<html><body>Hi Fitsbits,<br>Although retired I still have a private opinion.<br>Allowing a new data type in the primary header would in principle force all readers to be upgraded. A significant request.<br>A better way would be to create a new extension type for radio astronomy. This would give full freedom to include any format or feature needed without forcing old readers to be upgraded.<br>Yours<br>Preben Grosboel <br><br><div class="signature">--<br>Sent with GMX Mail app</div><div class="mail_android_quote" style="line-height: 1"><br><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width"><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/vnd.ui.insecure+html;charset=utf-8"><div class="mail_android_quote" style="line-height: 1"><br>On 7/25/25, 17:44 Maren Purves via fitsbits <fitsbits@<a href="http://listmgr.nrao.edu">listmgr.nrao.edu</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0.8ex 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
As another one who also dates back to the days of punched cards, the<br>
80 character length is what the punched cards had, 80 characters, 7<br>
bit ASCII.<br>
<br>
I'm glad Malcolm got back to doing some astronomical research after retiring.<br>
<br>
Maren (nominally head of instrument and telescope software at the East<br>
Asian Observatory/JCMT but really more of a sysadmin these days)<br>
<br>
On Thu, Jul 24, 2025 at 11:24 PM Malcolm J. Currie via fitsbits<br> <fitsbits@<a href="http://listmgr.nrao.edu">listmgr.nrao.edu</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> > Just because we are old does not mean that we are not working on state-of-the art software. The reason for wanting 16-bit floats is for this<br>
> > specific reason. Radio astronomy software would benefit from 16-bit floats.<br>
><br>
> Absolutely. That realisation had crossed my mind at the time, and I<br>
> wondered whether to qualify my statement. The groups weren't mutually<br>
> exclusive. In the end I decided not to dilute the point that we do need<br>
> fresh blood in the FITS WG.<br>
><br>
> Malcolm<br>
><br>
><br>
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