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VLBI Facility report - Mar 2003

VLBI Facility report - Mar 2003. Tasso Tzioumis ATNF CSIRO. Report timing. Last report Nov 2002 – 4 months ago Early ATUC + late AT steering committee -- no detailed stats available TAC meeting follows 5-6 March - proposal stats? LBA strategic review – 5 March

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VLBI Facility report - Mar 2003

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  1. VLBI Facility report - Mar 2003 Tasso Tzioumis ATNF CSIRO

  2. Report timing • Last report Nov 2002 – 4 months ago • Early ATUC + late AT steering committee -- no detailed stats available • TAC meeting follows 5-6 March - proposal stats? • LBA strategic review – 5 March • Short report – details next meeting

  3. The LBA in brief • ATNF – Parkes, ATCA, Mopra, LBA-Correlator • UTas – Hobart, Ceduna • Tidbinbilla (NASA) -- limited access • Hartebeesthoek (S. Africa); – Kokee Park (USNO) • ++ adhoc others • Observe at all AT-bands - 1.4, 1.6, 2.3, 4.8, 6.0, 6.7, 8.4, (12), 22 GHz • Observations 5-10 days /term • Usually “block” session + “special” days

  4. LBA Proposals • Proposals – through ATNF ATAC -- (1-year lifetime) • ~ 6 new proposals /term • Overall oversubscription rate - ~2 • Schedule time on 5-6 proposals/term • Expired proposals – notification? - adhoc at present (TAC group; scheduler; operations) • Better mechanism to be developed

  5. Operations • Successful observations November 02 and February 03. • No major known failures in last year • Observational support problematic - more people are needed • Correlation progress still slow (people?) - casual student operator in Jan-Feb - may try to continue practice

  6. Scheduling • Access to Tid (70m) difficult for VLBI • (Access via SIM mission for astrometry project) • Short time periods available (spectroscopy) • 2-3 x (10-12hr) slots (VLBI?) • Ceduna only manned during LBA “block” sessions • Available for whole session • Conflict -- Ceduna vs. Tid scheduling

  7. People movements • Steven Tingay - ATCA  Swinbourne (Jan 03) • Richard Dodson - UTas  Japan (Nov 02) • Hayley Bignall (UAdel)  JIVE (Jan 03) • Tracy Getts  netball coaching (Dec 02) • Paul Jones – 6 months LBA correlator (Jul 02) • Chris Phillips – Bolton fellow (technical) (Sep 02) • Casual correlator operator Jan-Feb 03 - need more ?

  8. VSOP • NASA support ceased Feb 2002 (5 years) • Survey program continues - S2 recording + Canadian correlator - until Feb 2003  Aug 2003 • Request for Mopra support via ATAC per term • LBA – Mp, Ho, (Hh) ~ 1-2 obs/week • Since end Jan – HALCA attitude control loss - not recovered yet…. • Observations cancelled till further notice

  9. LBA Future • New technologies (Disk recording; fibres) - 1+ Gb/s rates (vs. 128 Mb/s now) • NTIV (New technologies in VLBI) meeting in Korea (5-8 Nov 2002) – 6 people from ATNF • LBA strategic plan - open meeting 5 March 2003 - will report to next ATUC +(Steering Ctee?) “All welcome” • Plan LBA path for near future • UTas VLBI centre??? • Far future is SKA?

  10. Radio Quiet Zones • SKA & LOFAR - separate reports? • Productivity Commission review of Radiocommunications Act in 2002 • ATNF submission for “radio sensitive zones” around existing telescopes (ATCA, Parkes) • Rec 10.4 in report  cabinet!!! • DEST – ACA agreement to implement via ACA regulations and practices. • Will be following up with ACA • Prelude to international “radio quiet reserves”? • Follow up at ITU-R

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