[evlatests] Failures during last night's tests

[Rick Perley]

    Another 'flux densities' test last night suffered multiple 
failures.  Although similar to those from two nights ago, there are 
significant differences. 

    I attempted to observe six sources, in this order:

    3C84, 3C138, 3C147, 3C454.3, Uranus, J0006-0623. 

    For each source, the following sequence of bands was made:

    L, XRefPnt, X, C, S, U, K, Q.

    Except for the referenced pointing, the times were arranged to 
provide between 15 and 20 seconds of good data.  Typically, this means 
each band is observed for 20 to 35 seconds (the difference being due to 
how long it takes to reconfigure the correlator and/or move the 
subreflector). 

    The major fault (from the observer's point of view) was missing scans:

    3C84 missed Ku, K, Q, and Ka bands.
    3C138 missed Ku band.
    3C454.3 missed S, Ku, K, Q, and Ka bands.
    The last two sources provided no data at all. 

    The problem which affected the data from two days ago -- zero 
amplitude and zero weight data on approximately half of the antennas -- 
did *not* occur in last night's test.  The only issue (from the 
observer's perspective) is the missing scans. 

    The operator's message, sent following the run, is reproduced 
below.  The first alert he references is 44 seconds following the last 
valid data (2:55:36).  Presumably, these missing data are all 'pure 
zeros', and hence are stripped out upon filling. 
    The operator's message also references emails about missing BDFs -- 
he lists three messages, but there are five missing scans.  The times 
noted are a poor match to the missing scans:  at 2:35, we were getting 
good data at X-band on 3C138; at 2:40, we were doing a referenced 
pointing run on 3C147 -- which gave excellent solutions, and at 3:00, we 
were on or near Uranus (hard to know for sure, since no data showed up). 



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	CBE config failure during TCAL0005
Date: 	Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:20:23 -0700
From: 	EVLA Operations <observe at nrao.edu>
Organization: 	National Radio Astronomy Observatory
To: 	Michael Rupen <mrupen at aoc.nrao.edu>, Bryan Butler 
<bbutler at nrao.edu>, Rick Perley <rperley at nrao.edu>, Ken Sowinski 
<ksowinsk at nrao.edu>



Hello.  The following alert appeared at 2:56:20, 2:58:23, 3:03:57, 
3:05:56, 3:10:45, and 3:14:27 UTC:

mccccm timerExpiredFor:TCAL0005.sb7289738 config-failure-cbe

Also received 3 missing BDF e-mails at 2:35, 2:40, and 3:00 UTC.

After TCAL0005 ended I ran the clearCorrelator script and then X_Osro.

The CM screen for X_osro displays Failed for the CBE configure status.

Dave
EVLA Ops