RDV76 (Astrometric/Geodetic VLBA-76) 2009 July 29 18:00 Day 210 Notes prepared by David Gordon, NVI/GSFC Schedule name: rdv76.skd On ftp.aoc.nrao.edu (aspen): VLBA Pointing files: rdv76crd.br rdv76crd.fd rdv76crd.hn rdv76crd.kp rdv76crd.la rdv76crd.mk rdv76crd.nl rdv76crd.ov rdv76crd.pt rdv76crd.sc Summary file for correlator: rdv76.sksum Sked file: rdv76.skd Text file: rdv76.txt Vex file: rdv76.vex At IVS Data Center (ftp://cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov/vlbi/ivsdata/aux/2009/rdv76) Sked file: rdv76.skd Text file: rdv76.txt This experiment uses the 10 VLBA stations and 5 IVS stations. The IVS stations are: KASHIM34, KOKEE, NYALES20, WETTZELL, and ZELENCHK. SUBNET Br-Fd-Hn-Kb-Kk-Kp-La-Mk-Nl-Ny-Ov-Pt-Sc-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 Wz=WETTZELL Zc=ZELENCHK Br Fd Hn Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Wz Zc Avg % obs. time: 47 52 46 36 39 51 51 43 48 51 49 52 51 47 35 47 % cal. time: 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 % slew time: 25 23 24 34 18 24 23 25 23 17 24 23 25 10 44 25 % idle time: 22 20 25 25 38 20 21 26 24 27 23 21 20 38 17 25 total # scans: 330 332 334 317 313 332 332 339 336 307 326 334 328 305 308 324 # scans/hour : 14 14 14 13 13 14 14 14 14 13 14 14 14 13 13 14 Avg scan (sec): 124 136 119 99 109 133 133 110 124 144 129 133 133 133 97 123 # data tracks: 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 Total GBytes: 917 991 896 735 780 974 976 854 930 962 933 982 965 895 705 900 Total GB(M5): 815 881 796 654 694 866 868 760 826 855 829 873 858 796 626 800 Total number of tapes: 15.0 Total GBytes (M5) recorded: 11996.2 # OF OBSERVATIONS BY BASELINE | Br Fd Hn Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Wz Zc StnTotal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Br| 252 244 106 152 246 255 191 257 163 252 254 226 127 117 2842 Fd| 270 61 118 304 324 168 298 142 262 325 287 133 102 3046 Hn| 66 91 248 271 130 298 169 216 269 294 169 138 2873 Kb| 193 73 61 178 65 135 96 62 47 100 120 1363 Kk| 137 115 271 108 84 165 118 91 58 52 1753 Kp| 301 190 277 128 287 304 264 114 88 2961 La| 164 299 146 259 327 287 135 108 3052 Mk| 153 74 222 169 134 45 53 2142 Nl| 158 246 297 295 148 118 3017 Ny| 114 145 146 236 211 2051 Ov| 265 226 91 72 2773 Pt| 284 134 106 3059 Sc| 150 124 2855 Wz| 221 1861 Zc| 1630 Number of 2-station scans: 132 Number of 3-station scans: 163 Number of 4-station scans: 86 Number of 5-station scans: 42 Number of 6-station scans: 34 Number of 7-station scans: 37 Number of 8-station scans: 28 Number of 9-station scans: 36 Number of 10-station scans: 53 Number of 11-station scans: 80 Number of 12-station scans: 40 Number of 13-station scans: 20 Number of 14-station scans: 15 Number of 15-station scans: 13 Total # of scans, observations: 779 18639 There are several full network scans that can be used for 'fringe finding' at the correlator, located at the start, in the middle, and at the end. Possible fringe finder scans: Source Start DURATIONS name yyddd-hhmmss Br Fd Hn Kb Kk Kp La Mk Nl Ny Ov Pt Sc Wz Zc 1150+812 09210-180000| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 1150+812 09211-020240| 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180 180| 0016+731 09211-080545| 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100| 0602+673 09211-174842| 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300| 1150+812 09211-175527| 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250 250| Additional Notes: - In this RDV, all stations will record on Mark5A, except Kashima. The Kashima 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 fourth 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 95 sources scheduled in this session. Among them, 30 sources are from the astrometric monitoring list and 50 are from the geodetic and monitoring list. Four old non-geodetic sources with poorly determined positions are being re-observed to improve their positions. And there are 11 new sources requested by Y. Kovalev and L. Petrov. These 15 sources are observed in two scans each at VLBA sites only to accurately determine their coordinates. They are not optimized for imaging. 0540+529 05 44 14.0748 +52 58 06.505 Poor Position 1753-144 17 56 25.8623 -14 27 09.553 Poor Position 2233-186 22 35 56.1711 -18 26 12.585 Poor Position 2236+678 22 38 15.0296 +68 04 59.760 Poor Position 1331+512 J1333+5057 13 33 53.7823 +50 57 35.914 Kovalev/Fermi GST 2322+396 J2325+3957 23 25 17.8711 +39 57 36.505 Kovalev/Fermi GST 1851-162 J1854-1611 18 54 16.4800 -16 11 38.500 Kovalev/AT20G Survey 2033-286 J2036-2830 20 36 37.7700 -28 30 27.000 Kovalev/AT20G Survey 1907-224 J1910-2223 19 10 57.5800 -22 23 29.700 Kovalev/AT20G Survey 1137+660 J1139+6547 11 39 58.6000 +65 47 47.100 Petrov/Mojave 0302-437 J0304-4333 03 04 29.1800 -43 33 15.500 Petrov/LBA 0329-404 J0330-4014 03 30 51.1100 -40 14 16.200 Petrov/LBA 1318-434 J1321-4342 13 21 12.8100 -43 42 16.700 Petrov/LBA 1510-421 J1513-4221 15 13 30.5700 -42 21 56.200 Petrov/LBA 1618-399 J1621-4003 16 21 59.6600 -40 03 34.100 Petrov/LBA 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: jul09 directory on aspen: /astronomy/jul09/rdv76 or /home/archive/e2e/archive/operations/VLBA/observe/jul09/rdv76 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.