From the top panel select:
Options --> Starting Conditions
You will see the Starting Conditions Page:
Complete the following fields:
Observer NameAips ID: NRAO Aips ID number; if you don't have one, use 20
Office Phone
During Obs: phone no. during the observations
Email Address
Mailing Address
Program Code: e.g., AC572
Reference Antenna: antenna number (1-28) for use in single-dish VLBI, or reference antenna for phased array observations; for standard VLA observations leave this blank
Starting Subreflector: optional, initial move time will include time for subreflector rotation if this is set
Calibrator Names: determines whether B1950 or J2000 source names and positions are used for calibrator sources; J2000 is preferred
Array Configuration: optional, will determine whether any warnings produced by JObserve about antenna shadowing are correct
select Continuum or Spectral Line; use Spectral Line if ANY spectral line observations are to be performed at all, since this will activate an extra page of correlator options in JObserve suitable for both line and continuum observing
select Use Pie Town Antenna or other special options as appropriate. NOTE: JObserve has not been thoroughly tested for planetary or solar observations. For details of how to schedule planetary observations please see http://www.vla.nrao.edu/astro/guides/planetary/ and for solar observations please see http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~tbastian/VLAsolar/solobs/solobs.html
select either Write Stop Times or Write Duration Times to be written to the observe file. Writing LST stop times will guarantee where the VLA will be during the observation at a given LST; by writing durations the observe file will begin at the beginning whenever it is loaded into the online system by the VLA operator. If for any reason the file needs to be reloaded during an observation the behaviour will therefore be different depending on whether stop times or durations are used
Starting Position: if you know where the VLA antennas will be pointing prior to the start of your observing run, then setting the starting position here will make your observe file more efficient because the correct slew time can be calculated for the first scan; otherwise use the default values and add a few minutes to the first scan of your observations
Starting Date and Time: as given in the VLA schedule
IAT-UTC: currently 33 seconds
Special Instructions: enter any comments here of which you might need the VLA operator to be aware
when finished select Done
For more details on any of these fields please see http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/software/jobserve/Online_Docs/VLA/initial.html.
You may also change the minimum distances at which JObserve gives warnings about the proximity of the Sun, Moon, and planets to your source, by selecting Solar Warnings or Planetary Warnings from the Options menu. Default values are 15 degrees for the Sun, and 5 degrees for the Moon and planets.