Session Notes for RD0508 Prepared by N. Vandenberg, NVI, Inc./GSFC Amended by J. Gipson, NIV, Inc./GSFC =========================================================== PURPOSE AND GENERAL NOTES =========================================================== The purpose of rd0508 is to continue the 2004 series of Gb/s tests. This session uses 7 stations fully scheduled. Wettzell and Kokee will observe INT I05229 and join rd0508 at about 1945 UT. Per the station request, 15 minutes are allowed after the nominal end of the INT schedules before joining the R&D. This schedule was generated using ultra-high minimum SNRs of 80 at X-band and 60 at S-band. An extra 3 seconds is added at the start of each scan for correlator synchronization. These extra seconds are not included in the calculation of the scan SNR. This session must be recorded on Mk5 disks. Multiple disk modules will be required. Stations must plan for disk changes by referring to the drudg listings that display the number of Gb recorded during the experiment. Refer to the last sections of these notes for reminders about testing and setup for the Gb/s recording mode. Testing prior to the experiment is essential for success. ADDED by JMGipson after above notes were written: Leonid Gurvitz requested that we try to observe the source J0744+2120. This source was used a phase-reference for the Huygens probe. This experiment was much more succesful than was originally anticpated, and as a consequence they need a very precise position for this week source. Because of the importance of this Huygens experiment, the OPC agreed to this. The schedule was regenerated, putting in 6 scans, each lasting 700 seconds on the above source. The first scan is at 20:00, with a scan every 4 hours thereafter. Since this source is so weak, the SNR targets were reduced for this source only. The average expected SNR at both X and S is about 20. =========================================================== Parameter values for experiment RD05008 Experiment description: R&D-008 Scheduler: nrv Correlator: HAYSTACK Nominal start: 2005-229-18:00:00 Nominal end: 2005-230-18:00:00 Current yyyyddd: 2005229 (2005.63) ( 13600 MJD, WED. 17AUG.) Greenwich sidereal time: 15:44:50.00 (18: 0: 0 UT) Sun's RA and DEC: 9h 48.8m 13d 12.9 =========================================================== First observations Observation listing from file ./rd0508.skd for experiment RD0508 Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Wz 4C39.25 05229-180000| 40 40 40 40 40 | 1611+343 05229-180313| 40 40 78 78 | 1357+769 05229-180633| 76 242 322 322 | 0552+398 05229-181323| 40 40 40 44 44 | 0202+149 05229-181523| 150 150 | .... End of listing. =========================================================== Last observations Observation listing from file ./rd0508.skd for experiment RD0508 Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Wz OJ287 05230-173959| 41 170 189 214 214 | 1044+719 05230-174706| 40 60 174 73 99 174 67| 1923+210 05230-175052| 55 55 42| CTA26 05230-175141| 40 40 | End of listing. =========================================================== SKED Summary from file ./rd0508.skd for experiment RD0508 (all scans with at least one subnet station) Key: Ap=ALGOPARK Gc=GILCREEK Kk=KOKEE Ny=NYALES20 On=ONSALA60 Wf=WESTFORD Wz=WETTZELL Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Wz Avg % obs. time: 17 41 36 45 47 39 38 38 % cal. time: 3 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 % slew time: 66 18 9 17 19 11 10 22 % idle time: 13 36 52 33 30 47 48 38 total # scans: 237 279 174 276 248 226 255 242 # scans/hour : 9.9 11.7 7.3 11.6 10.4 9.5 10.7 10.1 Avg scan (sec): 63 127 176 141 163 148 129 134 Total GBytes: 2153 5095 4413 5599 5820 4811 4725 4660 Total GB(M5): 1914 4529 3922 4977 5174 4277 4200 4142 # of tapes : .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 tape change times (hhmm): Total number of tapes: 1.0 Total GBytes (M5) recorded: 28992.5 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Wz StnTotal ------------------------------------------ Ap|237 169 88 169 126 188 131 871 Gc| 279 167 212 151 152 150 1001 Kk| 174 107 68 77 74 581 Ny| 276 204 161 209 1062 On| 248 145 223 917 Wf| 226 137 860 Wz| 255 924 Number of 2-station scans: 131 Number of 3-station scans: 62 Number of 4-station scans: 65 Number of 5-station scans: 70 Number of 6-station scans: 70 Number of 7-station scans: 31 Total # of scans, observations: 429 3108 =========================================================== Recording mode Name Code GEOSX8N 8F Recording mode setup for: ALGOPARK GILCREEK KOKEE NYALES20 ONSALA60 WESTFORD WETTZELL Mode Tot.Rate Tot.BandW #chan #bits Barrel Mk341:2 1024.000 Mbits 512.000 MHz 14 2 NONE Chan.BW #Subpasses Tracks(*fan) Tot.tracks Speed 16.00 MHz 1 16(*2) 32 3.20 X-band spanned bw= 720.0 MHz rms spanned bw= 280.4 MHz S-band spanned bw= 140.0 MHz rms spanned bw= 50.9 MHz Effective number of channels recorded per sub-pass X S Total 19.780 11.868 32.000 =========================================================== Tape types ID Station Tape length Density Passes Ap ALGOPARK 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Gc GILCREEK 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Kk KOKEE 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Ny NYALES20 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 On ONSALA60 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Wf WESTFORD 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 Wz WETTZELL 17400feet (Thin ) 5625000 (DUPER ) 7 =========================================================== SNR Targets Minimum SNR by baseline for multi-baseline scans X-band (margin 0) S-band (margin 0) Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Ap Gc Kk Ny On Wf Gc 80 Gc 60 Kk 80 80 Kk 60 60 Ny 80 80 80 Ny 60 60 60 On 80 80 80 80 On 60 60 60 60 Wf 80 80 80 80 80 Wf 60 60 60 60 60 Wz 80 80 80 80 80 80 Wz 60 60 60 60 60 60 ====================================================================== TESTING AND SETUP ====================================================================== This session requires 4 ribbon cables between the Formatter and the Mark 5 Recorder. If one of these cables is missing, the correlator will not be able to read any of the data. Mark 4 stations should run ftp://web.haystack.edu/pub/mark5/SNAP/chk1024.snp with ftp://web.haystack.edu/pub/mark5/SNAP/chk1024.prc VLBA4 stations such as Kokee Park, should run ftp://web.haystack.edu/pub/mark5/SNAP/vchk1024.snp and ftp://web.haystack.edu/pub/mark5/SNAP/vchk1024.prc Send a copy of the log to dsmythe@haystack.mit.edu, or put a copy in the misc directory on cddisa, with a follow-up e-mail to dsmythe. Do not touch any of the cables between the Formatter and the Mark 5 Recorder after this test has been run without any errors. ====================================================================== DISK MODULE CHANGES ====================================================================== This session will require 2, 3 or 4 disk modules, depending on the sizes that you have available at your station. DRUDG does not know the sizes, so it shows an ever-increasing GByte count. Please be aware that you will have to change modules several times during this session, and plan accordingly. There are several things to consider: 1) Mark module change times. Select the modules you will use for this session, note their sizes, and then mark by hand the places in the schedule where a module change will be necessary, and which bank will need to be changed. You can use the drudg Option 5 listing for this purpose. 2) Change modules promptly. When a module is full, the FS will automatically switch to the next one and put up a notice that you should change the old one. It is good practice to change the module as soon as it's called for, because then you are ready to record on the new one. 3) Create prompt window. The notice to change the disk module will scroll off the screen pretty quickly and you might miss it. It is possible, using the fs.prompt program, to create a prompt window on the screen with a message that you should replace the module. The window will stay there until you dismiss it by clicking on "continue". It is possible to do this so that the schedule will not be blocked while the window is displayed. To do this, edit your "change_pack" procedure and insert the following line as the first line: sy=fs.prompt "change disk module that is not selected" & The use of the "&" at the end is of the line is crucial to making sure that the schedule is not blocked. Please make sure you enter the line exactly as shown (you can adjust the message inside the quotes). One thing to be aware of is that the prompt will not tell you which module to change, so you must be careful to select the right one, i.e., the one that is not currently selected. If you have any questions, please contact Ed Himwich (weh@ivscc.gsfc.nasa.gov).