rdv60 (Astrometric/Geodetic VLBA-60) 2006 December 06 Notes prepared by John Gipson, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: rdv60.skd Pointing files: rdv60crd.br, rdv60crd.fd, rdv60crd.hn, rdv60crd.kp, rdv60crd.la, rdv60crd.mk, rdv60crd.nl, rdv60crd.ov, rdv60crd.pt, rdv60crd.sc ftp://vlbiobs@aspen.nrao.edu/home/aspen6/astronomy/dec06/rdv60 Summary file for correlator: rdv60.sksum on aspen PCFS file: ftp://vlbigeo@cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov/vlbigeo/dec06/rdv60.skd http://lupus.gsfc.nasa.gov/sess/2006/sesshtml/rdv60.html This experiment uses the VLBA and 7 IVS stations. Key: Br=BR-VLBA Fd=FD-VLBA Hn=HN-VLBA Ho=HOBART26 Kb=KASHIM34 Kp=KP-VLBA La=LA-VLBA Mk=MK-VLBA Nl=NL-VLBA Ny=NYALES20 On=ONSALA60 Ov=OV-VLBA Pt=PIETOWN Sc=SC-VLBA Ts=TSUKUB32 Wf=WESTFORD Wz=WETTZELL Br Fd Hn Ho Kb Kp La Mk Nl Ny % obs. time: 52 56 50 64 53 55 55 47 51 65 % cal. time: 4 4 4 2 3 4 4 3 4 3 % slew time: 21 22 21 29 21 22 22 17 22 13 % idle time: 23 17 24 4 23 18 18 32 22 19 total # scans: 327 348 336 200 229 352 351 232 351 257 # scans/hour : 14 14 14 8 10 15 15 10 15 11 Avg scan (sec): 137 139 130 278 199 135 135 177 125 218 Total GBytes: 985 1057 966 1109 945 1047 1044 864 980 1146 Total GB(M5): 876 940 859 985 840 931 928 768 871 1019 On Ov Pt Sc Ts Wf Wz Avg % obs. time: 67 51 55 52 44 66 53 55 % cal. time: 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 % slew time: 14 20 23 20 10 12 8 19 % idle time: 15 24 17 24 42 17 35 22 total # scans: 237 326 357 300 255 296 256 294 # scans/hour : 10 14 15 12 11 12 11 12 Avg scan (sec): 244 136 134 150 150 193 180 167 Total GBytes: 1168 976 1052 969 828 1189 832 1009 Total GB(M5): 1038 867 935 862 736 1057 740 897 # of tapes : .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 .1 Total # of scans, observations: 805 17437 First observations: name yyddd-hhmmss Br Fd Hn Ho Kb Kp La Mk Nl Ny 0059+581 06340-180000| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 1034-293 06340-180000| 300 300 2136+141 06340-180652| 300 300 300 1424-418 06340-180713| 300 300 300 300 300 1213-172 06340-180844| 300 300 name yyddd-hhmmss On Ov Pt Sc Ts Wf Wz 0059+581 06340-180000| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 1034-293 06340-180000| | 2136+141 06340-180652| 300 300 300 300| 1424-418 06340-180713| 300 300 | 1213-172 06340-180844| 300 | Last observations: name yyddd-hhmmss Br Fd Hn Ho Kb Kp La Mk Nl Ny 4C39.25 06341-174859| 300 300 300 300 300 1053+815 06341-174952| 300 300 1034-293 06341-175135| 300 300 300 2113+293 06341-175757| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 1124-186 06341-175801| 300 300 300 name yyddd-hhmmss On Ov Pt Sc Ts Wf Wz 4C39.25 06341-174859| 300 300 300 | 1053+815 06341-174952| 300 300 300| 1034-293 06341-175135| 300 | 2113+293 06341-175757| 300 300 300 300 300 300| 1124-186 06341-175801| 300 | Special Notes for this session: - IMPORTANT. In this RDV ALL stations will record on Mark5. The session will be correlated in 3-passes. - 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 two final 5-min scans. - Wettzell is absent from 18:20 to 19:40 because of the intensive. - The fluxes use our most recent models. Purpose ======= This is the sixth 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. There were 7 requested sources: 0600+219 $ 06 03 51.557093 21 59 37.69755 2000.0 0.0 AFey 0828-222 $ 08 31 02.240 -22 24 58.095 2000.0 0.0 NVSS 1026-179 $ 10 28 35.878 -18 12 15.905 2000.0 0.0 NVSS 1355-416 $ 13 59 00.18 -41 52 52.6 2000.0 0.0 NVSS 1601+173 NGC6034 16 03 32.083 +17 11 55.310 2000.0 0.0 NVSS 1708+433 $ 17 09 41.087 +43 18 44.547 2000.0 0.0 NVSS 1901+016 $ 19 03 53.06 +01 45 26.35 2000.0 0.0 NVSS The sources labeled NVSS were requested by L. Petrov. Monitored sources: 31 sources were selected which had not been recently observed. Other sources. The remaining sources where chosen 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. 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. If you are using Field System 9.x, use the procedures and snap files generated by DRUDG. 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. 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. Make the .snp file with DRUDG. 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: dec06 directory on vlbeer: dec06 directory on aspen: /home/aspen6/astronomy/dec06/rdv60 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.