[mmaimcal] FYI: 7 Apr 08 Biweekly Calendar of the ALMA Project at NRAO

[Alwyn Wootten]

Folks,

Comments, contributions or corrections?

Clear skies,
Al

                 BIWEEKLY CALENDAR OF THE ALMA PROJECT at NRAO
                         7 April 2008 - 21 April 2008

******************************** THIS FORTNIGHT*************************
A high resolution spectrum of the central region of the Orion Molecular
Cloud was obtained at the ALMA Test Facility.  Correlator mode 1 used all
32 subchannel filters provided 7679 filters after subchannel overlap.
Alternate observations of source and calibrator were made in the manner
eventually to be used in a typical schedule block.  Data was bandpass,
phase and amplitude calibrated in CASA.  Sensitivity is about that
published by Turner in his 1989 ApJSup survey of the 3mm spectrum of the
Orion core.
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Past issues of this Calendar may be viewed at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html
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General Happenings
Photos of activity may be found at:
http://www.alma.nrao.edu/almanews/almagallery/index.html
Sky: TBD

SCO: The ALMA Board met 2-5 April in Santiago.  ALMA Scientific Advisory
Committee Chair J. Cernicharo presented the report of that committee.  The
Board approved A. Blain to be the next Chair of the ASAC.  Tender closing
for the new central office building was extended until the end of April.

AOS (Array Ops Site, 16570ft altitude): Grading of the Central Cluster
area has begun.  Work on antenna foundations continues.  AOS Technical
Building control software is being adjusted and Operations personnel
trained in its use.  Work on the Transporter Hangar should be complete
soon.

OSF (Ops Support Facility, 9600ft altitude):  The training for the ALMA
facility management and maintenance team was completed; planning for
acceptance of the Technical Building continues. Provisional Acceptance of
the extension of the ALMA Camp is scheduled for April 7, 2008.  The
exterior sidewalks are under construction, and exterior lights are being
installed through separate contracts.  Furniture awaits installation at
the OSF; underground utilities are installed.  Formal acceptance of Vertex
(Vx)Antenna No1 has slowed owing to equipment failures.  Optical Pointing
Telescope (OPT) initial setup with Vertex; initial pointing model
established.  Vx Antenna No 2 servo system commissioning will commence
soon.  Antenna #4 arrived in Chile week of 24 March.  Melco Antenna No 1
holography measurements were finished and the holography receiver and the
minirack were successfully uninstalled by Assembly, Integration and
Verification (AIV) crew. Melco No 3 continues antenna driving tests; Melco
No 4 continues photogrammetry and panel adjustment.  Tuning of the two
transporter vehicles on the OSF-AOS road is taking place, they are
routinely moving up and down with dummy antenna load.  All parts of the
first ALMA Front End have arrived and will undergo Provisional Acceptance
on Site (PAS) at month's end.  The 2-antenna correlator at the OSF has
passed PAS.

TUC: Optical Pointing Telescope Preliminary Design Review occurred.

AOC: The first versions of the fully re-engineered production LLC module
and the first-ever Subarray switch module were “mated” for the first time.
The correct operation was verified for insertion loss, proper signal
levels, and locking on a fringe.  A BackEnd team has traveled to the OSF.
CASA patch #1 distributed for external install testing.

ATF: Software version 5.0.3 has been handed over to operations for
interferometry.   Quicklook phasecal demonstrated at ATF; not yet routine.
 The ATF will remain operational through June and until 1 September
depending upon monthly review outcome.  Automated skydips were implemented
by Hunter and Kern to be conducted nightly.

NTC (NRAO Technology Center): Testing of the second ALMA Front End
continues.  Visitors from the East Asian and European Front End
Integration Center will visit.  Holography system transmitter No 2 will be
shipped to the OSF.  Four Band 6 blank cartridge bodies were delivered
from Rutherford Appleton Labs (RAL).  All Tunable Filter Board (TFB) cards
to complete the 3rd Quadrant of the Correlator have been functionally
tested in Bordeaux.

EU: A prototype solar filter was received by ESO for further evaluation by
University of Bern.  A critical design review meeting of the Water Vapor
Radiometer (WVR) optics has been scheduled for 5 May 2008. At this review
the system budgets, with special emphasis on the optics contribution, will
be addressed.

ASIAA: PAS testing of Band 7 (.85 mm) Cartridge #3 at the East Asian Front
End Integration Center (EA FEIC) has been completed; testing of Band 9
(.65mm) Cartridge #3 will be completed this week.

NAASC: Holdaway produced write-up of new plan for outer configurations:
the three new arrangements have lower inner sidelobes and well spaced beam
sizes, but some additional pads are needed. Reid will perform simulations,
image fidelity analysis on these.
A calendar of NAASC events may be found at:
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/naasc/calendar/calendar.php
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DAILY CALENDAR (Times EDT/EST ) see
https://wikio.nrao.edu/bin/view/ALMA/AlmaCalendar
****************************** UPCOMING EVENTS *************************
   Mar 25                ALMA Session, ASJ meeting         Japan
   Apr 2-4               ALMA Board Meeting                Santiago
   Apr                   OPT PDR                           Tucson
   May 5                 WVR review                        Gothenburg
   May 5-9               Molecular Universe meeting        Bordeaux
   May 14                ALMA Board Telecon
   May 21                ASAC Telecon
   June 2-5              AAS Meeting                       St. Louis
******************************* TECHNICAL NEWS *************************
*****************************ALSO OF INTEREST***************************
Proposals for observing time on the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory on
Mauna Kea for the semester 1st September 2008-31st Jan 2009 should be sent
by 31st May 2008 to T. G. Phillips, Caltech 320-47, Pasadena, CA 91125.
For further information please refer to the CSO web site at
http://www.submm.caltech.edu/cso.
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The deadline for proposals to use NRAO telescopes (GBT, VLA, VLBA) is
1700 EDT Monday, 2 June 2008.
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Please send information for upcoming calendars by Friday evening of the
preceding biweekly period to Jennifer Neighbours or Al Wootten via e-mail
(jneighbo at nrao.edu or awootten at nrao.edu).

The calendar will be issued between late Friday and sometime on Monday
by e-mail to all NRAO scientific staff members and anyone else interested.
A specific mailing list, alma-info, has been created for anyone wishing
to receive it.
Past issues are available at
http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~awootten/mmaimcal/ALMACalendars.html