Summary notes for GMVA Session March/April 2017 ================================================ Participating stations: Effelsberg, Pico, Yebes, Onsala, Metsahovi, VLBA, GBT, 3xKVN, ALMA Experiments c171(a-c) are without ALMA and use the standard 2 Gbps PFB mode. Experiments mg002, mb007, ma008 are with ALMA. They use wide band recording in Europe (new mode of DBBC2 which covers 500 MHz), at VLBA they use 4x128 MHz tunable RDBE mode. 30.3 12h00 UT fringe test, fringes found for EB, ON, MH, Ys 20h00 UT e-fringes between PV-EB in both polarisations 22h00 UT NL overcast+rain, resto of VLBA looks ok GBT is observing 31.3 23h00 UT EB changes to M87/3C273, Tsys ~ 180K, clear NL+OVRO bad weather, other VLBAs look ok 07h00 UT EB clear, ptg good (3C273) OV, KP, PT high wind Ys light rain, Tsys 320K On heavu rain, Tsys 400->4000K 12h00 UT Pico is observing 19h00 UT EB partyl cloudy, source faint, ptg difficult Pico ok, tau=0.2 NL overcast LA cloudy OV wind 22h00 UT Pico ok, Tsys 140K, tau=0.15, H=4-5mm EB now on 3C345, ptg ok PT, LA, NL overcast Ys weather is moderate 1.4. 10h00 UT EB ok PV ok NL clear KP, LA rain PT overcast 1.4 17h00 UT EB overvast, can't see 3C120 2.4 00h00 UT EB 3C120 was bad, OJ287 now is ok PV ok, tau=0.15 NL, LA, KP rain PT cloudy other VLBA all good 07h00 UT EB clear sky, ptg on BLLAC ok Details from Stations: C171A: ON: C171A went well, while the weather was poor, raining all the time. Opacity-corrected Tsys* were in the range of 400 – 2000 K. YS: At Yebes C171A observation ran without apparent problems. Overcast with some light rain starting three hours before the end of the observation. Tsys were 290 K for the first period (up to 21:45) at elevations above 30 degrees and later went to 320 K until it started raining and Tsys raised to 900 K by the end of the observation (combination of rain and very low elevation). Average water vapor content: 7 mm. Best opacity: 0.08. PV: We keep observing without interruptions under acceptable weather conditions, it was sometimes cloudy in the afternoon but clearing up now. Tsys about 140k and 4-5mm of pwv. C171B YS: C171B observation ran with apparent problems. Cloudy at first and clear sky later, some wind, Tsys ~ 270 K above 30 degrees elevation, best opacity ~ 0.1, water vapour content between 6 and 10 mm. It seems that water vapor content, opacity and Tsys were larger between 090.09:30 and 090.14:00. Later it improved. GBT: The series of W-band VLBI runs has been completed at Green Bank. As of early April 2, the weather cleared up and the Tsys was about 100 K for much of the time. The system was working smoothly, the calibration system for the receiver appears to have worked properly the whole time. Tsys calibrations and other notes on the recent series of 86-Ghz VLBI experiments at Green Bank, C171A,B,C and MB007, are described in a wiki page https://safe.nrao.edu/wiki/bin/view/GB/Observing/WbandVLBACal/C171 Tsys files can be downloaded from links near the bottom of that wiki page. C171C: Effelsberg observed all scans, the weather was moderate to good from VLBA: VERY LONG BASELINE ARRAY OBSERVING LOG -------------------------------------- Project: C171A Observer: Krichbaum, T. Project type: VLBI Obs filename: c171acrd.* Date/Day: 2017MAR30/089 Ants Scheduled: NL FD LA PT KP OV BR MK GB =UT-Time===Comment===============================================MF#===%AD==AMD= Operator is Alan Kerr GPS delta, vclock: OK, UT1-UTC: 0.47 1230 Begin at GB 1230 %GB overcast. elevated Tsys (~200K). 1257 Begin at NL 1257-1300 %NL scan 221 had a record rate of zero. it reported "Record OFF" (not bad record rate) and there was no zero-length-error after the scan. scan 222 was the same. scan 223 began recording normally. 1343-1708 %NL raining WEA 1355 New Operator: Karlee Radford 1357 Begin at BR 1427 Begin at LA 1442 Begin at PT and FD 1512 Begin at KP 1513 Begin at OV 1514-1516 *FD power glitch and autostowed. COM 100 2 1735-1736 %FD Scan 315: the last few seconds of that SW 100 1 scan was cut off due to a software malfunction. 1856 Begin at MK 1853-1856 *OV power glitch and autostowed. COM 100 3 2152 New operator is Betty Ragan. 2152 %OV very windy. 2223-2225 *OV wind stow. WEA 100 2 2226-0234 *OV wind stow again. Leaving it out for now. WEA 100 248 2258 OV site tech says the forecast is now calling for sustained winds of 50+ mph, and gusts from 60 to 80. Taking it out of the observation until it calms down a little. 0000 Date is 2017MAR31/090. 0145 %KP high wind gusts. 0156-0159 *KP wind stow. WEA 100 3 0215-0218 *KP wind stow. WEA 100 3 0224-0404 *PT, MK removed to run daily USNO observation. SCH 200 200 0234 %OV is back in, but still very windy. 0404-0412 *PT has zero record rate. Rebooting the DBE. REC 100 8 0454-0456 *KP wind stow. WEA 100 2 0528-0901 %NL raining. 0537-0539 *KP wind stow. WEA 100 2 0544-0545 *KP wind stow. WEA 100 1 0545 New operator is Alan Kerr 0553-0558 *KP wind stow. repointed. WEA 100 5 0600-0605 *KP wind stow. repointed. WEA 100 5 0634-0636 *KP windstow. WEA 100 2 0652-0843 *KP windstows. leaving it out for a while. WEA 100 111 0652-0655 *PT rotation fault. cleared. FRM 100 3 1144-1209 %KP precipitation 1151 %OV high winds again. 1226-1235 %NL precipitation 1259 End. Downtime Summary: Total downtime : 601 min Percentage downtime of observing: 5.1% Average downtime per hour : 3.1 min Total scheduled observing time (# Antennas): 11752 min (8) Notes: * = Entries where data was affected. % = Entries where data may have been affected. & = Entries where the site tech was called out. WEA = Weather entries. MF# = Maintenance form or major downtime category associated with a problem. %AD = The percentage of an antenna affected by a problem. AMD = Total antenna-minutes downtime for a problem. Tsys = System Temperature (TP/SP x Tcal/2) ACU = Antenna Control Unit FRM = Focus/Rotation Mount RFI = Radio Frequency Interference VME = Site control computer CB = Circuit Breaker vclock = Program that compares site clock time to a standard. VERY LONG BASELINE ARRAY OBSERVING LOG -------------------------------------- Project: C171B Observer: Krichbaum, T. Project type: VLBI Obs filename: c171bcrd.* Date/Day: 2017MAR31/090 Ants Scheduled: NL FD LA PT KP OV BR MK GB =UT-Time===Comment===============================================MF#===%AD==AMD= Operator: Karlee Radford UT1-UTC okay; vclock okay; gps delta okay. 1500 Begin at GB 1527 Begin at NL,FD,LA,PT 1537 Begin at KP,OV,BR 1537-2357 %OV windy ~30 mph. WEA 1640-1645 *OV windstow WEA 100 5 1918 Begin at MK 1936-1956 *KP communications down. Can still see mark5c HWC 100 20 status. Sent reboot command to VME at 1952. Site tech said he saw lights indicating the VME was hung. Communications back up. Repointed antenna. 2145 New operator is Betty Ragan. 2153 %LA windy. 2214-2216 *FD wind stow. WEA 100 2 2217-2227 *FD autostowed again. Leaving it out for a WEA 100 10 few minutes. 2232-2308 *FD wind stow again. LEaving it out a while WEA 100 36 longer. 2311-2334 *FD wind stow again. WEA 100 23 2357 End. Downtime Summary: Total downtime : 96 min Percentage downtime of observing: 2.2% Average downtime per hour : 1.3 min Total scheduled observing time (# Antennas): 4296 min (8) Notes: * = Entries where data was affected. % = Entries where data may have been affected. & = Entries where the site tech was called out. WEA = Weather entries. MF# = Maintenance form or major downtime category associated with a problem. %AD = The percentage of an antenna affected by a problem. AMD = Total antenna-minutes downtime for a problem. Tsys = System Temperature (TP/SP x Tcal/2) ACU = Antenna Control Unit FRM = Focus/Rotation Mount RFI = Radio Frequency Interference VME = Site control computer CB = Circuit Breaker vclock = Program that compares site clock time to a standard. VERY LONG BASELINE ARRAY OBSERVING LOG -------------------------------------- Project: C171C Observer: Krichbaum, T. Project type: VLBI Obs filename: c171ccrd.* Date/Day: 2017MAR31/090 Ants Scheduled: NL FD LA PT KP OV BR MK GB =UT-Time===Comment===============================================MF#===%AD==AMD= Operator is Betty Ragan. Vclock, gps delta, UT1-UTC all check OK. 2357 Begin. 2357 %FD, LA, OV windy. 0000 Date is 2017APR01/091. 0000-0022 *KP had zero record rate. Rebooted DBE. REC 100 22 Had to use PDU, as the roach was not working. 0354-0532 *PT, MK removed to run daily USNO observation. SCH 200 196 Note: there was no preempt time given for the period when this observation had to run. 0532-0539 *PT had zero record rate. Rebooted the DBE. REC 100 7 0540 New operator is Alan Kerr 1149-1241 %ALL SITES: vlcj is down. data should be good but operations cannot monitor certain systems. 1335-1340 *KP AZ currents high. dragging behind source. ACU 100 5 AZ control disabled by operator. 1350 New operator: Karlee Radford 1924 %LA raining. 2308-2343 *OV Site tech needed on antenna. Vertex room VAC 100 35 warm. 0000 Date is 2017APR02/092. 0147 New Operator: Paul Padilla 0225-0400 *MK,PT removed for daily USNO observation SCH 200 190 No pre-empt window given for the period where the USNO project must be run. 0400 %PT,MK may experience delay and phase jumps when rejoining the observation 0400-0450 *MK zero record rate, rebooting DBEs TIME 100 50 0455-0724 %KP communications are down 1348 New Operator: Karlee Radford 1812 End. Downtime Summary: Total downtime : 505 min Percentage downtime of observing: 2.5% Average downtime per hour : 1.5 min Total scheduled observing time (# Antennas): 20280 min (8) Notes: * = Entries where data was affected. % = Entries where data may have been affected. & = Entries where the site tech was called out. WEA = Weather entries. MF# = Maintenance form or major downtime category associated with a problem. %AD = The percentage of an antenna affected by a problem. AMD = Total antenna-minutes downtime for a problem. Tsys = System Temperature (TP/SP x Tcal/2) ACU = Antenna Control Unit FRM = Focus/Rotation Mount RFI = Radio Frequency Interference VME = Site control computer CB = Circuit Breaker vclock = Program that compares site clock time to a standard. VERY LONG BASELINE ARRAY OBSERVING LOG -------------------------------------- Project: MG002 Observer: Gomex, J.L. Project type: GEO Obs filename: mg002crd.* Date/Day: 2017APR02/092 Ants Scheduled: NL FD LA PT KP OV BR MK =UT-Time===Comment===============================================MF#===%AD==AMD= Operator: Karlee Radford UT1-UTC okay; vclock okay; gps delta okay. 2027 Begin except at MK 2257 Begin at MK 0000 Date is 2017APR03/093. 0146 New Operator: Paul Padilla 0255-0430 *PT,MK removed for daily USNO observation SCH 200 190 No preempt window was given for the period where we have to run this observation 0430 %PT,MK may experience delay and phase jumps when returning to observation. 0440-0444 *OV AZ #1 armature over current fault. Cleared in ACU 100 4 Standby. 0711 End. Downtime Summary: Total downtime : 194 min Percentage downtime of observing: 3.8% Average downtime per hour : 2.3 min Total scheduled observing time (# Antennas): 5152 min (8) Notes: * = Entries where data was affected. % = Entries where data may have been affected. & = Entries where the site tech was called out. WEA = Weather entries. MF# = Maintenance form or major downtime category associated with a problem. %AD = The percentage of an antenna affected by a problem. AMD = Total antenna-minutes downtime for a problem. Tsys = System Temperature (TP/SP x Tcal/2) ACU = Antenna Control Unit FRM = Focus/Rotation Mount RFI = Radio Frequency Interference VME = Site control computer CB = Circuit Breaker vclock = Program that compares site clock time to a standard. VERY LONG BASELINE ARRAY OBSERVING LOG -------------------------------------- Project: MB007 Observer: Brinkerink, Christiaan Project type: GEO Obs filename: mb007crd.* Date/Day: 2017APR03/093 Ants Scheduled: NL FD LA PT KP OV BR MK GB =UT-Time===Comment===============================================MF#===%AD==AMD= Operator is Paul Padilla UT1-UTC: 0.47, VClock: -0.032, GPS delta: 5.3 0712 Begin at all sites except MK 0712-0717 *ALL Sites .crd file had neglected to be HUERR 700 35 sent out. 0902 %NL raining 1003 MK joins 1334 Operator is A. Sowinski. 1337 BR wea: calm, clear, frost. 1350 LA wea: scattered clouds, calm, dry. 1350 FD wea: clear, dry, windy. 1459 OV wea: cloudy, dry. 1520 End. Downtime Summary: Total downtime : 35 min Percentage downtime of observing: 0.9% Average downtime per hour : 0.5 min Total scheduled observing time (# Antennas): 3904 min (8) Notes: * = Entries where data was affected. % = Entries where data may have been affected. & = Entries where the site tech was called out. WEA = Weather entries. MF# = Maintenance form or major downtime category associated with a problem. %AD = The percentage of an antenna affected by a problem. AMD = Total antenna-minutes downtime for a problem. Tsys = System Temperature (TP/SP x Tcal/2) ACU = Antenna Control Unit FRM = Focus/Rotation Mount RFI = Radio Frequency Interference VME = Site control computer CB = Circuit Breaker vclock = Program that compares site clock time to a standard. VERY LONG BASELINE ARRAY OBSERVING LOG -------------------------------------- Project: MA008 Observer: Akiyama, Kazunori Project type: VLBI Obs filename: ma008crd.* Date/Day: 2017APR04/094 Ants Scheduled: NL FD LA PT KP OV BR MK =UT-Time===Comment===============================================MF#===%AD==AMD= Operator is Alan Kerr GPS delta, vclock: OK, UT1-UTC: 0.47 0041 Begin at NL 0041-0051 *NL late on source. crd files were not sent out. HUERR 100 10 resent files. pointed antenna. running normally. 0047-1110 %NL precipitation 0128 Begin at FD,LA,PT,KP 0142 Begin at OV,BR 0225-0402 *PT out for daily USNO observation. Note: that SCH 100 97 there was no Preemption Window provided for this. 0441 Begin at MK 0454-1110 %PT precipitation 0442-0540 *FD DBE-1 had timing errors. Had to re-sync TIME 100 58 the clocks. 0540 New operator is Betty Ragan. 0945 %LA windy. 1110 End. Downtime Summary: Total downtime : 165 min Percentage downtime of observing: 3.3% Average downtime per hour : 2.0 min Total scheduled observing time (# Antennas): 5032 min (8) Notes: * = Entries where data was affected. % = Entries where data may have been affected. & = Entries where the site tech was called out. WEA = Weather entries. MF# = Maintenance form or major downtime category associated with a problem. %AD = The percentage of an antenna affected by a problem. AMD = Total antenna-minutes downtime for a problem. Tsys = System Temperature (TP/SP x Tcal/2) ACU = Antenna Control Unit FRM = Focus/Rotation Mount RFI = Radio Frequency Interference VME = Site control computer CB = Circuit Breaker vclock = Program that compares site clock time to a standard.