• • Investigate & Fix Cause of Astrid Hang-ups (AstridOptimizations?)

• • Investigate & Fix Cause of Astrid Hang-ups (AstridOptimizations)

Operations

600 MHz feed was installed this week. Various RFI reported. Q-band refrigerator began temperature cycling soon after installation, and this is being investigated. X-band refrigerator being serviced next week.

Converter/Filter upgrade completed. Some observing modes seen to have too much power - this being investigated.

C-band receiver in lab tests. Phase balancing and functional tests complete, and stability tests went well. Hot/Cold and Spectrometer tests to be done next week.

Development

This ends the 5th week of 6 in the seventh development cycle of 2006 which can be viewed at PlanOfRecordC72006. We are scheduled to release mid-February 2007. Items deemed ready for release before that time will be patched in after they have been fully tested.

Operational support was relatively light this week and included:

• Investigated, tested and released a patch for configurations using the Ka receiver / ACS with testtone frequencies lower than 9000 medium
• Helped operator enter new observer and project into observation management database.

Modification Requests:

• MRs ready for integration/regression testing:
  • None
• MRs ready for sponsor testing:
  • None
• MRs under development
  • Investigate & Fix Cause of Astrid Hang-ups (AstridOptimizations?)
    • Continuing refactoring and optimization, see MR, a living document. Note that this MR is not a "traditional" MR and is more of a listing of all the bugs found and fixed as part of the investigation.
• MRs under CCC review:
  • Add Two New ScanTypes: FivePoint and Circle (ModificationRequest1C706)
  • Develop New Pointing Pre-Processing Application (ModificationRequest5C706)
    • Coordinated with RamonCreager regarding refactoring changes to code that will impact his work on ModificationRequest4C706. Working on refactoring configuration file functionality as prelude to refactoring pointing functionality.
  • GFM/Turtle Upgrade - Remove use of LPCs.conf file (ModificationRequest4C706)
    • MR written and checked. Preliminary client code in GFM written.
• MRs being written:
  • Modify SDFITS to correctly show Spectrometer cross-polarization data (ModificationRequest2C706)
    • Lots of discussion on the MR this week. There are a number of other MRs being generated as a result of this effort. They are under development, will get passed to the CCC, and will most-likely be included in the POR for C8.
• Other Activities:
  • Dynamic Scheduling - We have started looking at existing weather data and Project metadata from the AGBT06A semester.
  • Balancing Project - MelindaMello ran more tests using the IF Rack during maintenance in order to facilitate an easy table format for test data. She ran the exact same tests with the new imporved IF Rack Manager. We discussed requirements, decision making process and plan on presenting the test results and proposal for resolution at the next Observing Issues meeting.
  • Zpectrometer Support - Assisted in testing on the installed Zpectrometer this week.
  • PTCS Support - Revising Project Note PTCSPN52 based on recommendations from FrankGhigo to include more quantitative comparisons.
  • SchedulingSoftware - MikeMcCarty attended a Dynamic Scheduling meeting to gather input on additional questions that need to be addressed, see SchedulingSoftware for details.

Az Track, Antennae Report -- Bob

• • Slow progress at Continental. Milling machine in final checkouts next week, and operators being trained late next week and following; they expect to have the machine template complete week of 13th or 20th. They expect to catch up; milling machine manufacturer says time estimates are too conservative. Anchor blocks are fabricated and welding will start next week.

• • I completed a comparison test between strain gauges and the ultrasonic bolt meter using the tensile testing machine. Good results. I also checked the production bolt that I brought back from FEMCO and it worked satisfactorily.

• • I discussed heat treating of the spring plates with Applied Process this week. Those should be heat treated this weekend or early next week.

Observing News -- Ron

Winds are the story this week. We supported a typical set of proposals -- 18 projects in 28 observing sessions including a VLB run. The telescope was scheduled for 17 hrs of maintenance and 8 hrs of Ka-band commissioning.

We lost 13 hrs (9%) to:

• Winds (12 instances) : 9.6 hrs
• Astrid (10 instances, almost all from LPC problems) : 1.6 hrs
• Spigot : 0.8 hrs
• RFI : 0.6 hrs
• Spectrometer (3 instances) : 0.3 hrs

Support staff should be aware of the new practices concerning setting IF Target levels for observations that use one spectral window, Spectrometer, 12.5 MHz bandwidths, or similar setups. My email from earlier this week gives the full details.

Scheduling Status -- Carl

Az Track, Antennae Report -- Bob

• • Slow progress at Continental. Milling machine in final checkouts next week, and operators being trained late next week and following; they expect to have the machine template complete week of 13th or 20th. They expect to catch up; milling machine manufacturer says time estimates are too conservative. Anchor blocks are fabricated and welding will start next week.

• • I completed a comparison test between strain gauges and the ultrasonic bolt meter using the tensile testing machine. Good results. I also checked the production bolt that I brought back from FEMCO and it worked satisfactorily.

• • I discussed heat treating of the spring plates with Applied Process this week. Those should be heat treated this weekend or early next week.

Observing News -- Ron

Winds are the story this week. We supported a typical set of proposals -- 18 projects in 28 observing sessions including a VLB run. The telescope was scheduled for 17 hrs of maintenance and 8 hrs of Ka-band commissioning.

We lost 13 hrs (9%) to:

• Winds (12 instances) : 9.6 hrs
• Astrid (10 instances, almost all from LPC problems) : 1.6 hrs
• Spigot : 0.8 hrs
• RFI : 0.6 hrs
• Spectrometer (3 instances) : 0.3 hrs

Support staff should be aware of the new practices concerning setting IF Target levels for observations that use one spectral window, Spectrometer, 12.5 MHz bandwidths, or similar setups. My email from earlier this week gives the full details.

Scheduling Status -- Carl

Winds are the story this week. We supported a typical set of proposals -- 18 projects in 28 observing sessions including a VLB run. The telescope was scheduled for 17 hrs of maintenance and 8 hrs of Ka-band commissioning.

We lost 13 hrs (9%) to:

• Winds (12 instances) : 9.6 hrs
• Astrid (10 instances, almost all from LPC problems) : 1.6 hrs
• Spigot : 0.8 hrs
• RFI : 0.6 hrs
• Spectrometer (3 instances) : 0.3 hrs

Support staff should be aware of the new practices concerning setting IF Target levels for observations that use one spectral window, Spectrometer, 12.5 MHz bandwidths, or similar setups. My email from earlier this week gives the full details.

This week, the Penn Array has had some cryogenic work and some cryo testing but has not collected any photons. We decide on Monday when the array will come off of the telescope.

Zpectrometer had its first light on Tuesday.

We had 8 hrs of Ka-band commissioning -- we had a solid detection of a narrow spectral line and a possible detection of a high redshift galaxy. We're exploring various calibration algorithms and fixed a software/hardware problem with frequency ranges in LO1. We anticipating needing 1 more night of commissioning.

Q-band commissioning will probably start next week. The cryo temperatures have been a bit jumpy so, as a precaution, the refrigerator is being swapped out today and all should be cold by Monday night.

Commissioning Summary & Milestones: Sept 1 - Dec 31:

• Every month : Pointing -- 1 night/month except in November, A/B weather, dynamically scheduled.
• Week of Sep 4 : C-band off telescope
• Week of Sep 11: Penn Array on telescope in C-band slot
• Sept 11 - Oct 27 : Penn Array commissioning -- 1 night/week, A-weather, dynamically scheduled. 8 nights max.
• Sept : Ka-band, Q-band, Zpectrometer lab tests
• Week of Oct 2 - week of Oct 12 : Penn Array backup daytime engineering time : 4 day-times max.
• On or before week of Oct. 9 : Ka-band placed on telescope
• Oct 16 - Nov 13: Ka-band spectral-line commissioning -- 1 night/week, A-weather, dynamically scheduled. 3 nights max.
• Oct 16 - Nov 13: CCB quick checkout (2-3 hours), time permitting.
• Week of Oct. 23 (earlier if it's practical and if the astronomy schedule has no conflicts): Ku-band down, X-band moved to where Ku-band was, Zpectrometer on telescope where X was
• On or before week of Oct. 30 : Q-band on telescope
• Oct 31 : Fixed maintenance day for Zpectrometer checkout
• No later than week of Nov. 6 : Penn Array down, C-band up in its place.
• Nov 6 - Dec 14 : Q-band commissioning -- 1 night/week, A-weather, dynamically scheduled. 3 nights max.
• Nov 13 - Dec 1 : Ka-band CCB continuum commissioning and Ka-band Zpectrometer testing -- Sharing four dynamically scheduled, daytime/evening sessions (~noon to ~midnight) for A/B weather. Zpectrometer will have up to ~ 25 hrs, CCB the remaining ~ 15 hrs.
• After Dec. 1 : Ka-band observations can commence, preference given to low-risk continuum projects.
• No later than week of Dec. 4 : Zpectrometer down, Ku-band up where Zpec was.
• Dec. 11 - Dec. 21 : PTCS OOF Tests -- A-weather, dynamically scheduled, 2 nights max.
• After Dec. 15 : Q-band observations can commence.

Receiver Installation Schedules

• C-band, Remove: week of Sep 4 , Install: no later than week of November 7
• Penn Array, Install: week of Sep 11 , Remove: no later than week of Oct 31
• Ka-band, Install: on or before the week of Oct 9
• Zpectrometer Install: week of Oct 23 ; Remove: no later than week of Dec 4
• Ku Remove: on or before week of Oct 23 ; Install: no later than week of Dec 4
• X-band moved to Ku-band slot: on or before week of Oct 23
• Q-band, Install: on or before the week of Oct 30

• • Slow progress at Continental. Milling machine in final checkouts next week, and operators being trained late next week and following; they expect to have the machine template complete week of 13th or 20th. They expect to catch up; milling machine manufacturer says time estimates are too conservative. Anchor blocks are fabricated and welding will start next week.

• • I completed a comparison test between strain gauges and the ultrasonic bolt meter using the tensile testing machine. Good results. I also checked the production bolt that I brought back from FEMCO and it worked satisfactorily.

• • I discussed heat treating of the spring plates with Applied Process this week. Those should be heat treated this weekend or early next week.

A week of normal spacecraft tracking.

Last Week
=========

Observations for proposals
   GBT06A-065, GBT05C-051, GBT06A-054, 
   GBT06C-021, GBT06C-032, GBT06C-055, 
   GBT06A-026, GBT06C-035, GBT06C-036, 
   GBT06C-037, GBT06C-048, GBT06C-027, 
   GBT06C-016, GBT06C-049, GBT06C-039, 
   BM251     , GBT06B-019

Completed proposals
   GBT06C-036, GBT06C-027

Next Week
=========
Observations scheduled for **
  GBT06C-051 [ P ] Lincoln Greenhill
       Monitoring 2 NGC4258-like Masers: Measurement of  
       Distances / Constraint of LCDM                    
  GBT05C-051 [ P ] Jim Braatz
       A Snapshot Survey for H2O Megamasers in Nearby,   
       Luminous Galaxies                                 
  GBT06A-065 [ P ] Rachel Friesen
       Probing the initial conditions of star formation  
       in Ophiuchus                                      
  GBT06C-020 [ P ] Rachel Friesen
       Probing the initial conditions of star formation  
       in Ophiuchus                                      
  GBT06B-043 [ P ] Laurent Pagani
       Depletion of heavy molecules in pre-stellar cores 
  GBT06A-056 [ P ] Paul Kondratko
       Are there Unrecognized NGC4258-like Systems Among 
       Known Water Masers in AGN?                        
  GBT06C-032 [  B] Peter Martin
       The Galactic foreground at the North Ecliptic Pole
  GBT06C-021 [ P ] Erik Rosolowsky
       A COMPLETE Census of Dense Cores in Perseus       
  GBT06C-011 [  B] Steve Curran
       A Pure Molecular Cloud at z~0.13?                 
  GBT06C-055 [  B] Martin Zwaan
       HI 21-cm absorption in MgII absorbers             
  GBT02A-054 [  B] Ingrid Stairs
       High-resolution Studies of a Precessing Pulsar    
  GBT06C-012 [  B] Steve Curran
       A Wide-Band Search of the Source of the           
       Obscuration of Reddened Quasars                   
  GBT06A-014 [ P ] Andrea Tarchi
       H2O vs Continuum in the Megamaser 3C403:          
       Reverberation Mapping of the Nucleus              
  GBT06A-026 [  B] Nissim Kanekar
       A search for 21cm absorption towards MgII         
       absorbers in the redshift desert                  
  GBT06C-035 [ P ] Jim Braatz
       The Megamaser Cosmology Project: A Survey for H2O 
       Maser Disks in SDSS AGNs                          
  GBT06C-003 [ P ] Tony Remijan
       Additional Transitions of Interstellar Methyl     
       Isocyanate (CH3NCO)                               
  GBT06C-103 [  B] Nissim Kanekar
       Confirming a new HI 21cm absorber in the redshift 
       desert                                            
  GBT06C-037 [ P ] Charlie Lada
       Probing the Origin of Dense Cores and the Stellar 
       IMF                                               
  GBT06C-048 [  B] Nissim Kanekar
       HI 21cm absorption in strong MgII and CI          
       absorbers in the redshift desert                  
  GBT06C-038 [  B] Jay Lockman
       GBT Mapping of HI Clouds in the Disk-Halo         
       Interface                                         
  GBT06C-016 [  B] Fernando Camilo
       Studying the magnetar XTE J1810-197               
  GBT06C-039 [ P ] Jim Braatz
       The Megamaser Cosmology Project: Circumnuclear    
       Disk Accelerations                                
  GBT06C-018 [  B] Ingrid Stairs
       Continued timing of a highly relativistic binary  
       pulsar system                                     
** Scheduled as F-ixed, P-rimary, B-ackup

Contact Information for 11/16/2006 - 11/30/2006
=======================================
Proposal   PI                 Bands Email [NRAO contact]    
---------- ------------------ ----- --------------------
GC028      John Conway        X     jconway@oso.chalmers.se []
GBT06C-051 Lincoln Greenhill  K     greenhill@cfa.harvard.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT05C-051 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06A-054 Paul Demorest      L     demorest@astron.berkeley.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06B-042 Nissim Kanekar     3     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT06B-011 David Champion     3     champion@physics.mcgill.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT06C-032 Peter Martin       L     pgmartin@cita.utoronto.ca [Jay Lockman]
GBT06B-055 Nissim Kanekar     8     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT06A-056 Paul Kondratko     K     pkondrat@cfa.harvard.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06B-044 Robert Ferdman     L     ferdman@phas.ubc.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT06C-013 Steve Curran       3     sjc@phys.unsw.edu.au [Carl Bignell]
GBT06B-014 Paulo Freire       3     pfreire@naic.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06A-004 Bill Reach         K     reach@ipac.caltech.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT05C-023 Fernando Camilo    8     fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06C-035 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06C-003 Tony Remijan       K     aremijan@nrao.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT06C-037 Charlie Lada       K     clada@cfa.harvard.edu [Frank Ghigo]
GBT06C-004 Tony Remijan       K     aremijan@nrao.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT06C-038 Jay Lockman        L     jlockman@nrao.edu [Jay Lockman]
GBT06C-016 Fernando Camilo    S8XC  fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06C-049 Karen Masters      L     kmasters@cfa.harvard.edu [Larry Morgan]
GBT06C-039 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06B-018 Michael Kramer     8     mkramer@jb.man.ac.uk [Scott Ransom]

Scheduled hours [backup]
========================
Category/Month-> November  December  January   
    Astronomy ~  479 [392] 548 [344] 566 [345] 
  Maintenance ~   56 [034]  52 [034]  55 [068] 
  Test & Comm ~  153 [024]  91 [005]  44       
     Shutdown ~   36        36         0       
  Un-assigned ~    2        21        86       

Proposal Checkouts
==================
Awaiting checkout - 0
  Active checkout - 0
          On Hold - 16
         Schedule - 69
        Completed - 567


Current backlog [hours prior to 06C*] = 976
   [2001:2(1), 2002:0(4), 2003:19(1), 2004:107(21), 2005:469(24), 2006:379(21)]
   Backlog excluding 162 hrs of monitoring projects after 06C = 814
Total time to discharge [hours] = 2661
   Includes 250 hours of monitoring after trimester 06C
* Includes projects that are on hold for trimester 06C

%META:TOPICINFO{author="RichardPrestage" date="1162413120" format="1.0" version="1.1"}% %META:TOPICPARENT{name="CommissioningMeetings"}%

GBT Operations & Commissioning Meeting

03 Nov 2006

AGENDA

• Upcoming Activities -- Carl
• Az Track, Antennae Report -- Bob
• Observing News -- Ron
• Scheduling Status -- Carl
• Microwave Electronics Status -- Roger
  • Operations
  • Development
• Digital Electronics Status -- Randy
  • Operations, Problem Summary
  • Development
  • Plans
• Software Status -- Amy
• Pulsar Related -- Scott
• MIT/LL 43m Project -- Glen
• Commissioning Plans -- Ron
• Any other Business

Upcoming Activities -- Carl

Az Track, Antennae Report -- Bob

Observing News -- Ron

Scheduling Status -- Carl

Microwave Electronics Status -- Roger

Operations

Development

Digital Electronics Status -- Randy

Operations, Problem Summary

Development

Plans

Software Status -- Amy

Pulsar Related -- Scott

MIT/LL 43m Project -- Glen

Commissioning Plans -- Ron

Any other Business

-- RichardPrestage - 01 Nov 2006