This second VLA example demonstrates the use of SCHED to schedule a pure VLA project. The SCHED input for VLA observations is very much like that for VLBI observations. There are some parameters provided, and listed below, to control some of the input information for which the VLBI defaults may not be appropriate. The example is a modified version of an actual schedule used to make the VLA observations described. The modifications were required by changes in the way in which SCHED handles setup files and the parameters VLABAND, VLABW, PEAK, VLAMODE (for pointing scans), and VLAPEAK. Some of these parameters are now read from the setup files, not the main schedule input.
! -------------------------------------------------------------------
! EXAMPLE of SCHED file for non-VLBI VLA observations.
! -------------------------------------------------------------------
! VLA observations to get flux densities of DA193 and 3C84 at VLA.
! Note that the example setup files are used for cc and qq bands.
! ----- Cover Information
version = 1
expt = 'Get flux densities for BV16'
piname = 'Craig Walker'
address1 = 'National Radio Astronomy Observatory'
address2 = 'P. O. Box O'
address3 = 'Socorro, New Mexico, 87801'
address4 = ' U.S.A. '
phone = '505 835 7247 '
obsphone = '505 835 7247 '
email = 'cwalker@nrao.edu'
fax = '505 835 7027 '
obsmode = 'Continuum'
correl = 'Socorro'
! ----- File names and other details.
stafile = $SCHED/catalogs/stations.dat
srcfile = $SCHED/catalogs/sources.vlba
obstype = vla ! Tells SCHED that this is VLA only.
expcode = BV016
stations = VLA
vlatype = CONTINUUM
vlausern = 450
vlamode = ' '
dovex=-1 ! No VEX file
lst ! Schedule in LST.
! ----- A source that is not in the external source list:
srccat /
source='CTA21' ra=03:16:09.1383 dec= 16:17:40.448
equinox='B1950' calcode='B' /
endcat /
! ----- Scans.
day = 56719 ! LST day of stop of first scan.
start = 4:00:00 ! LST start time.
source = 'DA193'
! No reference pointing at the lower frequencies
vlamode = ' ' vlapeak = ' '
dur = 8:00 setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-cc.set /
dur = 3:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-uu.set /
dur = 3:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-xx.set /
! Use reference pointing at X band for K and Q band observations.
vlamode = IR vlapeak = ' '
dur = 5:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-xx.set /
vlamode = ' ' vlapeak = T
dur = 4:00 setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-qq.set /
setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-kk.set /
source = '3C48'
vlamode = IR vlapeak = ' '
dur = 8:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-xx.set /
vlamode = ' ' vlapeak = T
dur = 4:00 setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-qq.set /
setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-kk.set /
source = '3C84'
vlamode = IR vlapeak = ' '
dur = 6:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-xx.set /
vlamode = ' ' vlapeak = T
dur = 3:00 setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-qq.set /
setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-kk.set /
! Do not use reference pointing for the rest of the session.
source = '3C84'
vlamode = ' ' vlapeak = ' '
setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-uu.set /
setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-xx.set /
setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-cc.set /
setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-cc.set /
setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-pp.set /
source = '3C48'
dur=6:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-uu.set /
dur=3:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-xx.set /
setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-cc.set /
setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-cc.set /
dur=4:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-pp.set /
source = 'DA193'
dur=9:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-uu.set /
dur=4:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-xx.set /
setup = $SCHED/examples/manual_vla-cc.set /
source = 'CTA21'
dur=10:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-ll.set /
dur=4:00 setup = $SCHED/setups/vla-pp.set /
! -------------------------------------------------------------------
The above file used several setup files since it was sampling all bands used at the VLA. Two are shown below. All of the others are like the first -- very simple because they use the standard mode. The second specifies the LO settings for the Q (7mm) band observations so it is rather more complicated. Note that, for many frequency settings, SCHED can obtain the required information from entries in the frequency catalog.
! ------------------------------------------------------------------- ! EXAMPLE setup file for non-VLBI observations at the VLA at 6cm. ! ------------------------------------------------------------------- ! vla-cc.set ! Non-VLBI observations at the VLA at C band format=none station=VLA vlaband=CC vlabw='0000' / ! -------------------------------------------------------------------
! ------------------------------------------------------------------- ! EXAMPLE setup file for non-VLBI observations at the VLA at 7mm. ! (Use as an example of the format, not the detailed numbers) ! ------------------------------------------------------------------- ! firstlo (ifa, qband) = feab-fecd+syna+flukea+900MHz-600MHz freqref = 43210.99 format = none vlaband = VQ vlabw = '0000' ! firstlo = 42589.9 vlafeab = 51.6 vlafecd = 13.0 vlasyna = 3589.9 vlasynb = 3639.9 flukea = 100.0 flukeb = 200.0 station = 'VLA' / ! -------------------------------------------------------------------