RDV74 (Astrometric/Geodetic VLBA-74) 2009 Apr 21 17:30 Day 111 Notes prepared by David Gordon, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: rdv74.skd On ftp.aoc.nrao.edu (aspen): VLBA Pointing files: rdv74crd.br rdv74crd.fd rdv74crd.hn rdv74crd.kp rdv74crd.la rdv74crd.mk rdv74crd.nl rdv74crd.ov rdv74crd.pt rdv74crd.sc Summary file for correlator: rdv74.sksum Sked file: rdv74.skd Text file: rdv74.txt At IVS Data Center (ftp://cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov/vlbi/ivsdata/aux/2009/rdv74) Sked file: rdv74.skd Text file: rdv74.txt This experiment uses the 10 VLBA stations and 6 IVS stations. SUBNET Br-Fd-Hn-Kb-Kk-Kp-La-Mk-Nl-Ny-Ov-Pt-Sc-Ts-Wz-Zc Total time: 1440 minutes ( 24.0 hours). Key: Br=BR-VLBA Fd=FD-VLBA Hn=HN-VLBA Kb=KASHIM34 Kk=KOKEE Kp=KP-VLBA La=LA-VLBA Mk=MK-VLBA Nl=NL-VLBA Ny=NYALES20 Ov=OV-VLBA Pt=PIETOWN Sc=SC-VLBA Ts=TSUKUB32 Wz=WETTZELL Zc=ZELENCHK Br Fd Hn Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Ts Wz Zc Avg % obs. time: 53 59 53 40 46 58 58 49 55 56 53 58 56 35 52 37 51 % cal. time: 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 % slew time: 21 20 21 37 17 21 20 23 21 14 21 20 20 15 10 39 22 % idle time: 22 17 21 18 33 17 18 23 20 27 22 17 19 44 34 19 24 total # scans: 292 294 303 331 281 295 296 305 299 239 290 295 285 347 268 274 293 # scans/hour : 12 12 13 14 12 12 12 13 12 10 12 12 12 14 11 11 12 Avg scan (sec): 156 172 151 105 142 171 169 140 158 202 158 170 171 88 168 117 151 # data tracks: 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 # Mk5 tracks: 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 Total GBytes: 978 1071 987 806 868 1065 1058 931 1012 997 980 1062 1031 739 957 725 954 Total GB(M5): 870 952 877 716 771 947 941 828 900 887 871 944 917 657 850 644 848 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Br Fd Hn Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Ts Wz Zc StnTotal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Br| 225 223 91 140 226 231 170 232 120 229 229 195 105 111 86 2613 Fd| 233 62 121 284 288 171 263 96 249 289 242 71 109 74 2777 Hn| 70 107 225 234 127 257 132 201 234 236 83 146 106 2614 Kb| 172 65 64 147 65 99 81 64 52 313 79 106 1530 Kk| 125 121 231 117 66 151 120 101 172 51 37 1832 Kp| 283 174 255 93 258 286 234 75 103 70 2756 La| 170 266 97 254 292 240 76 109 73 2798 Mk| 151 58 199 169 142 155 46 44 2154 Nl| 110 231 264 250 81 121 87 2750 Ny| 87 97 100 96 172 147 1570 Ov| 253 203 90 86 60 2632 Pt| 241 74 108 76 2796 Sc| 61 109 78 2484 Ts| 80 122 1654 Wz| 186 1616 Zc| 1352 Number of 2-station scans: 146 Number of 3-station scans: 155 Number of 4-station scans: 107 Number of 5-station scans: 48 Number of 6-station scans: 33 Number of 7-station scans: 28 Number of 8-station scans: 30 Number of 9-station scans: 42 Number of 10-station scans: 38 Number of 11-station scans: 58 Number of 12-station scans: 24 Number of 13-station scans: 22 Number of 14-station scans: 21 Number of 15-station scans: 13 Number of 16-station scans: 11 Total # of scans, observations: 776 17964 There are several full network scans that can be used for 'fringe finding', at the start, at the end, and in the middle. Possible fringe finder scans: Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Br Fd Hn Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Ts Wz Zc 0212+735 09111-173000| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 1357+769 09111-173722| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 0059+581 09111-195658| 55 89 58 105 276 87 76 169 62 244 75 80 114 88 276 128| 0602+673 09111-230320| 275 480 341 480 480 445 408 370 362 480 364 425 480 376 269 221| 1053+704 09112-032345| 335 343 338 364 480 343 336 370 337 480 340 340 361 233 480 352| 2017+743 09112-065142| 406 444 399 421 480 446 432 480 405 480 434 433 453 322 480 480| 1357+769 09112-122312| 116 133 117 133 252 132 123 150 120 252 126 127 156 77 154 82| 0212+735 09112-135606| 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40 40| 2017+743 09112-144139| 390 404 398 422 480 402 392 480 396 480 397 398 461 323 480 480| 0212+735 09112-171811| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 1357+769 09112-172456| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| Additional Notes: - In this RDV, all stations will record on Mark5A. - The synch time for the VLBA correlator using Mark5 is ~25 seconds. Because of this, stations will start taking data 25 seconds prior to the normal scan time. They will continue to take data between scans if there is a gap of less than 25 seconds. - Wettzell and Kokee are absent from ~18:15 to ~19:45 because of the UT1 Intensive VLBI experiment. - The fluxes use our most recent models. Purpose ======= This is the second of six bi-monthly coordinated astrometric/geodetic experiments in 2009 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 and Bordeaux Observatory 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 a small number 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 394 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 David Gordon at GSFC using sked. SOURCE SELECTION There are a total of 95 sources scheduled in this session. Among them, 30 sources are from the astrometric monitoring list and 50 are from the geodetic catalog list. Two old non-geodetic sources are being re-observed to improve their positions. 0615-365/J0617-3634 06 17 32.328 -36 34 14.834 0647-475/J0648-4734 06 48 48.450 -47 34 27.183 And there are 13 new sources requested by Y. Kovalev and L. Petrov. These sources are observed in two scans each at VLBA sites only (with a few exceptions) to accurately determine their coordinates. They are not optimized for imaging. 0704-231/J0707-2311 07 06 33.47 -23 11_38.3 ATCA 20 GHz Survey 0713+669/J0718+6651 07 18 05.63 +66 51_53.1 EVN 6 cm survey 0750+633/J0755+6312 07 55 21.76 +63 12_36.1 EVN 6 cm survey 1335+658/J1337+6532 13 37 16.03 +65 32_46.7 EVN 6 cm survey 0027-426/J0030-4224 00 30 17.51 -42 24 46.3 LBA-VLBA ties 0332-375/J0334-3725 03 34 15.50 -37 25 43.1 LBA-VLBA ties 0514-459/J0515-4556 05 15 45.23 -45 56 43.2 LBA-VLBA ties 0910-414/J0912-4137 09 12 12.81 -41 37 15.9 LBA-VLBA ties 1320-303/J1323-3038 13 23 19.54 -30 38 05.2 LBA-VLBA ties 1508-325/J1511-3242 15 11 48.05 -32 42 51.5 LBA-VLBA ties 1621-351/J1624-3516 16 24 22.45 -35 16 29.2 LBA-VLBA ties 1942-313/J1945-3111 19 45 59.38 -31 11 38.2 LBA-VLBA ties 2238-362/J2241-3559 22 41 48.36 -35 59 47.7 LBA-VLBA ties SCHEDULING ALGORITHMS This schedule uses the "SRCEVN SQRT" mode of Sked. 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. 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 490 MHz at X-band and 140 MHz at S-band using 4 channels in each band. 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 total 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 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 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: ftp cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov/ivsincoming directory on vlbeer: apr09 directory on aspen: /astronomy/apr09/rdv74 or /home/archive/e2e/archive/operations/VLBA/observe/apr09/rdv74 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.