Overall status: In BnA concludes next week; move to A config begins on Tuesday; 4-band dipoles in place; correlator good to 64 BlB pairs. New version of correlator software - some issues with troubled first scans. Talks this week (SDM - Francois Viallefond at 2pm today; Ger van Diepen at ??)
May 22-26, 2011 - AAS, Boston (Rick and Chris there)
May 30, 2011 - NRAO Holiday - Commissioning meeting will be shifted in time to accommodate the sundry Monday morning meetings (likely an 11 am start).
Staff Travel:
LS: 9 May - 20 Jun
RP: 16 May - 25 May
GM: 25 May - 24 Jun
FO: 26 May - 09 Jun
FO: 12 Aug - 12 Sep
Visitors:
Robert Harris (AC982): 24 Apr - 16 Jul
Bob Sault: 16 May - 23 Jun
Hardware status and updates (Langley, Perley, Rupen)
Array (Perley/Langley):
Antennas: EA18 back in next week (rolled into A configuration move). EA21 next in.
Receivers: this week focus on EA18 (Ku).
Calibration (Perley): Ongoing investigation into the switched power compression/expansion; able to reproduce issue in testing but underlying cause is yet to be determined.
WIDAR (Rupen):
Notes (Rupen/Sowinski): 3-bit testing nearly complete this week (long integration and multiple tests for stability); subarrays nearly deployed. ability to move subbands around (digital mixer), finer fshift resolution (0.1 Hz) deployed.
NOTE: Please cc me on submitted tests so that it can be assigned the appropriate priority!
Commissioning priorities for the week (McMullin, Chandler)
Single maintenance day week:
Mon
0900-1600 Testing
1600-0900(Tues) Science operations and testing
Tue: Maintenance day:
0630-? Testing/software development time
Wed: Maintenance day
0630-1700: Maintenance operations
1800-0900: Science operations and testing
Thu:
0900-1700: Testing/software development time
1800-0900: Science operations and testing
Fri (not-yet-a-holiday but Monday is):
0900-1700: Testing/software development time
1800-0900: Science operations and testing
Sat-Sun
Science operations + planned testing
Issues Affecting Science Observing:
Correlator: [Pokorny/Rupen/McMullin] time mislabeling in SDM data (non-synchronous operation between correlator dumps and CBE can require additional 1/2 integration time padding for online flags). Ready for testing!
Correlator: [Clark/Carlson] Delay rocking across bands. Implementation pending factor-of-2 reconciliation.
Correlator: [Rupen/Carlson w/ Momjian/Sault] V stokes issues; test observations this morning.
Array: [Gustaaf] Amplitude wobbles seen on subset of antennas; phase jumps at scan boundaries also seen on subset of antennas (Ka, Q bands only thus far).
Array: [All] Zoo of other effects (some data are very good, some still seeing antenna-based IF/Polarization issue).
Testing This week
3-bit samplers (Dhawan+): highest priorities; most tests complete.
Notes: Meeting last week; work to get gaincurve in exposure calculator (Claussen/Butler). Refined near/long term targets; documentation work is ongoing.
Mid Frequency (Dhawan):
Notes: Would like to update Ku SEFD plots. This week.
Notes: Sub-group focus on low frequency imaging reduction issues; planning underway for in-house training/documentation work; disposition letters will offer RSRO-like visits for support in obtaining best science.
Notes: Status report and Ka/S update: 32 and 37 GHz observations available for 3C138, 3C147, 3C48 (3C286 by the end of the week); currently the information is put on the web (rather than added directly to CASA/AIPS; after A configuration data is added, it will be added directly. S band is not yet available.