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GBT Operations & Commissioning Meeting

5 May 2006

AGENDA

Az Track, Antennae Report -- Bob

Observing News -- Ron

We had a very full week in supporting 23 projects in 32 sessions including 4 VLBI runs. Average setup times were 12 minutes. The telescope was scheduled for 16.5 hrs of maintenance, 2 hrs of receiver checkouts, 3.5 hrs of program checkout, and 1 hr of software tests. Lost time was a bit above average -- 7.6 hrs or 5% of the time scheduled for observing and tests. But, we also had 3 full, consecutive days without a single moment of lost time. The major sources of lost time were:

All but Astrid were single events. We'll be meeting this morning to discuss what to do about repairing Q-band.

------------------

Scheduling Status -- Carl 

Last Week
=========

Observations for proposals
   GBT06A-063, GBT06A-030, GBT06A-054, 
   GBT06A-032, GBT06A-065, GBT05B-042, 
   GBT06A-022, GBT05B-032, GBT06A-056, 
   GBT05C-065, BK127     , GBT06A-046, 
   GBT05B-034, GBT06A-047, GBT06A-026, 
   BK114     , GBT06A-027, GBT06A-049, 
   GBT06A-038, GBT06A-018, BM241     , 
   GBT06A-070, GBT06A-061

Completed proposals
   BK127, BK114, BM241

Next Week
=========
Observations scheduled for **
  GBT06A-063 [FPB] Martin Zwaan
       Where are the molecular absorption lines?         
  GBT06A-032 [ P ] Jim Braatz
       A Search for the First SiO Megamaser              
  GBT06A-065 [ P ] Rachel Friesen
       Probing the initial conditions of star formation  
       in Ophiuchus                                      
  GBT05B-042 [F B] Michael Kramer
       Timing and General Relativity in the Double       
       Pulsar System                                     
  GBT05C-042 [  B] Scott Ransom
       Timing the Binary and Millisecond Pulsars in      
       NGC6440 and NGC6441                               
  GBT06A-056 [ P ] Paul Kondratko
       Are there Unrecognized NGC4258-like Systems Among 
       Known Water Masers in AGN?                        
  GBT05C-065 [ P ] Jim Braatz
       Measuring the Extragalactic Distance Scale: A     
       Target of Opportunity                             
  GBT06A-046 [F  ] Glen Langston
       A search for the Largest Interstellar Molecule,   
       HC_13N                                            
  GBT05B-034 [  B] Ingrid Stairs
       Timing Binary and Millisecond Pulsars from the    
       Parkes Multibeam Survey                           
  GBT06A-014 [ P ] Andrea Tarchi
       H2O vs Continuum in the Megamaser 3C403:          
       Reverberation Mapping of the Nucleus              
  GBT06A-047 [FP ] Miguel Angel Requena-Torres
       Complex Molecules in the Galactic Center          
       molecular clouds                                  
  GBT06A-026 [FPB] Nissim Kanekar
       A search for 21cm absorption towards MgII         
       absorbers in the redshift desert                  
  GBT05C-023 [  B] Fernando Camilo
       PSR J1833-1034, the Very Young Pulsar in the SNR  
       G21.5-0.9                                         
  GBT05C-046 [  B] Ingrid Stairs
       Timing of a Relativistic Binary and other Pulsars 
       from the Arecibo PALFA Survey                     
  GBT06A-049 [ P ] Tony Readhead
       Definitive Detection of Excess Arcminute Scale    
       CMB Anisotropies                                  
  GBT06A-027 [F B] Karen Masters
       Mapping Matter in the Nearby Universe with 2MASS  
  GBT06A-018 [ P ] Joe McMullin
       Isotopic Abundances in Planetary Nebulae          
  GBT05C-019 [  B] Tim Robishaw
       The Galactic Arachnid in the Ursa Major Loop      
  GBT06A-061 [F  ] Martin Zwaan
       HI 21-cm absorption in MgII and CaII absorbers    
** Scheduled as F-ixed, P-rimary, B-ackup

Contact Information for 05/18/2006 - 06/01/2006
=======================================
Proposal   PI                 Bands Email [NRAO contact]    
---------- ------------------ ----- --------------------
GBT06A-063 Martin Zwaan       A     mzwaan@eso.org [Karen O'Neil]
BF089      Jan Forbrich       X     jforbrich@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de []
GBT06A-020 Laurent Wiesenfeld X     Laurent.Wiesenfeld@ujf-grenoble.fr [Ron Maddalena]
BF088      Vincent Fish       L     vfish@nrao.edu []
GBT06A-066 David Nidever      L     dnidever@virginia.edu [Jay Lockman]
GBT06A-022 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06A-011 Mike Blanton       L     blanton@nyu.edu [Karen O'Neil]
GBT06B-022 Martin Zwaan       A     mzwaan@eso.org [Larry Morgan]
GBT06A-067 Amy Lovell         L     alovell@agnesscott.edu [Toney Minter]
GBT06A-056 Paul Kondratko     K     pkondrat@cfa.harvard.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06B-045 Jack Hewitt        L     j-hewitt@northwestern.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT05C-043 Nissim Kanekar     Q     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT04C-031 Paul Kondratko     K     pkondrat@cfa.harvard.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT05C-065 Jim Braatz         K     jbraatz@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06A-046 Glen Langston      U     glangsto@nrao.edu [Glen Langston]
GBT05B-034 Ingrid Stairs      L     istairs@astro.ubc.ca [Scott Ransom]
GBT05C-066 Tony Remijan       UK    aremijan@nrao.edu []
GBT06A-038 Tom Troland        L     troland@pa.uky.edu [Jay Lockman]
GBT06A-027 Karen Masters      L     kmasters@cfa.harvard.edu [Karen O'Neil]
GBT06A-039 Fernando Camilo    S     fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]
GBT06A-007 Andrea Possenti    S     possenti@ca.astro.it [Scott Ransom]
GBT06A-018 Joe McMullin       Q     jmcmulli@nrao.edu [Dana Balser]
GBT05C-037 Nissim Kanekar     A     nkanekar@nrao.edu [Glen Langston]
GBT06A-019 Rachel Osten       S     ro6b@Virginia.EDU [Scott Ransom]
GBT06A-009 Jim Condon         K     jcondon@nrao.edu [Jim Braatz]
GBT06A-070 Fernando Camilo    CUSX8 fernando@astro.columbia.edu [Scott Ransom]

Scheduled hours [backup]
========================
Category/Month-> May       June      July      
    Astronomy ~  552 [302] 343 [080] 464 [095] 
  Maintenance ~   25 [051] 174       145       
  Test & Comm ~  138 [032] 112 [009]  72 [011] 
  Un-assigned ~   29        91        63       

Proposal Checkouts
==================
Awaiting checkout - 0
  Active checkout - 4
          On Hold - 21
         Schedule - 85
        Completed - 483


Current backlog [hours prior to 06A*] = 921
   [2001:2(1), 2002:88(2), 2003:19(1), 2004:107(7), 2005:577(25), 2006:128(3)]
   Backlog excluding 111 hrs of monitoring projects after 06A = 811
Total time to discharge [hours] = 3334
   Includes 333 hours of monitoring after trimester 06A
* Includes projects that are on hold for trimester 06A

Microwave Electronics Status -- Roger

Operations:

The Q-band spontaneously warmed up yesterday. Cause or prognosis not yet known.

Development:

A lot of microassembly work accomplished this week: Components for the Lab Spectrometer converters, Ka-band IF Amps, buffered 4-way splitter for Optical receiver, and IF amps for the ODMs were all worked on and completed or ~80% complete.

Stennes is developing a mathematical receiver model based on baseline stability requirements, and using that to develop component electrical requirements. Mike is applying that research to the C-band receiver redesign.

Assembly of Q-band test dewar progresses. We have been taking and analyzing baseline data with the Lab Spectrometer and test sources, to evaluate the data quality and stability.

Digital Electronics Status -- Rich

Digital Group Status 27-APR-06 THRU 04-MAY-06

***Operations, Problem summary***

Following last week's adjustment of the external +5 volt power supply, the CCB has continued to operate flawlessly. Immediately following last week's OPS meeting, corrections were made to the data logging scheme which had been put in place to ensure that we are now logging this +5 volt external power supply.

The IRIG system which synchronizes the site computers was found to be mis-configured this week. As a result, time in various computers was free-running from the internal crystals. This was noticed when two computers had drifted so far apart that they were unable to exchange information.

***Development***

Cal-Tech Continuum Backend (CCB):

This week, testing was resumed on all modules, PCBA's, etc. required for completion of the 2nd CCB. At this point, testing is about 60% complete with all tests going well. Even with the advent of Inventor training next week, we still expect to have the 2nd CCB completely assembled and ready for final tests by the week of 15-MAY-06.

Lab Spectrometer

The lab spectrometer is producing spectra in the 800 MHz mode. However, it is not without its problems. The samplers are still introducing artifacts into the data despite some efforts to remedy this. Preliminary evaluation of long term tests by Balser showed that the baselines are reasonably flat but that the noise does not integrate down with root-time. This may be due to sampler artifacts.

Miscellaneous

ALMA Jason, JD and Rich continue to spend time on this project.

***Plans***

- Continue CCB construction...
- Continue Lab Spectrometer commissioning
- Continue ALMA support as needed...

Randy and Rich

Software Status -- Amy

This ends Week 5 of 6 in the third development cycle of 2006 which can be viewed at PlanOfRecordC32006. Integration testing begins next week and regression testing is scheduled for May 15. We are scheduled to release M&C software changes on May 17; release notes are under development. We are also planning on releasing GBTIDL v2.0 on May 17, 2006. GBTIDL v2.0 release notes will be emailed to gbtlocal prior to the release.

Operational support for this week included:

Summary of Cycle 3 MRs:

Pulsar Related -- Scott

MIT/LL 43m Project -- Glen

Successful automated Spacecraft tracking Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. Ran special test tracks for Phil Erickson of Haystack Observatory on Wednesday. His experiments were also successful.

We will track from 12:00 to 22:00 UTC Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week.

Any other Business

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