30 (day 364) first observation at 16:00 U.T. on 1739+522 for GC-MA-WF first observation at 16:00 U.T. on 0458-020 for HH-HO Duration: 24 hours Nominal Stop: 16:00 U.T. on December 31 (day 365) last observation at 15:54 U.T. on 0229+131 for HH last observation at 15:55 U.T. on 1334-127 for HO last observation at 16:00 U.T. on NRAO512 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) 440 40476601 HartRAO J HH 3 (HDT) 251 72326201 Hobart H HO 2 (HDT) 192 72425901 Matera I MA 3 (HDT) 383 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 ./ca026.skd for experiment CA026 (all scans with at least one subnet station) SOURCE |0 6 12 18 | #SCANS #OBS #Obs/bl 0003-066Ix xxxx x xx x x xxx xI 14 14 3.6 0048-097I x xxx x x xx x x xx x xx x I 16 28 7.1 0059+581Ix xxx xx x x xx x xx x xx x x xxx x x xx xx x xI 29 87 17.4 0104-408I x xx xxxxxx xxx x I 13 19 6.2 0208-512I x xx xx xx xx I 9 9 3.7 0229+131Ix xxxxxxxx x x xx xxxx x x I 19 21 4.1 CTA26 I x xx x x I 5 5 1.3 0454-234I x x x xx xxxx xxxx x xx xI 18 28 9.3 0458-020I x xx xxx x xx xx x x x x I 15 15 3.7 0528+134I xx xxxxx xx x x xxx xx xxxx xxxxI 25 51 10.7 0537-441I x I 1 1 .3 0552+398I xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxx xx x x x x x xxx x I 28 64 11.3 0637-752I x x x x x x x x x x I 10 10 4.1 0718+793I x x x x I 4 4 .8 0727-115Ixx x x xx xx x xx xxxx xxxxI 19 27 8.6 0749+540I x xxx x x x x xx xx xx xx x x x x x xxx xxI 26 76 15.5 0804+499I x I 1 1 .2 0823+033I xxxxxxxx xxx x x I 13 15 3.2 OJ287 I I 0 0 .0 4C39.25 Ix xxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxx x x xxx xx I 32 76 11.1 0955+476I xxx x xxxx x xxx xxxx xxxx x x xxx x x xx xxxxI 34 72 15.5 1034-293Ix xx x xx xxxxxx I 12 14 4.7 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 1057-797Ix x x x x x x x x x I 10 10 4.1 1124-186I xx xx xxx I 7 7 2.4 1128+385I x xxx xx xxxxxx xxxxxx xx x xxxx xx I 27 45 5.4 1144-379I xx xx x xxx xI 10 10 3.4 1255-316I I 0 0 .0 1300+580I x x x x I 4 4 .8 1308+326I x x x xx xx xx xx xxxxxxxx x xxx xx I 25 25 3.1 1334-127Ix xxxx x xx xx x xx xxI 16 16 3.5 1357+769Ix x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x I 20 60 12.0 1424-418Ix xxx xxx x x I 9 9 3.1 1606+106Ixxx xxxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx x x xxxxI 35 43 8.2 1610-771I x x x x x x x x x x I 10 10 4.1 NRAO512 I xxx x x xx xx x xxxxxxx xxxxx x xxxxx xx xxxx I 35 90 17.4 1739+522Ix xxx x x xx xxx x xxx xx x x xxxxx xxx x xxx xxI 33 89 18.6 1741-038Ixxx xxx x x xx x xx x x x xxxxxx xxx xxxxI 31 49 11.6 1815-553I xx x I 3 3 1.2 1921-293I I 0 0 .0 1954-388I xxxxxx xx xxxxxxx x I 17 17 5.7 1958-179I xxxx xx xx x I 9 13 4.3 2005-489I I 0 0 .0 2052-474I I 0 0 .0 2145+067I x xx xx x x x xx xxx x xxxxx x xxxxxxxxxI 29 35 7.1 2234+282Ix xx x xxxx I 8 10 1.3 2255-282I x x x x I 4 4 1.4 Total scans, obs: 707 1252 Average number of obs. per baseline per source (normalized by up-time) = 5.8 Min = .0 Max = 38.1 (Baseline Gc-Ho on 0727-115) RMS = 8.9 Total time: 1442 minutes ( 24.0 hours). Key: Gc=GILCREEK Hh=HARTRAO Ho=HOBART26 Ma=MATERA Wf=WESTFORD Gc Hh Ho Ma Wf Avg % obs. time: 46 37 32 45 49 42 % cal. time: 5 2 2 4 4 3 % slew time: 26 38 28 18 18 26 % idle time: 21 21 36 32 26 27 # of tapes : .8 2.3 2.0 2.7 .8 total # scans: 440 251 192 383 415 336 # scans/hour : 18 10 7 15 17 14.0 Avg scan (sec): 91 129 147 101 103 114 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Gc Hh Ho Ma Wf StnTotal ---------------------------------- Gc|440 18 52 237 359 464 Hh| 251 132 136 35 409 Ho| 192 22 10 435 Ma| 383 251 878 Wf| 415 318 Number of 2-station scans: 451 Number of 3-station scans: 245 Number of 4-station scans: 11 Number of 5-station scans: 0 Total # of scans, observations: 707 1252 Average baseline components for all observations Average XY = 5978. Average XZ = 5957. Average YZ = 4782. Average length = 7195.