[evlatests] Modcomp-free: Line frequency check.
Vivek Dhawan
vdhawan at nrao.edu
Tue Jun 26 12:30:57 EDT 2007
Goal: to check if the EVLA and VLA are singing the same
song, in the correct pitch.
Observation mode: stokes RR and LL, 2 IFs, 15chan per IF.
Fixed frequency, preset for Doppler.
BW was 12.5 MHz at K and Q band, intended to give
some sensitivity to delay slope while showing the
lines as well. L band I intended to use 0.78MHz
but mistakenly left in the same BW - very coarse
for OH.
Result: Good(ish). This dataset was on Sunday afternoon,
riddled with the non-closing effects on many baselines.
Enough data survived to show clean fringes between (some)
antennas in every subset V-V, E-V, E-E, on both line and
continuum, at K, Q, L bands.
Next: Repeat test with better frequency resolution, after the
dust settles on CMP errors, baseline errors, modcomp
retirement etc. Is Doppler expected to work then?
A bit more detail, in time order:
K band, W3OH H2O maser alternating with continuum calibrator,
2 min each, 24 min total. EVLA started on time, VLA late by
6-7 minutes (more than 2-3 scans on some antennas).
L band: W3OH, OH maser 1665MHz, same calibrator, 16 minutes
total. This observation block started right on time (BD IFs).
Q band: Orion SiO maser + cal, 20min total. This block had
a funny start: the first 8 minutes were labelled with a
single source name, and only the last 90sec of the scan had
fringes on that source. There was a long slew at the start,
but the 2-min source cycle seems to have been ignored while
the antennas were slewing. I should investigate this, when
time permits; or just get more data.
V.
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