(a) [Point 2b] ATUC supports the Director's initiative with respect to maintaining open access to large astronomical facilities. We would like him to continue to investigate the consequences of the reciprocal access model.

Response:
The issue of open access remains a topic for vigorous international debate. The reciprocal access proposal (trade ATCA 7mm for ALMA access) is not particularly advantageous to ALMA since the 7mm ALMA science case is dominated by S-Z and CMB which can only be done with small dishes and close spacings.

(b) [Point 3] ATUC accepts the implications of resources being required for the extension of the MOU with SEST and acknowledges the work of John Whiteoak in this co-operative enterprise. We need to look at the scientific outcomes from SEST and Mopra and their comparative potential given that Mopra is being upgraded. We acknowledge that SEST has a much higher frequency coverage than Mopra and that it provides Australian observers with the opportunity to gain expertise in many areas of mm-astronomy.

Response:
Agreement in principal has been reached to renew the agreement with SEST for a further two years on the basis of the cost of the hardware already provided by Australia and the commitment that we provide an additional 6 months support at SEST.

(b) [Point 5] ATUC is pleased to see that the VLBI scheduling and status information (e.g. "active" proposals) is now available on the web. Better documentation for preparation of VLBI proposals and data reduction is needed, e.g. all telescopes need to log their on-source times.

Response:
The VLBA proposal preparation and scheduling program (SCHED) has been installed in all ATNF machines (as vlbi sched) and updated to include all LBA telescopes. This can be used to plan for adequate slew and on-source times at all network telescopes. The documentation and WWW links have been updated to cover VLBI reduction in AIPS and DIFMAP, the main vlbi-specific packages. The specific question of logging on-source times depends on telescope control software. At telescopes like Tidbinbilla where we have no control, this is difficult but may be possible in principal. We will document the additional procedures necessary on the www. Meanwhile, the SCHED program provides the means to accurately predict and plan the onsource times where this is critical for the observations. The URL reference is: http://www.atnf.csiro.au/vlbi/documentation/.

(b) [Point 8] The initiative of the Parkes OIC to quarantine the live operational system is to be applauded.

Response:
none.

(b) [Point 9] ATUC is pleased to see the new web pages for ToO and NAPA proposals and results.

Response:
none.

1. Items pertaining to the Triennium Plan:
   (A) Outreach Program -
   
   (i) PhD Studentships - ATUC recommends that all ATNF-affiliated students receive an "ATNF Travel Scholarship" (at least 3000 Aus$) during the course of their PhD candidature.
   

   Response:
   The ATNF has implemented a scheme whereby all ATNF-affiliated Ph.D students enrolled at an Australian university are eligible for overseas travel funding up to the value of $5k during the course of their Ph.D. This funding is intended to cover conference or work-related activities and was implemented on July 1, 2000.

   (ii) Outreach - The external profile of ATNF needs to be raised. ATUC repeats the request for a workshop to cover the effectiveness of the current Outreach Program and better definition of its outreach goals.
   

   Response:
   A workshop was held on 15 May 2000 to which all ATNF and AAO staff, subscribers to the astro exploder, members of ATUC and ATSC, and various other astronomers and outreach experts were invited. It was preceded by an email process to gather inputs. The results of the email process and the workshop are on http://www.atnf.csiro.au/~rnorris/outreach/. Jessica Chapman has now been appointed new leader of the ATNF external relations group, and will no doubt continue on this path to raise the game of the ATNF outreach program.

   (B) ATNF Budget priorities. If the budget is increased, ATUC would like to preserve the order of priorities established in 1999 (ie broad-band correlator, 7mm system and ATCA-Mopra fibre-link). We recommend that the design of the 2+ GHz correlator goes ahead. The value of the 7mm system is greatly enhanced by close linkage with the correlator upgrade (see item 12).
   

   Response:
   A new opportunity has arisen to use the prototype of the AMIBA wide bandwidth correlator on the ATCA. This will provide 8-16GHz continuum bandwidth at very modest expense. This new option will be presented for prioritization at the next ATUC meeting. ATUC priorities for other items are noted.

   (C) At this time ATUC sees no reason to revise the low priority assigned to moving CA06 onto the 3km track.

   Response:
   We have concluded a cost study on possible options and these will be presented at the meeting.

2. ATUC is satisfied with the general level of communication between users and the ATNF and with the successful mechanisms which exist to enable more specific feedback. ATUC is worried about the current trend showing a decrease in Australian first-author papers. Pressure to reverse this trend might come if the TAC would take more account of the publication record of the proposers, for AT data.

   Response:
   The TAC is taking more notice of publication rates. The proposal forms now ask proposers to state the number of publications that they already have for the project and to list these. However, while this may have some effect it does not address the underlying causes of the low publication rates from Australian universities.

3. The ATNF Newsletter is very valuable and ATUC congratulates Raymond Haynes and his group on this publication. It is now no longer necessary to link the newsletter to the observing term deadlines. We suggest 2 or 3 issues per year would be acceptable.

   Response:
   The ATNF newsletter will be produced from Narrabri from the October 2000 issue onwards. The newsletter publication dates have been changed so that it will be distributed at the end of Oct, Feb and Jun each year. The newsletter is no longer tied to the observing term deadlines.

4. ATUC recommends acquiring the SETI Institute receiver (1-3 GHz) provided it comes at minimal cost.

   Response:
   OK.

5. SETI at home -
   (a) At this stage ATUC is apprehensive about the use of Parkes as a platform for the "SETI at home" project. Before making a decision we would like feedback from both Arecibo/Cornell and Berkeley.
   (b) Using the "SETI at home" model, is there a possibility for the ATNF to engage the public in a similar interactive way ? (see item 1A)

   Response:
   (a) Paul Goldsmith, director of Arecibo, was asked what impact had it had on Arecibo and answered that he felt the overall effect on Arecibo had been neutral to mildly positive.
   (b) Several groups (in biology and industry as well as astronomy) have started looking at the SETI@home model. It is useful only on a subset of problems where the computational requirements are large but the data bandwidth is low. Pulsar searches may be an area which is amenable to this technique, but the Australian pulsar groups currently have computing resources which are adequate for their needs. We also asked Dan Wertheimer, who runs SETI@home, if he was interested in looking at other areas of astronomy, and he replied that "we are thinking about developing a different client program where participants could select from a number of science projects instead of only SETI@home" but there are no firm plans or funding for this at present.

6. ATUC is enthusiastic about the new system to provide (a few) CDroms/tapes free to users.

   Response:
   OK.

7. ATUC has considered Dave McConnell's Guidelines for Remote Observing and accepts all points, with the following additions:
   (a) Item 4) In general, restrict remote observing to no more than 30% per week. Ordinarily, remote observing blocks should not be longer than 24 hours per project.
   (b) Requests for remote observing should ordinarily be made as soon as the schedule is available.
   (c) Requests for remote observing must specify the name(s) of the actual observer(s) and their recent ATCA observing experience.

   Response:
   The ATUC response has been adopted with a small change (introduced by the TAC) and has resulted in a www statement at http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/observing/remote_conditions.html.
   

   The small change resulted in the following replacing (a) Item4) below.
   

   In general, remote observations for a given project should not exceed 24 hours of continuous observing.

8. ATUC congratulates Bob Sault and Dave McConnell for their work in improving the ATCA calibrator list. Further work on the 22GHz source list is a suitable project for an Honours student. We suggest that an archive of calibrator parameters be established from normal scheduled observations using a script provided by the ATNF.

   Response:
   The ATCA work on current calibrators is now available on the web.
   http://www.narrabri.atnf.csiro.au/calibrators.
   

   Calibrator observations of 22 GHz is on going, and a PhD student will be doing some work on this as a minor part of his studies.

   A summer vacation student this year will be "data mining" the ATNF archive to extract calibrator observations. This will be used to help us further characterise ATCA calibrators, and to produce statistics on radio seeing for Narrabri. These statistics are intended to aid in making decisions on scheduling mm observing.

9. ATUC endorses the MNRF 3mm system as amended at the Meeting on the 22nd February, 2000.

   Response:
   OK.

10. ATUC was very impressed by the RFI excision presentation from Jon Bell and strongly encourages further work in this direction with the goal of real-time RFI excision.

    Response:
    Automatic real-time excision of interference is still some distance off. We are working towards making a reference antenna available, on a semi-permanent basis (at Narrabri and Parkes), with this having some availability to users. This would be complemented by off-line software to perform interference removal.

11. ATUC does not have enough information to discuss the relationship of LOFAR to the ATNF.

    Response:
    See the Dutch LOFAR page at http://www.astron.nl/lofar/ and http://www.astron.nl/lofar/science/index.htm for the science case.

12. ATUC considers there is an opportunity for observing at 7mm with the ATCA as a complement to ALMA, once it is operational (see item 1B). In addition, the ATCA will continue to be a major player in cm astronomy since it is located in what will remain a low interference environment.

    Response:
    ATCA will also continue to be the major player because there are no other proposed cm facilities in the Southern Hemisphere.

13. ATUC recommends the appointment of an additional panel member, with mm expertise, to the TAC.

    Response:
    Ramesh Balasubramanyam has been appointed as a full member of TAC.

14. ATUC is happy with the current level of support provided to the observers at the ATCA and Parkes.

    Response:
    OK.

15. The next meeting is suggested for October, 2000. The proposed format would schedule the Open Session to start before lunch, and the Closed Session to be a full day.

    Response:
    Lecture Theatre booked for 26-27 October.

16. A list of possible new members was prepared for submission to the Steering Committee.

    Response:
    Done.