Ready to observe? Check that all the following tasks have been done:
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Determined sources to use for:
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Delay calibrator
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Flux density calibrator
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Bandpass calibrator
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Gain calibrator(s)
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Pointing calibrator(s) (only if doing reference pointing)
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Polarisation calibrator(s) (only if doing polarisation studies)
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Checked that all sources are visible during allocated time.
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Contacted your observing friend if assistance is required to prepare your schedules.
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Prepared a schedule file using the CABB web scheduler for:
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Array setup
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Calibration
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Science observations
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Used the sensitivity calculator to make sure that integration time on calibrators is sufficient.
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Ensured that turret movements are limited to once every 15 minutes or longer.
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Generated a mosaic pointing file (only if doing mosaic observations), and copied it to the appropriate place on xbones.
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Generated an ephemeris for the solar system object (only if doing solar system observations), and copied it to the appropriate place on xbones.
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Calculated how much data the observations will generate, and obtained enough disk space to accommodate this.
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Checked for possible problems, and made contingency plans for:
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Antenna shadowing
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Wrong time range for flux density calibrator observations
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Bad weather forecast during observations
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Checked current issues page for issues that may cause problems with the observations.
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Checked that remote observations are permitted (only if remotely observing).
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Contacted observatory staff and duty astronomer if assistance will be required during observations.