rdv60 (Astrometric/Geodetic VLBA-61) 2007 January 24 Notes prepared by John Gipson, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: rdv61.skd Pointing files: rdv61crd.br, rdv61crd.fd, rdv61crd.hn, rdv61crd.kp, rdv61crd.la, rdv61crd.mk, rdv61crd.nl, rdv61crd.ov, rdv61crd.pt, rdv61crd.sc ftp://vlbiobs@aspen.nrao.edu/home/aspen6/astronomy/jan07/rdv61 Summary file for correlator: rdv61.sksum on aspen Schedule file: ftp://vlbigeo@cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov/vlbigeo/jan07/rdv61.skd This experiment uses the VLBA and 6 IVS stations. Key: Br=BR-VLBA Fd=FD-VLBA Hn=HN-VLBA Kb=KASHIM34 Kp=KP-VLBA La=LA-VLBA Mk=MK-VLBA Nl=NL-VLBA Ny=NYALES20 Ov=OV-VLBA Pt=PIETOWN Sc=SC-VLBA Sv=SVETLOE Tc=TIGO Wf=WESTFORD Wz=WETTZELL Br Fd Hn Kb Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov % obs. time: 63 68 67 39 65 67 49 69 69 61 % cal. time: 3 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 % slew time: 16 14 15 20 15 16 13 14 11 16 % idle time: 17 14 14 38 16 14 34 13 17 19 total # scans: 248 229 228 202 243 252 204 231 230 245 # scans/hour : 10 10 9 8 10 10 8 10 10 10 Avg scan (sec): 218 256 256 166 232 228 208 259 259 216 Total GBytes: 1108 1178 1173 646 1145 1172 874 1204 1196 1087 Total GB(M5): 985 1047 1043 574 1017 1042 777 1070 1063 966 # of tapes : 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Pt Sc Sv Tc Wf Wz Avg % obs. time: 66 69 57 83 82 78 66 % cal. time: 3 2 3 1 2 2 3 % slew time: 16 13 31 3 6 6 15 % idle time: 14 15 7 12 9 13 17 total # scans: 251 192 241 117 160 203 217 # scans/hour : 10 8 10 5 7 8 9 Avg scan (sec): 228 313 206 612 445 332 276 Total GBytes: 1166 1186 893 1351 1367 1213 1122 Total GB(M5): 1036 1054 794 1201 1215 1078 998 # of tapes : 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 Total # of scans, observations: 546 12868 ------------------------------------------------------------ First observations: name yyddd-hhmmss Br Fd Hn Kb Kp La Mk Nl 0212+735 07024-180000| 300 1749+096 07024-180000| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 1739+522 07024-180716| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 1053+704 07024-181402| 146 166 125 141 161 150 149 146 0458-020 07024-181604| 2253+417 07024-181808| 554 442 426 448 433 432 name yyddd-hhmmss Ny Ov Pt Sc Sv Tc Wf Wz 0212+735 07024-180000| 300 300 300| 1749+096 07024-180000| 300 300 300 300 300 | 1739+522 07024-180716| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 1053+704 07024-181402| 153 155 166 | 0458-020 07024-181604| 43 40 43| 2253+417 07024-181808| 700 560 442 431 700 700 | Last observations: name yyddd-hhmmss Br Fd Hn Kb Kp La Mk Nl 0212+735 07025-174134| 40 40 40 40 40 1300+580 07025-174420| 53 47 51 50 47 1749+096 07025-174828| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 0212+735 07025-174941| 300 1739+522 07025-175658| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 name yyddd-hhmmss Ny Ov Pt Sc Sv Tc Wf Wz 0212+735 07025-174134| 40 40 40 40| 1300+580 07025-174420| 48 50 44 53| 1749+096 07025-174828| 300 300 300 300 300 | 0212+735 07025-174941|300 300 300| 1739+522 07025-175658|300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 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 first of six bi-monthly coordinated astrometric/geodetic experiments in 2007 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 114 sources in this session. There were 16 requested sources: 1142+052 $ 11 45 21.315088 04 55 26.68788 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 1116+128 $ 11 18 57.301424 12 34 41.71810 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 1216+061 $ 12 19 23.216052 05 49 29.70157 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 0629+160 $ 06 32 43.135589 15 59 57.62158 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 1013+208 OL_224 10 16 44.322101 20 37 47.30527 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 1119+183 $ 11 22 29.711478 18 05 26.34333 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 1056+212 $ 10 59 39.042758 20 57 21.95569 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 0657+172 $ 07 00 1.525531 17 09 21.70161 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 0738+313 OI_363 07 41 10.703307 31 12 0.22833 2000.0 0.0 Zhang 0035-024 $ 00 38 20.4963 -02 07 39.858 2000.0 0.0 Preston 0456+060 $ 04 58 48.7944 +06 08 03.050 2000.0 0.0 Preston 0459+252 $ 05 02 58.4947 +25 16 25.313 2000.0 0.0 Preston 0812+020 $ 08 15 22.9606 +01 54 59.531 2000.0 0.0 Preston 1200+045 $ 12 03 21.8753 +04 14 18.823 2000.0 0.0 Preston 1337-033 $ 13 40 13.3133 -03 35 21.295 2000.0 0.0 Preston 1721+343 $ 17 23 20.7175 +34 17 57.474 2000.0 0.0 Preston Monitored sources: 30 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 & FREQUENCIES: This is the same as previous examples. Below we give more details for the different equipment types. In listing the stations we include stations that are not in this RDV, although they participate in other RDVs. ============================================================ 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 Array Kokee Chan Sky Tracks | LO IF BBC | LO IF BBC # 1 X 8405.99 2, 4, 6, 8 | 7900 B 505.99| 7600 A 805.99 3 2 X 8475.99 10,12,14,16 | 7900 B 575.99| 7600 A 875.99 4 3 X 8790.99 18,20,22,24 | 7900 B 890.99| 8100 C 690.99 5 4 X 8895.99 26,28,30,32 | 7900 B 995.99| 8100 C 795.99 6 5 S 2232.99 3, 5, 7, 9 | 2900 A 667.01| 1500 B 732.99 9 6 S 2262.99 11,13,15,17 | 2900 A 637.01| 1500 B 762.99 10 7 S 2352.99 19,21,23,25 | 2900 A 547.01| 1500 B 852.99 13 8 S 2372.99 27,29,31,33 | 2900 A 527.01| 1500 B 872.99 14 | Tsukuba Chan Sky Tracks | LO IF BBC # 1 X 8405.99 2, 4, 6, 8 | 7680 A 725.99 3 2 X 8475.99 10,12,14,16 | 7680 A 795.99 4 3 X 8790.99 18,20,22,24 | 8080 C 710.99 5 4 X 8895.99 26,28,30,32 | 8080 C 815.99 6 5 S 2232.99 3, 5, 7, 9 | 1600 B 632.99 9 6 S 2262.99 11,13,15,17 | 1600 B 662.99 10 7 S 2352.99 19,21,23,25 | 1600 B 752.99 13 8 S 2372.99 27,29,31,33 | 1600 B 772.99 14 Stations with Mark IV or K4 rack. This includes: GGAO, HartRAO, Matera, Medicina, NOTO,NyAlesund,Onsala,Svetloe, TIGO,Westford, Wettzell | Chan Sky Tracks | LO IF VC VC# Patch 1 X 8405.99 2, 4, 6, 8 | 8080.0 1 325.99 3 H 2 X 8475.99 10,12,14,16 | 8080.0 1 395.99 4 H 3 X 8790.99 18,20,22,24 | 8580.1 3 210.89 5 L 4 X 8895.99 26,28,30,32 | 8580.1 3 315.89 6 H 5 S 2232.99 3, 5, 7, 9 | 2020.0 2 212.99 9 H 6 S 2262.99 11,13,15,17 | 2020.0 2 242.99 10 H 7 S 2352.99 19,21,23,25 | 2020.0 2 332.99 13 H 8 S 2372.99 27,29,31,33 | 2020.0 2 352.99 14 H Special procedures for stations using the Field System: ======================================== SEE THE NOTE AT THE START ABOUT MARK5 recording. ================================================================== 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 is wired to switch 1 and that state 2 of the switch selects IF1 high. Please verify that the switches for your IF3 module are wired this way, and if they are not please edit the IF3 procedure to make the correct selection. If you need to make this edit and/or your first LOs are not 8080/2020, please contact Ed Himwich at GSFC. Special procedures for stations with VLBA back ends: ================================================== This includes Kokee, (Pleae note: not all of these stations are in this RDV, although all of them sometimes participate in RDVs.) 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. SPECIAL NOTE FOR KASHIMA. The K4/K5 support in drudg is not complete. Because of this Kashima will need to edit the procedure files by hand. 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: jan07 directory on vlbeer: jan07 directory on aspen: /home/aspen6/astronomy/jan07/rdv61 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.