A typical observation at the VLA will comprise observations of a program source interspersed with scans on nearby phase calibrators, plus observations of a primary flux calibrator, and a bandpass calibrator for spectral line programs. Some special considerations are needed for observations at low and high frequencies, to deal with RFI mitigation and bandwidth smearing (ν < 2 GHz) and the effects of the troposphere and antenna performance (ν > 15 GHz).
General hints and suggestions on how to set up your VLA observations may be found in the VLA Calibration Manual, at http://www.vla.nrao.edu/astro/calib/manual/index.shtml.
Advice specific to low and high frequency observing at the VLA may be found under "Observing Guides and Tools," at http://www.vla.nrao.edu/astro/.
Observe files tell the VLA how the whole system will be set up for each scan in an observation; JObserve is a tool for producing such observe files. For example, in the default continuum modes the outputs from JObserve for each scan are four lines ("cards") in the observe file: (1) source card giving source name and other observing parameters; (2) data selection card describing integration time and IFs/channels required; (3) LO card with local oscillator settings; (4) fine tuning card with the fine tuning settings for the Fluke synthesizers. Details of other cards may be found at http://www.vla.nrao.edu/astro/guides/onlinedocs.
For observations that do not use the default continuum settings this cookbook assumes some familiarity with the VLA signal path. Further details may be found at http://www.vla.nrao.edu/astro/guides/sline/current/ and http://www.vla.nrao.edu/astro/guides/LO/.
Further information about the capabilities of the VLA may be found in the VLA Observational Status Summary, at http://www.vla.nrao.edu/astro/guides/vlas/current/.