Assumptions
The system is up and that mountPanels (GUIs for steering the antennas)
are running for one or both antennas as needed, and that the receivers
are set up and the Labview display(s) running.
Load pointing models:
$> SetPtModel -a ALMA01 -f ~rlaing/vertexBand3-20070904add.mod
$> SetPtModel -a ALMA02 -f ~rlaing/aecBand3-20070904add.mod
(this could be done in a modified version of ~demerson/pmodels.bat with
the --Band option removed). Model files should be moved to standard
location.
Use object explorer to set the observing frequency to 104GHz.
$> objexp
- Go to: NewMountController
- Click on desired antenna, i.e. CONTROL/ALMA01/MountController
- In operations tab click on setObservingFrequency
- In the opened window type: 104e9 (for 104 GHz, units are in
Hz)
- Repeat for the other antenna (if required)
- You can check that the frequency has been set by clicking in the
getObservingFrequency operation.
Changes: refract.bat script no longer works.
Widen your terminals
I recommend having only 2 konsoles open, one (the "Vertex" one) above the
other (the "AEC" one), with both stretched across most of two screens.
Two shells won't be enough, but you can make more tabs by
clicking on the tabs with a yellow asterisk icon in the lower left corner
of each konsole. You should label the tabs by right clicking on them.
Check focus
It's worth checking on focus a couple of times a day, or whenever a >10"
change in pointing error occurs.
Start the psi error monitor
Make a new tab in one of the konsoles, and label it "psi monitor". In that
tab,
$> cd /groups/psi/Public_PSI
$> ./psi
PSI>rs art -r -dr=10 -ar
This should give several lines on the screen with just periods, something like:
.
..
...
....
.....
.
.
.
This pattern over-writes itself continuously.
If you see that pattern, then everything checks out ok.
If the periods turn into words, there's a problem.
The "-dr=10" specifies how long to wait before repeating checks. "-dr=5" would
also be a good choice.
This command writes all alarm messages to the alarms.txt stored in
/groups/psi/Public_PSI/Data. The checks include the presence of TEs (_very_
important) and that phase locks are in lock, as well as other monitor points.
If one antenna is down, use -l=va or -l=aec
The PSI Error Monitor may be terminated with ctrl-C
Check refraction coefficients using the object explorer:
In the objexp window,
NewMountController -> Control/ALMA01/MountController
-> getRefractionCoefficients
(ALMA01 = Vertex; ALMA02=Alcatel. Note that they have slightly different
coefficients!). This is updated only on
change of source when tracking, so make sure you are tracking something
first (need to have commanded an RA DEC position, won't work if
you commanded Az El).
Look for the "a" constant. This should be between about 0.000240 and
0.000280. This is the refraction constant in radians. The actual
refraction correction is approximately a times the tangent of zenith
distance plus b times the cube of that tangent. The default value is based
on an incorrect pressure value and is a constant 0.0002107 or so.
You should also check that the weather "oracle" is running:
$> ~mzambran/pyWEATHER
(Ctrl-C to stop - it will keep running in the background.)
Recent changes: Checkrefract.bat procedure doesn't work.
Know the elevations of the planets
Which planet(s) you use for the pointing run(s) will depend on their
brightnesses and elevations. If you're lucky, you'll find a chart posted
on the board to the right of the operator's station. If you have no such
ace up your sleeve, click on the Stellarium desktop icon on the machine
where LabView is running.
Tracking planets
In the "AEC" konsole, make a tab and rename it to something like "AEC
tracking":
$> TrackPlanetObject -a ALMA02 -p mars
In the "Vertex" konsole, make a tab and rename it to something like "Vx
tracking":
$> TrackPlanetObject -a ALMA01 -p Jupiter
(planet name not case-sensitive) They will run until the antennas are
nominally on target. You can also watch for when the actual positions
match the commanded positions in the mountPanels.
Running 5-Points
Zero the offsets!
You must zero the offsets of the antenna every time before
you run spiral5pt, by going to that antenna's mountPanel and clicking
on "Reset both".
Go to the tracking tab for that antenna
You need to be tracking something before running spiral5pt.
Now you may run spiral5pt:
- Important options:
- --help
- -e: # of cycles per gaussian fit:
Rule of thumb (depending on their distance from Earth) is:
-e 1 for Jupiter
-e 2 for Venus
-e 3 to 5 for anything else
-e 8 for extragalactic sources
For a weak source in stable conditions, you could try up
to -e 8. For a strong source, -e 1 is OK.
- -G: Output filename.
This must be
writable (generally in directory belonging to login user). Best to put
source name and date as part of the file name for output data, which is in
CSV format.
- --initial az,el: the initial guess for the az, el offset
solution. Necessary when the solution is outside the FWHM of the
beam. The offsets in spiral5pt's output will still be relative to
0,0 regardless of --initial's values.
The cavalier way:
$> /alma/ACS-current/ACSSW/bin/spiral5pt --antenna=ALMA01 --doPrgs=2 --cycles=1500 --initial=0,0 --offset=30 --offSourceAz=120 -G vertex_jupiter_20070917_1 --time=2 -y 0.1 -g yes -v 1 -e 3 -s 1 -w 5
The less cavalier way:
$> cp ~rreid/*.bat .
(R. Reid copied them from ~demerson, but it's best to use the most recent versions.)
Edit 5ptaec.bat or 5ptvertex.bat to have a useful output name
(-G) and number of cycles per gaussian fit
(i.e. "pre-averages", -e).
$> . ./5ptvertex.bat
Besides recording the parameters you used, it gives you a 8
second warning during which you can zero the offsets.
