Dear ATCA proposer,

This email is to update you on progress with CABB, and inform you about the
staged release of the 2010APR semester schedules for the ATCA.

Observing with CABB commenced in April last year, and the first year has seen a
lot of exciting science enabled by the new system, as well as gradual
improvements in the reliability and user-friendliness of the system. As noted
in the preface to the ATCA User Guide
(http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing/users_guide/html/atug.html),
both a wiki (http://atug.wikidot.com/)
and a discussion forum (http://atcaforum.freeforums.org/index.php)
have been set up to enable users to share their experiences and discuss matters
relating to CABB observing and data reduction.

Although good progress is being made toward the introduction of
CABB "zoom" modes and other CABB modes (described at
http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing/CABB.html),
the CABB developers have recently encountered a technical challenge,
and the time required to resolve this is not yet clear.

For this reason we will not release the entire 2010APR semester schedule all at
once, as has been usual in the past. Instead, we will release the schedule in
stages, to make most effective use of the CABB modes as they become available.

The first 6-week portion of the ATCA schedule, comprising only projects that do
not require CABB zoom modes, will be released today. We are committed to
scheduling the rest of the semester at least 1 month in advance of observations
as per normal practice. We hope to schedule the remainder in a single block,
but it may be necessary to again stage the process.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Regards,
Phil Edwards
Head of Science Operations