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ATCA Release notes for 2026APR



Infrastructure upgrade shutdown

At the initial schedule release, it is anticipated that the infrastructure upgrade shutdown (to upgrade the power distributon, long-travel drives and turret motors on CA04 and CA05) will commence on April 27. We expect that works will be finished by June 8, and we will have a week of testing the new systems. Observing will recommence on June 15.

Power distribution issues

Currently we have no power available at the western end of the antenna track, due to a failure of an underground cable between our transformers 8 and 9. This means that no stations west of W173 can be used. We don't yet have any timeframe for rectification of this issue. As a result, the only 6km array that can be scheduled is 6D, and no 1.5km arrays can be scheduled. There was significant proposal pressure for a 1.5km array this semester, which unfortunately cannot be scheduled.

BIGCAT shared risk

For this semester, we are still in the process of determining the best ways to operate our new BIGCAT correlator. We have also not yet completed documentation and training for BIGCAT operations. We will endeavour to help our observers to get high-quality data, but there will likely still be bugs in the system. If you are affected by any bugs, please let your observing expert know, and you can also send an email to the BIGCAT team (Elizabeth Mahony, Chris Phillips) and/or the ATCA operations team (Christoph Brem, Jamie Stevens), and we will try to help you out. We appreciate your patience while we improve our BIGCAT operations experience.

ATCA observing: ATCA observations may be conducted by trained observers at any location, including the Paul Wild Observatory, the Marsfield Science Operations Centre (SOC) or remotely.

To book on-site accommodation at the Marsfield lodge, or just to register that you plan on observing at the SOC without requiring accommodation, please visit our online booking system, and make your booking at least two weeks in advance.

First-time observers are required to undergo a basic online training program, to learn the fundamentals of observing with the ATCA. Observers with prior experience are also welcome to participate in this training program. For available dates, and to register, please visit this page.

This semester, we continue with our new support system where each project has their own Observing Expert who can provide support before, during and after observations.

To learn more about our basic training and the Observing Expert model, please visit the ATNF support page.

Observing experts (OEs) for each project this semester will be contacted by the observatory shortly after the schedule releases that shows that project. Each OE will be informed of their duties and responsibilities for their project, and given instructions for how to perform their role.

Registration to observe, or to undergo training, or to book accommodation will require you to have an ATNF UNIX account. If you need to obtain an account, please use the online request form. Please note that it may take several business days to process this request, so please make your request well in advance of your training or observing.

BIGCAT modes: For this semester, BIGCAT has the following modes:

  1. the 1MHz continuum ("no zooms") mode, with up to 7680 MHz of bandwidth across sixty subbands
  2. several zoom modes, each having the 1 MHz continuum, along with either:
    • four 2 MHz wide zooms per subband, each with 4096 channels, for a spectral resolution of 488 Hz
    • four 2 MHz wide zooms per subband, each with 32768 channels, for a spectral resolution of 61 Hz
    • two 8 MHz wide zooms per subband, each with 512 channels (spectral resolution 15.625 kHz), and two 16 MHz zooms per subband, each with 1024 channels (same spectral resolution)
    • one 64 MHz wide zoom per subband, with 8192 channels, for a spectral resolution of 7.8125 kHz
  3. wideband spectral line modes, which can provide 1920 MHz of bandwidth (in fifteen subbands of 128 MHz bandwidth each), with a spectral resolution of either:
    • 18.518 kHz, with 6912 channels per subband (the 18.5 kHz mode)
    • 37.037 kHz, with 3456 channels per subband (the 37 kHz mode)
    • 74.074 kHz, with 1728 channels per subband (the 74 kHz mode)
  4. tied-array mode, which currently provides the normal 1 MHz continuum mode, plus a single-beam tied-array VDIF voltage output, with either:
    • 1 x 128 MHz band per subband, 2 bit resolution (data rate 1 Gbps per subband)
    • 2 x 64 MHz band per subband, 2 bit resolution (data rate 512 Mbps per band per subband)
    The dual-polarisation output can be selected to be either linear or circular.

If none of these modes suit your science, please get in touch with the BIGCAT team (Elizabeth Mahony or Chris Phillips) to discuss your requirements.

ATCA portal: The portal is a web-based tool that enables the observers to book in advance for observing blocks and to register as the current observer-in-charge. It also provides alerts, contact details, and a chat facility. More details are available from the ATCA Users Guide. First-time users should refer to the ATCA Portal Beginners Guide.

NAPA Proposals: A number of NAPA (Non A Priori Assignable) proposals have been submitted for ATCA in 2026APR. We have a policy for dealing with NAPA over-rides, intended to ensure highly time-critical projects can be scheduled on the telescope. For the 2026APR semester, any NAPA which received a grade equal to or higher than the grade at which most of the projects got most of their time, will be able to over-ride any scheduled project. For this semester, thirty-six NAPA projects meet this criteria.

If triggered, observatory staff will discuss with the proposers the best time for the over-ride to occur, which may not necessarily involve any project being displaced. Requests to trigger a NAPA proposal can be made by emailing the ATNF alert group, as described here.

Any observations displaced by a NAPA will be rescheduled if possible, but this is not guaranteed.

Investigators triggering NAPAs are reminded that claim staking is not permitted under ATNF policy.

In order to minimise the impact of multiple competing triggers to observe the same event, the TAC has recommended that we encourage data sharing between NAPA teams who nominate to observe the same coordinates with the same receiver configuration and observing strategy. Observatory staff will discuss this arrangement with the affected teams should this situation arise.

Green Time: Green time should be requested through the Portal. Instructions for doing this can be found in the "Book" tab in the Portal. Requests for green time can be made at any time during the semester, but the final allocation will not be made until 1 week beforehand.

Please also email the ATNF alert list (alert@atnf.csiro.au) with a summary of what you are requesting to observe, and why the time is required.

Only projects explicitly approved and that appear in the Portal schedule may be observed on the telescope. Under no circumstances can the telescope be used without prior permission from the Directors or the scheduler.

Daylight Saving: Daylight saving in New South Wales will end at 3:00am (AEDT) on Sunday, 4th April 2026, when clocks will be put backward one hour. AEST is 10 hours ahead of UTC. Daylight saving in New South Wales will start again at 3:00am (AEST) on the first Sunday in October 2026.

Version history: Version 1 of the schedule was released on 2026 March 10.


Generated: Jamie Stevens (9-mar-2026)