2017 January

Jan 03

15:00 UT Rebooted ROACHes due to bad communication with Roach 1.

21:00 UT New delay center corrections derived from the 2016 Dec 22 calibrator survey observation (using 2136+006) were sent to acc. The values for Ant 1-14 are: [0., 0., 0., -1.27, 0., 1.48, 4.26, 0., 1.5, 0., -10.24, 0., 0.] in nanoseconds

Jan 04

01:16 UT We were not getting good phases on calibrators, and discovered that my reboot of the ROACHes this morning left them with incorrect equalizer coefficients. This has been corrected as of 0100 UT.

01:50 UT Updated delay centers again, based on data taken today (01:01 UT).

02:14 UT Delays look good! Now going to 3C84--first scan starts 02:11 UT, on source at 02:15 UT. 3 bands

23:59 UT Start of a really useful scan (filename IDB20170104235937), which is on a satellite (AMC-11) that broadcasts linear polarization at C band. The observation used a special band6 science channel definition, so that science channels are 5 MHz apart, and during the observation the Ant14 feed rotator was swept from -80 to 80 degrees. The data show very nice nulls at the lowest few frequencies that should indicate when the relevant polarization product has perpendicular feeds.

Jan 05

14:02 We are observing 3C273, but this morning I found Ant 14 was not tracking. I got it on source around 14:03 UT. We lost about 4+ hours, unfortunately.

Jan 06

00:00 UT We had to restart the Roaches for the 300 MHz clock test. We made another observation on 2136+006 to derive the new delays, which were put in. We also derived a set of YY-XX delays and updated to the ACC. The YY-XX delays we put in (relative to Ant 1) were [0.0, -0.09, -2.18, -2.12, -3.57, -1.96, 0., -0.22, -0.63, -5.24, -0.51, 0.23, -3.40, -1.62] in nanoseconds, derived from the Jan 4 3C84 data.

00:20 UT It appears that after correcting for the differential YY-XX delays and rotating the visibility about the differential parallactic angle (w.r.t. ant 14), the amplitudes of the 2017 Jan 4 observation on 3C84 get corrected! Now we need to see if updating the YY-XX delays to the system would be the fix.

Fig. 1:Amp vs. hour angle of the Jan 4 observations on 3C84 on all antennas (column) and polarizations (row; showing XX, XY, YX, and YY). Blue is the original and red is the corrected

10:50 UT Looks like the wind has died down a bit, so I have started a 3C273 observations (3 bands). Ant 14 Dec drive had a permit error, but I cleared it, so Ant 14 is tracking at 10:56 UT. Ant 2 was "sticky" too, and required two power-cycles to clear, but on source at 11:00 UT.

17:20 UT We discovered that the YY-XX delays put in at 00 UT were mistaken. We reversed these values, added the correct values and sent to ACC. The correct YY-XX delay values based on the Jan 4 3C84 observation should be [-1.62, -1.53, 0.56, 0.50, 1.95, 0.34, 0., -1.40, -0.99, 3.62, -1.11, -1.85, 1.78, 0.05] in nanoseconds. A new observation is taken on 3C286 starting at ~17:20 UT. Observing AMC-11 at band6 at 17:43 to check the result of the polarization (amplitude) rotation.

19:04 UT We also discovered that X and Y delays were being set independently, which made them step at different times. They need to change simultaneously. This was corrected, and new data on 2136+006 started at 19:04 UT.

19:25 UT I put in the Dec. 22 Bz corrections in, and have started a new scan on 2136+006 at 19:22 UT.

22:45 UT Bx and By corrections derived from the Jan 6 3c273 data were put in. New scans on 2136+006 and 2253+161 started at ~22:45 UT.

Jan 07

00:25 UT Now we are starting 3C84 for an all-night run, to check and possibly refine baselines and delays.

16:00 UT Now on the Sun--hoping to get a good all-day observation for an image. Did not work well, however, due to snow and sleet all day.

Jan 09

01:05 UT Observations on 3C84 started at 00:20 UT with 6 bands, but just now I stopped the observing and set the equalizer settings to 4 (from 32). New data started at 01:04 UT. I also grabbed some packets to do a proper evaluation, and may update the equalizers further shortly.

02:08 UT The 3C84 phase coherence seems less than last night, so we are setting the coefficients back to 32 as a test. Also took 3 dB out of Ant 14 H and V pol in front end.

02:49 UT The result of the test was not very conclusive. I have compromised by setting the coefficients all to 8, and have gone back to 3 bands on 3C84. I will let it run in that mode for the remainder of the evening.

Jan 15

13:12 UT Quick observation with high receiver on 3C273 (3bands.fsq), to check delay centers. I assume that delays should be good, and then I will go to Ciel-2 and see what delays are indicated (I presume they will be substantial, due to the satellite position being different than calculated from the TLE data.