Dear ATCA PI, This email is to draw to your attention some important changes to ATCA observing for the coming semester. The ATCA schedule is now available for the 2009APR semester, which runs from 22-apr to 15-jul. A separate call for proposals will be made on 15-apr, with a proposal deadline of 15-may for the 2009JUL semester, which will run from 15-jul to 30-sep. All proposals submitted for the 2009APR semester must be resubmitted by the 15 May deadline to be considered for the 2009JUL semester. The 2009APR semester will be the first with the CABB system. The ATCA schedule has been made based on progress with the installation of the CABB hardware, firmware and software. This work is proceeding well, however, the installation and commissioning work is not yet complete. Should any unforseen problem be encountered, there may be an associated impact on the schedule. We will keep all PIs informed of any such issues, should they arise. Observers travelling from overseas may wish to make a final check with me before committing to an airfare, or to purchase a ticket that allows some flexibility in travel. All observers are encouraged to arrive a day or two before their observations are scheduled, to familiarize themselves with CABB observing, and to stay on a day or two after, to reduce their data and provide feedback to Observatory staff. As stated in the call for proposals, remote observing will be more restricted in this semester. As CABB introduces a number of significant changes in the way observing is carried out, all observers will need to observe on-site at Narrabri before they will be allowed to observe remotely. (Requests for remote observing should in the future be made via the webform at http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing/remote_form.html.) The ATCA Users Guide is currently undergoing a major overhaul, and will continue to be updated as further experience with CABB is obtained. As described on the ATCA visitor guide (http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing/visitors/), QantasLink have ceased their service to Narrabri. (QantasLink still fly to Moree and Tamworth, 1.5hr and 2.5hr drives from the Observatory, respectively.) A direct service between Sydney and Narrabri is now operated by Aeropelican. Please see the ATCA visitor guide for more details of the new service, and a link to the Aeropelican website. Data files produced by CABB are much larger than standard continuum datafiles from the old correlator. It is planned for CABB to automatically close datafiles when they reach 4 GB in size (and to seamlessly open another file and continue observing). Keeping files to this size means they are able to be backed-up on DVD: observers may alternatively (or additionally) wish to transfer data to their laptop, or to USB storage devices (with FAT32 or ext3 filesystems), which can be mounted on workstations in the observers area. A new version of miriad will be required to reduce CABB data. Details about the new version, and sample data files to gain experience with, will be made available in April. Regards, Phil