rdv59 (Astrometric/Geodetic VLBA-59) 2006 September 14 REVISED: Please note that the previous RDV schedule had the wrong date and start time. This one has the correct date and start time. Notes prepared by John Gipson, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: RDV59.skd Pointing files: RDV59crd.br, RDV59crd.fd, RDV59crd.hn, RDV59crd.kp, RDV59crd.la, RDV59crd.mk, RDV59crd.nl, RDV59crd.ov, RDV59crd.pt, RDV59crd.sc ftp://vlbiobs@aspen.nrao.edu/home/aspen6/astronomy/sep06/RDV59 Summary file for correlator: RDV59.sksum on aspen PCFS file: ftp://vlbigeo@cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov/vlbigeo/sep06/RDV59.skd http://lupus.gsfc.nasa.gov/sess/2006/sesshtml/RDV59.html This experiment uses the VLBA and the following 8 IVS stations: Algopark, Hobart, Medicina, NyAlesund, Svetloe, TIGO,Westford, Wettzell First observations: Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Ap Br Fd Hn Ho Kp La Mc Mk 0727-115 06256-180000| 300 300 300 300 300 300 1928+738 06256-180000| 300 300 300 1053+704 06256-180704| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 0556+238 06256-181115| 300 Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Sv Tc Wf Wz 0727-115 06256-180000| 300 300 300 300 | 1928+738 06256-180000| 300 300 300 300 300| 1053+704 06256-180704| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 0556+238 06256-181115| 300 | Last observations: name yyddd-hhmmss Ap Br Fd Hn Ho Kp La Mc Mk 1706-174 06257-174633| 300 1739+522 06257-174813| 300 300 0727-115 06257-174841| 300 300 300 300 300 300 1053+704 06257-175547| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Sv Tc Wf Wz 1706-174 06257-174633| 300 300| 1739+522 06257-174813| 300 300 300 | 0727-115 06257-174841| 300 300 300 300 | 1053+704 06257-175547| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Statistics: Key: Ap=ALGOPARK Br=BR-VLBA Fd=FD-VLBA Hn=HN-VLBA Ho=HOBART26 Kp=KP-VLBA La=LA-VLBA Mc=MEDICINA Mk=MK-VLBA Nl=NL-VLBA Ny=NYALES20 Ov=OV-VLBA Pt=PIETOWN Sc=SC-VLBA Sv=SVETLOE Tc=TIGO Wf=WESTFORD Wz=WETTZELL Ap Br Fd Hn Ho Kp La Mc Mk % obs. time: 27 53 56 46 45 55 55 45 47 % cal. time: 2 3 3 3 2 3 3 3 2 % slew time: 51 18 17 17 29 17 17 29 16 % idle time: 19 25 24 33 23 24 24 23 34 total # scans: 200 245 235 235 165 240 241 246 205 # scans/hour : 8.3 10.2 9.8 9.8 6.9 10.0 10.0 10.2 8.5 Avg scan (sec): 118 186 204 170 234 197 198 157 198 Total GBytes: 531 955 991 846 784 979 991 830 839 Total GB(M5): 472 849 881 752 697 870 881 738 746 # of tapes : .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Sv Tc Wf Wz Avg % obs. time: 51 55 51 55 48 37 75 64 55 51 % cal. time: 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 % slew time: 16 12 18 17 17 37 5 8 6 20 % idle time: 29 29 27 23 32 22 17 25 35 27 total # scans: 240 223 244 240 220 246 137 188 207 219 # scans/hour : 10.0 9.3 10.2 10.0 9.2 10.2 5.7 7.8 8.6 9.2 Avg scan (sec): 184 214 182 200 189 131 476 294 230 208 Total GBytes: 924 981 933 993 869 711 1248 1096 859 909 Total GB(M5): 822 872 829 883 772 632 1110 974 764 808 # of tapes : .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 Total # of scans, observations: 589 15302 Special Notes for this session: - IMPORTANT. In this RDV ALL stations will record on Mark5. The session will be correlated in 3-passes. The version of the field system that is out in the field does not work correctly with Mark5 and continous mode. Becasue of this we will produce "snp" files for all of the non-VLBA stations: Algopark, Hobart, Medicina, NyAlesund, Svetloe, TIGO,Westford, Wettzell - IMPORTANT: The synch time for the VLBA correlator using Mark5 is 25 seconds. Because of this, stations recording with Mark5 disks will start taking data 25 seconds prior to the normal scan time. They will continue to take data between scans if the there is the gap is less than 25 seconds. - Most stations participate in two initial long (5-min) scans and a final 5-min scans. - GGAO was tagged along in the schedule - Wettzell is absent from 18:30 to 19:40 because of the intensive. - The fluxes use our most recent models. Purpose ======= This is the 3rd of six bi-monthly coordinated astrometric/geodetic experiments in 2006 that use the full 10-station VLBA plus up to 10 geodetic stations capable of recording VLBA modes. This year's series is a continuation of the highly successful RDV series begun in 1997. These experiments are being coordinated by the geodetic VLBI programs of three agencies: USNO, NASA, and NRAO. The experiments have been designed so that the same data set may be used by each agency for its particular goals. USNO will perform repeated imaging and correction for source structure. These sources will establish a set of core reference sources with known structure and precisely known positions. These data will provide the basis for evaluating the long term stability of the radio reference frame and the ultimate accuracy of wide angle astrometric measurements of extragalactic radio sources using VLBI. NASA will analyze this data to determine a high accuracy terrestrial reference frame. The data will incorporate the VLBA stations into the VLBI reference frame through the inclusion of other geodetic stations for which we have long histories. The data will also produce the most accurate Earth rotation results ever produced. We will use these data to make accurate absolute measurements of UT1. NRAO will use these sessions to provide a service to users who require high quality positions for small numbers of sources. While the quality of these results will be high, the observing and data reduction overhead required will be minimal because such sources can be incorporated into a session of the regular geodetic observations, instead of requiring special observations. Sources for this series of experiments will be selected using the proposed approach. For each experiment we will select a set of 70-80 sources out of the pool of ~400 Northern Hemisphere ICRF sources. About 40-50 of these will remain the same from experiment to experiment and will be chosen to optimize the goals of the three groups. Schedule ======== This is a new schedule generated by John Gipson using sked. SOURCE SELECTION There are a total of 100 sources in this session. Requested sources: There were 3 requested sources in this RDV: 1805-214, 1825-055, 1640-231 These sources were previously observed in RDV57. However, because of a format problem in sked output, these sources were not correlated. Monitored sources. 27 sources were selected which had not been recently observed. Other sources. 70 sources were selected from the geodetic catalog to complement the sky distribution. SCHEDULING ALGORITHMS This schedule also uses the "SRCEVN SQRT" mode. In the absense of any constraints, Sked will preferentially observe strong sources that have high visibility. This mode attempts to smooth out the number of observations per source. In this schedule observations involving Hobart, Hartrao and Tigo were given preference in scheduling. Recording Mode and Frequencies: same as previous experiments ============================================================ The data will be recorded using the following setup: 8 channels 1:4 fan-out 16 MHz sample rate 1-bit sampling This recording mode is designated 128-8-1. The correlator speed-up factor is 2. The frequency sequence covers 500 MHz in 8 channels. This span fits in one VLBA receiver passband but it uses both the high and low parts of the geodetic receivers. Because only 8 channels are available when observing with the VLBA stations, a wider spanned bandwidth is not advisable. With the 1:4 fanout at 16 MHz sample rate, all 32 tracks are recorded in one pass, so there will be 14 passes on a tape. These tables list the setup for the VLBA stations, the geodetic stations with VLBA back ends, and the geodetic stations with Mark IV back ends. These are the SAME frequencies used in all the standard RDV sessions. Geodetic stations: please read the special procedures in the next section! VLBA Fairbanks Kokee Chan Sky Tracks LO IF BBC | LO IF BBC #| LO IF BBC # 1 X 8405.99 2, 4, 6, 8 7900 B 505.99| 7600.1 A 805.89 3|7600 A 805.99 3 2 X 8475.99 10,12,14,16 7900 B 575.99| 7600.1 A 875.89 4|7600 A 875.99 4 3 X 8790.99 18,20,22,24 7900 B 890.99| 8080.0 C 710.99 5|8100 C 690.99 5 4 X 8895.99 26,28,30,32 7900 B 995.99| 8080.0 C 815.99 6|8100 C 795.99 6 5 S 2232.99 3, 5, 7, 9 2900 A 667.01| 1540.1 B 692.89 9|1500 B 732.99 9 6 S 2262.99 11,13,15,17 2900 A 637.01| 1540.1 B 722.89 10|1500 B 762.99 10 7 S 2352.99 19,21,23,25 2900 A 547.01| 1540.1 B 812.89 13|1500 B 852.99 13 8 S 2372.99 27,29,31,33 2900 A 527.01| 1540.1 B 832.89 14|1500 B 872.99 14 VLBA | Tsukuba Chan Sky Tracks LO IF BBC | LO IF BBC # 1 X 8405.99 2, 4, 6, 8 7900 B 505.99| 7680 A 725.99 3 2 X 8475.99 10,12,14,16 7900 B 575.99| 7680 A 795.99 4 3 X 8790.99 18,20,22,24 7900 B 890.99| 8080 A 710.99 5 4 X 8895.99 26,28,30,32 7900 B 995.99| 8080 A 815.99 6 5 S 2232.99 3, 5, 7, 9 2900 A 667.01| 1600 B 632.99 9 6 S 2262.99 11,13,15,17 2900 A 637.01| 1600 B 662.99 10 7 S 2352.99 19,21,23,25 2900 A 547.01| 1600 B 752.99 13 8 S 2372.99 27,29,31,33 2900 A 527.01| 1600 B 772.99 14 Medicina, Wettzell, Matera, GGAO, TIGO VLBA | Westford, NOTO, HartRAO, Onsala Chan Sky Tracks LO IF BBC | LO IF VC VC# Patch 1 X 8405.99 2, 4, 6, 8 7900 B 505.99| 8080.0 1 325.99 3 H 2 X 8475.99 10,12,14,16 7900 B 575.99| 8080.0 1 395.99 4 H 3 X 8790.99 18,20,22,24 7900 B 890.99| 8580.1 3 210.89 5 L 4 X 8895.99 26,28,30,32 7900 B 995.99| 8580.1 3 315.89 6 H 5 S 2232.99 3, 5, 7, 9 2900 A 667.01| 2020.0 2 212.99 9 H 6 S 2262.99 11,13,15,17 2900 A 637.01| 2020.0 2 242.99 10 H 7 S 2352.99 19,21,23,25 2900 A 547.01| 2020.0 2 332.99 13 H 8 S 2372.99 27,29,31,33 2900 A 527.01| 2020.0 2 352.99 14 H Special procedures for non-VLBA stations ======================================== SEE THE NOTE AT THE START ABOUT MARK5 recording. Special procedures for Medicina, Westford, Onsala, Wettzell, Tsukuba, Matera, GGAO, TIGO ================================================================== These stations have Mark IV formatters. Use the procedures generated by DRUDG. These must be generated for rdv54 because of the new S-band frequency sequence. Note that the patching for VC10 must be changed from L to H for this session. This is a non-standard setup. There are 8 video converters used: 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 13, and 14. These were selected so that you will NOT have to change the standard geodetic IF patching. The 6 unused VCs 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, and 12 should be set to frequencies which do not occur in any of the passbands. Any value in the 100-200 MHz range is OK. The Mark IV formatters now have barrel roll capability, so please verify that your FORM command has specification for barrel roll. The IF3 command in the procedure IFDSX assumes that VC3 will be patched to High. Please verify that the switches for your IF3 module are wired this way, and if they are not please edit the IF3 command to change the switches. If you have questions about the wiring, please contact Brian Corey at Haystack. Special procedures for Kokee ================================================== These stations have VLBA back ends. Use the procedures generated by DRUDG. BBCs 3,4,5,6 are used at X-band with IFs A and C. BBCs 9,10,13,14 are used at S-band with IF B. The unused BBCs 1,2,7,8,11,12 should be set to frequencies which do not occur in any of the passbands. Any value in the range 500-600 MHz is OK. The formatter should be set up to use barrel roll. Please verify that you are using the same barrel roll as you used in previous sessions correlated at the VLBA. CHECKLIST for non-VLBA stations =============================== Please follow the checklist below to ensure you have done all the necessary steps for this experiment: 1. Make .prc file with DRUDG and check them out, or use the procedures from last session. Check out parity check procedures. 2. Use the .snp files provided by GSFC. 3. Set up your system to monitor the clocks with the "gps-fmout" or "fmout-gps" commands. If you have questions about this, please contact Ed Himwich as soon as possible. 4. Send a "ready" message an hour or so before the experiment to the ivs-ops mail list. Copy analysts@nrao.edu on your ready message. 5. Send a "start" message soon after you have started recording. Copy analysts@nrao.edu on the message. 6. At the end of the experiment, send a "finish" message summarizing how the experiment was conducted. Copy analysts@nrao.edu on your message. 8. Transfer your log files to your normal log file data center. The directories for three possible servers are listed below: directory on cddisa: sep06 directory on vlbeer: sep06 directory on aspen: /home/aspen6/astronomy/sep06/RDV59 NOTE: If you don't normally use aspen, you should not put your log file on that server. The VLBA correlator knows where to find your log files. Correlation =========== This experiment will be correlated at the VLBA Correlator. Disks should be shipped to Socorro as soon after the experiment as practical.