Once you have performed all the steps in the previous sections, the system should now be set up correctly. After calibrating the array with cacal, it is essential at some stage throughout your observation you obtain good primary calibrator data on 1934-638 for cm observations and a planet for mm observations. This is absolutely necessary for flux (and bandpass) calibration of your observations. If 1934-638 or planet is below the horizon at the start of your observation, you must observe it at some later stage in your observation. If you are conducting observations at a range of central frequencies, you must obtain on calibration at each differing central frequency.
Many observers prefer to segregate the pre-cacal data from subsequent data by stopping the scan on 1934-638 or 0823-500, and closing the file.
CAOBS stop |
Must stop observing before closing a RPFITS file or changing to a new SCHED file. | |||
| CAOBS corr closefile |
Closes the file. |
| Obtain 3-5 minutes of good data on 1934-638: | And repeat for other central frequencies to be observed (if conducting spectral observations). | |||
| CAOBS track n |
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| CAOBS stop |
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| CAOBS corr closefile |
You are now ready to observe your target sources. If you used a separate schedule file for the primary calibrator, get the schedule file containing your program sources:
| CAOBS set file filename |
Where filename is name of your program schedule file. | |||
| CAOBS start n[/m] |
Starts observing on nth source in the SCHED file, where m is the number of times you wish to loop through the SCHED file. |