RDV75 (Astrometric/Geodetic VLBA-75) 2009 May 13 18:00 Day 133 Notes prepared by David Gordon, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: rdv75.skd On ftp.aoc.nrao.edu (aspen): VLBA Pointing files: rdv75crd.br rdv75crd.fd rdv75crd.hn rdv75crd.kp rdv75crd.la rdv75crd.mk rdv75crd.nl rdv75crd.ov rdv75crd.pt rdv75crd.sc Summary file for correlator: rdv75.sksum Sked file: rdv75.skd Text file: rdv75.txt At IVS Data Center (ftp://cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov/vlbi/ivsdata/aux/2009/rdv75) Sked file: rdv75.skd Text file: rdv75.txt This experiment uses the 10 VLBA stations and 6 IVS stations. The IVS stations are: HOBART26, KASHIM34, KOKEE, NYALES20, TSUKUB32, and WETTZELL. SUBNET Br-Fd-Hn-Ho-Kb-Kk-Kp-La-Mk-Nl-Ny-Ov-Pt-Sc-Ts-Wz Total time: 1440 minutes (24.0 hours). Key: Br=BR-VLBA Fd=FD-VLBA Hn=HN-VLBA Ho=HOBART26 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 Br Fd Hn Ho Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Ts Wz Avg % obs. time: 54 57 54 31 41 46 56 56 49 55 54 55 56 53 34 47 50 % cal. time: 4 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 4 4 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 % slew time: 21 21 22 31 37 16 21 21 24 21 16 21 21 24 15 11 22 % idle time: 20 17 19 34 18 34 18 18 22 19 26 20 18 19 46 39 25 total # scans: 305 309 310 238 336 271 306 311 303 311 265 298 311 296 345 268 298 # scans/hour : 13 13 13 10 14 11 13 13 13 13 11 12 13 12 14 11 12 Avg scan (sec): 154 160 151 111 105 145 159 156 139 153 176 159 157 154 85 151 144 # 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: 1010 1054 1012 605 816 854 1043 1042 924 1027 982 1016 1045 978 713 872 937 Total GB(M5): 898 937 899 538 726 760 927 926 821 913 873 903 929 869 634 775 833 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Br Fd Hn Ho Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Ts Wz StnTotal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Br| 254 250 39 95 135 252 260 174 257 145 253 259 227 102 132 2834 Fd| 268 44 79 127 291 300 169 286 127 258 302 262 82 130 2979 Hn| 16 75 109 252 273 139 282 149 225 271 273 79 153 2814 Ho| 157 115 48 44 127 34 23 55 44 26 155 26 953 Kb| 162 81 77 151 75 138 92 77 51 325 108 1743 Kk| 137 126 229 118 97 149 126 103 162 70 1965 Kp| 288 180 275 118 273 289 248 85 117 2934 La| 168 296 128 259 309 267 82 129 3006 Mk| 157 86 196 168 141 158 57 2300 Nl| 129 250 294 274 80 137 2944 Ny| 109 128 130 143 207 1857 Ov| 260 221 99 100 2799 Pt| 265 82 129 3003 Sc| 55 138 2681 Ts| 114 1803 Wz| 1747 Number of 2-station scans: 90 Number of 3-station scans: 103 Number of 4-station scans: 98 Number of 5-station scans: 87 Number of 6-station scans: 19 Number of 7-station scans: 25 Number of 8-station scans: 30 Number of 9-station scans: 37 Number of 10-station scans: 52 Number of 11-station scans: 79 Number of 12-station scans: 17 Number of 13-station scans: 32 Number of 14-station scans: 19 Number of 15-station scans: 22 Number of 16-station scans: 0 Total # of scans, observations: 710 19181 Since this session includes Hobart, there are no full network scans. But there are several nearly-full network scans that can be used for 'fringe finding', at the start, immediately after the Intensive break, and at the end. Possible fringe finder scans: Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Br Fd Hn Ho Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Ts Wz 0716+714 09133-180000| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 2307+106 09133-180755| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 | 0133+476 09133-195148| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 2307+106 09134-174716| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 | 2229+695 09134-175424| 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, except Tsukuba. The Tsukuba data is later transferred to 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 third 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 from the pool of geodetic, astrometric, and monitoring 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. A small number of poorly observed and/or new requested sources may also be included to obtain or improve their positions. Schedule ======== This is a new schedule generated by David Gordon at GSFC using sked. SOURCE SELECTION There are a total of 93 sources scheduled in this session. Among them, 30 sources are from the astrometric monitoring list and 49 are from the geodetic and monitoring list. Five old non-geodetic sources with poorly determined positions are being re-observed to improve their positions. And there are 9 new sources requested by L. Petrov to improve the ties between the VLBA and the LBA. These 14 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. 0114-211/J0116-2052 01 16 51.400 -20 52 07.400 poor position 0826+180/J0829+1754 08 29 04.830 +17 54 15.860 poor position 1647+744/J1646+7419 16 46 15.170 +74 19 11.070 poor position 1820-274/J1823-2726 18 23 19.660 -27 26 26.670 poor position 1906-217/J1909-2139 19 09 45.155 -21 39 35.398 poor position 0007-325 00 09 35.67 -32 16 37.3 LBA/VLBA ties 0422-389 04 24 33.71 -38 48 40.6 LBA/VLBA ties 0843-336 08 45 08.19 -33 47 41.2 LBA/VLBA ties 1302-208 13 04 59.12 -21 06 42.4 LBA/VLBA ties 1346-306 13 49 20.38 -30 56 25.0 LBA/VLBA ties 1613-350 16 16 43.03 -35 09 42.8 LBA/VLBA ties 1622-310 16 25 55.51 -31 08 06.4 LBA/VLBA ties 2120-309 21 23 48.69 -30 46 06.2 LBA/VLBA ties 2122-238 21 25 52.11 -23 38 11.8 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: may09 directory on aspen: /astronomy/may09/rdv75 or /home/archive/e2e/archive/operations/VLBA/observe/may09/rdv75 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.