ATCASCHED Example

In this section a simple schedule file is constructed. It will contain three sources: a program source and two calibration sources. The following observing sequence will be specified:

• first calibrator (0537$-$441, a catalogued source) for 5 minutes,
• program source (R.A. 05:21:35.5, Dec. $-$21:24:27.1 (J2000)) for 30 mins,
• second calibrator (0646$-$306, a catalogued source) for 5 minutes.

The observing frequency will automatically be 4.8GHz and the bandwidth 128MHz (i.e., the standard continuum correlator setup). Commands may be entered in upper or lower case. To create this schedule file, perform the following steps: (The commands to enter are shown with a description of their effect.)

xbones:$\sim$$atcasched	The first screen is displayed.
You can enter or modify any field on this screen. Enter a field value by typing the first word of the name of the field followed by the field value.
SCHED$>$observer Jansky	The observer is Jansky.
SCHED$>$project c123	The project ID is C123.
SCHED$>$sched filename	Set the name of the SCHED file.
SCHED$>$config full_128_2	Sets correlator configuration and will also set bandwidths of that configuration.
SCHED$>$lst 2h	Start this schedule at 2 hours local sidereal time.
SCHED$>$scan 5m	Specify that the first scan is five minutes long.
SCHED$>$defcat at	Set the default catalogue name to at.cat.
SCHED$>$cat 0537	The source name, coordinates, epoch and calcode will be extracted from the catalogue.
SCHED$>$1freq 1384	Specify central frequency (MHz) of frequency band 1.
SCHED$>$2freq 2368	Specify central frequency (MHz) of frequency band 2.
SCHED$>$add	This screen is added to the schedule in memory.
SCHED$>$scan 30m	Start to specify the next scan.
SCHED$>$ra 5 21 35.5	Set RA observing position.
SCHED$>$dec -21 24 27.1	Set DEC observing position.
SCHED$>$source sourcename	Label the source to observe.
SCHED$>$add	The second scan is added to memory.
SCHED$>$scan 5m	Start the third source.
SCHED$>$cat 0646	Extract source 0646 from at.cat.
SCHED$>$add	The third scan is added to memory.

To repeat a sequence of scans when observing, you will use the CAOBS command start [n/m] to start at scan n in your schedule file and repeat the entire schedule file m times. If, however, you want to repeat a scan explicitly with this example schedule file:

1. SCHED$>$fetch 1 - to display the first scan's screen.
2. SCHED$>$add - the first scan is now duplicated as scan number four.

If you want to repeat a number of scans explicitly within the file you can use the command:
SCHED$>$copy i:j to k.

This will copy scans i to j inclusive and add them starting at scan number k (k must be one greater than the number of the last scan for the file). For example, SCHED$>$copy 1:3 to 4 would be appropriate in this example.

SCHED$>$list	The list options are offered and described onscreen.
SCHED$>$write	The schedule is written out to the file filename.sch.