[evlatests] P-band testing -- results from Cygnus A

[Rick Perley]

    I ran another short (30 min) test of our spiffy new low-frequency 
system, early Tuesday morning.  The major goal of this test was to 
further explore the flux bootstrapping of sources, when using Cyg A as a 
reference source.  The flux density of Cyg A quintuples the system power 
(compared to 'cold sky').  There is some concern that this might push 
the electronics into a non-linear regime (although it shouldn't!), so I 
arranged to do the 'set-and-remember' business on Cyg A itself.  The 
basic argument is that since we run the 8-bit samplers 'hot' (i.e. more 
or less in the mid-range of their 256 levels), we can afford to 'turn 
down' the power more than 'turn up'. 

    This report will be in two halves -- one on the basic system setup 
and characteristics, the other on the specific results from the test. 

    The next circular will be on the first topic.