Australia Telescope National Facility

ATUC Meeting
Agenda

at the Mount Stromlo Observatory, Canberra

- March 20, 1998 -

AGENDA FOR THE ATUC MEETING ON FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1998.

Open Session (starting 9:30 am)
• Welcome & Introduction (Anne Green, 10min.)

• Brief review of relevant Reports presented at Symposium (Anne Green, 10min.)
  • ATNF Director's Report
  • Joint SEST Program: news & results
  • Update on Radiocommunication conference
  • MNRF Program
  • 1kT Progress
  • VSOP Results
  • aips++ Progress

• Future Developments (John Brooks, 30min.)
  • 10/50-cm receiver for Parkes (Dick Manchester, 10min.)
    (further info: 10cm/50cm receiver in the AT Development Plans)

• Telescope Reports:

  1. ATCA/Mopra (Dave McConnell, 20min.)

  2. Parkes (Marcus Price, 20min.)

• Workshops:
  • UNSW mm-workshop, Mopra funding status (Lori Allen, 10min.)

Closed Session (starting 1:00 pm)
• ATUC Business Meeting - Preliminary Items
  • Welcome to New Members
  • Apologies
  • Additonal Agenda Items

• Matters arising from the Director's Response to the previous ATUC Report

• Business Matters:

1. Issues concerning the ATCA and Mopra: (partly addressed by Dave McConnell in the morning session)

   • What are the consequences of solid panels being installed first in Narrabri (not on CA06)?
     (further info: Surface extension, holography in the AT Development Plans)

   • ATUC may need to recommend additional funding for the ACC upgrade to facilitate testing/changeover.
     (further info: ACC upgrade in the AT Development Plans)

   • Assessment of remote observing process. Should amount be limited? eg A limit on time of continuous operation in this mode to give the DA some respite if major failures are occurring?
     (further info: ATCA Remote Observing document)

   • Could we suggest a mechanism for awarding "unallocated" time at the ATCA? Perhaps bids should be included in proposals? Does this affect incentives for people volunteering for DA? Should TAC allocate the time?
     (further info: a document on who has priority in using the unallocated time is in prep.;
     an example of the ATCA schedule)

   • Target of Opportunity (ToO) Observing. The ATUC has raised this issue and would like some recommendations on the establishment of a ToO trigger, what level of re-application of projects is required to keep a claim on a source, the public availability of the data (ftp site?), and the ability to view ToO proposals (before any time is given).

   • Does ATUC feel the ATCA archive is easy to use? In particular with respect to the response required on the observing proposal form.

   • AT calibrator list; what needs to be done ?
     (further info: ATCA Calibrators in the ATCA User's Guide)

   • Is user documentation being up-dated? eg RFI status.
     (further info: Interference Excision Project; RFI material)

   • What is the status of mm-workshop proposed by UNSW for later in 1998? What is the status of UNSW Faculty funding to operate Mopra part-time ?
     (addressed in Lori Allen's talk in the morning session)

2. Issues concerning the Parkes telescope: (partly addressed by Marcus Price in the morning session)

   • Should we recommend instigation of a formal RFI de-bugging period before pulsar runs at Parkes, as part of the changeover between programs? Is this comparable to reconfiguration at Narrabri?

   • Is user documentation being up-dated? eg RFI status.
     (further info: Interference Excision Project; RFI material)

   • What recommendation does ATUC have regarding the daytime constraints on MB observing caused by locally generated RFI?

3. Issues concerning VLBI: (partly addressed by Dave Jauncey in the morning session and during the joint symposium)

   • Comments on user support for PTI projects now operating under the VLBI system. Have there been problems?

4. Issues concerning the SEST: (partly addressed by John Whiteoak during the joint symposium)

   • Do funds need to be ear-marked for the SEST program for science and engineering support?
     (further info: SEST homepage; SEST Correlator in the AT Development Plans)

5. Issues concerning Future Developments: (partly addressed by John Brooks in the morning session)

   • Now that the participating organisations in the 1kT project are being asked to contribute funds, what scientific priority does ATUC assign?
     (further info: The 1kT project; related press-release)

   • What are implications wrt resources if the Special Executive project goes ahead?
     (further info: related press-release)

6. Recommendations for new members of ATUC, to be submitted to the Steering Committee.

7. AOB.

8. Report to Director.