[asac] Some thoughts for the ASAC Berkeley Mtg

[Mark A. Gurwell]

Hi Al,

Since I won't be able to join in the teleconference tomorrow, I
thought I'd send you a quick note regarding some of the issues to be
discussed.

First, and most simply, I note that I was in attendance at the last
telecon, though not listed in the participants.  I think the notes for
the last meeting are fine otherwise.  

Beyond the News section in the agenda for this telecon, there doesn't
seem to be much for discussion beyond the agenda for the September 
Berkeley meeting.  I took a quick look at the agenda, and thought I
might make a few suggestions:

I think that the number one priority should be to assess the Japanese
involvement, and all that entails.  Frankly this issue alone could
take the whole meeting, just because the possibilities are
semi-infinite (this is good overall of course!).  On this note, I
don't know if the ACA falls under the enhancements allowed by Japan
contribution or if the ACA falls under a different heading...I guess
that really depends on whether or not the ACA will have THz
capability.  In any event, all of this must be hashed over as much as
possible. 

Also, a particular interest to me is passband calibration...is this
going to fall under the 'Calibration Scheme' or has it been relegated
to purely a correlator issue?  My concern here is that this
calibration, which could be crucial to many projects (like, say, my
own :-) ), may kind of slip between the cracks...

I think we need to revisit the receiver band choices again, as it
seems from the last telecon that there was some dissent regarding
dropping one of the bands (loss of a z-range for CO, I think?).

Also not specifically mentioned, but of interest, is news on the WVR,
both from the Rx group (how will it fit in? etc) as well as from
Wilson and Richer, on any recent news regarding either the 183 or the
IR instruments.  

Finally, a quick report on the site (development preparation as well
as on further information on the meterology and stability) would be
interesting, I think.

Well, that's it for the moment.  Sorry I won't be able to join in
tomorrow, but I look forward to seeing everyone in September!

Best wishes,

Mark 

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Mark A. Gurwell
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics    voice: (617) 495-7292
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60 Garden Street                     email: mgurwell at cfa.harvard.edu
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http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~mgurwell
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