[fitsbits] Re: FITS for DSN spectral line observations

[Bob Garwood]

Harvey forwarded Tom's note to this group to me.  Tom had also
sent me e-mail that I hadn't yet got around to replying to (sorry
for the delay) so I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and
reply here.

The most recent draft of the description of the SDFITS convention can be
found in appendix C of AIPS++ note 225, available here:

http://aips2.nrao.edu/docs/notes/225/225.html  - for the full note

and

http://aips2.nrao.edu/docs/notes/225/225.html#SECTION000130000000000000000

for the current location of that appendix (since this is an automatically
generated html label, it is liable to move, so for the long term, the first
link will be more reliable).

The standard was actually originally drafted in 1989 in Green Bank.
It has been revised most recently due to discussions with other sites
interested in using it.  The UniPOPS writer and reader, being frozen
code, do not understand the most recent revision although there is
an aips++ utility which converts the UniPOPS writer's output to this
most recent SDFITS draft.

The most active non-NRAO site reading and writing SDFITS that I am aware 
of is at Parkes.  All of the Parkes multi-beam survey data is archived
in SDFITS by way of AIPS++.  I believe that some other Parkes devices
can also generate SDFITS (specifically, I think a Mopra writer is
either in place or in development).  Arecibo is also generating
SDFITS, principally as a way of getting their data into AIPS++.
I also know that the JCMT has long expressed interested in SDFITS
and that you can carry data away from the JCMT as SDFITS files
(that is what Harvey reports, I don't personally know that).
There may be other readers and writers that I can't think of as
I type this, but the above are the ones with which I have the most
frequent contact.

I presented a poster on SDFITS at the most recent ADASS and their seemed
to be enough interest in SDFITS there that I suspect that if I were
to muster enough energy, a final agreement on an SDFITS convention
could be reached in a reasonable amount of time.  It is stalled
principally because I haven't found the time and energy to start
that final push to an agreement.  It is on my to-do list for this
summer.

Cheers,
   Bob