At each observatory you need to run the obs.pl program. This connects to the correlator processors at Parkes and copies the requested data down the network. Obs.pl should be run remotely by who ever is running the fringe test, as they sometimes hang and have to be restarted. This should be run after the correlator processes are started. Once you have logged onto the recorder PCs, you need to cd to the directory where the data is being recorded then run obs.pl. If the recorder is currently been run via cdisko or other programs which use “recorder_server”, then an alias “recdir” is setup which will automatically change to the correct directory. Usage will normally be something like:

> recdir
> obs.pl

On Mark5 systems you will have to “cd” to whatever directory the Mark5 is dumping the data.

If disk recording is moved to a different directory, obs.pl will have to be stopped and restarted in this new directory.

The recorders are running on the following machines and usernames. Note if remote recording is being run, you need to log onto the machine where the data is being written to disk NOT the machine where the data is received from the telescope. You can only connect via ssh.

#1# Log onto hovsi first then use rtfc-tunnel to ssh with appropriate tunnels setup

#2# RTFC does not work well to Hart directly. Try the following:

sshhartvdif 
cd data
<Check out what files have been dumped>
sharethart <file>

On pam0

This is not quite right yet

cd /data/hart
gethart
hart
obs.pl

#3#

Flexbuf, with vbs tools installed - run obs.pl something like

 obs.pl -nofilter -flexbuf vt02as
 

Where vt02as is replaced with experiment name

#4#

Katherine DBBC3 is not supported by Sched. You will need to manually create vexfile to match setup. Note there are usually multiple independent streams of data. Usually it will be 2 streams, one for each pol. The bandwidth will probably not match other stations - e.g. probably 32 MHz channels. Also There is currently easy way to select which pol RtFC chooses.

Note that at Parkes we also record data onto pam-store-ext. In such cases you need to run obs.pl on the machine where the data is being recorded - see the note below.

The script rtfc_obswin.csh will start up 6 xterms and log into the recorder PCs. If you have ssh passphrases setup, you will not need passwords.

The following environment variables need to be set (or added to existing paths)

If you are recording to a remote recorder you need to ensure RTFC_ANTID (and RTFC_ANTNAME) are set. For remote recorders which generally only record data from a single teleacope this will normally be setup in the login scripts. cave-store can record data from Mopra and ATCA. Aliases have been setup “mopra” and “atca” to setup the environment. E.g.:

> atca
> obs.pl

Normally if the telescope IF spectrum is inverted, a flipped DAS profile should be used. However for 64 MHz recording the spectrum cannot be “flipped”. If you know or suspect the band is inverted you can run obs.pl with the “-invert” option and it will flip the data for you.

> obs.pl -invert

Obs.pl supports Mark5B recording, as long as the “mark5access” library and utilities are installed and accessible. Note this depends on the VLBI schedule having had explicit fringe test times added. Transfer times from Hartebeesthoek are terrible slow - usually it is faster to transfer the file by some other means then run obs.pl on a local machine.

Please make sure the following are installed on all Mark5/flexbuf machines from which RTFC will be run

• up-to-date mark5access (ensure m5time and m5slice in path. Good to have m5spec and m5bstat also)
• subversion package (e.g, `apt-get install subversion`)
• RTFC installed from subversion in either `~/RtFC` or `~/evlbi/RtFC`
• `setup.sh` in `RtFC` directory and appropriately edited
• Optionally “source” RtFC `setup.sh` from login scripts

  > svn co https://svn.atnf.csiro.au/evlbi/trunk evlbi
   (or svn co https://svn.atnf.csiro.au/evlbi/trunk/RtFC RtFC)
  > cd evlbi/RtFC
  > wget https://cpan.metacpan.org/authors/id/C/CP/CPHIL/Astro-0.78.tar.gz
  > tar zxvf Astro-0.78.tar.gz 
  > mv Astro-0.78/Astro/ .
  > cp setup-template.sh setup.sh

Edit setup.sh as appropriately. Add RtfC directory to PATH and PERL5LIB, Set RTFC_CORRELATOR and RTFC_CONTROL to localhost if using ssh tunneling or pam0 if directly connection. Set ANTNAME and ANTID appropriately (ANTNAME anything descriptive, ANTID has to match vexfile).

Install trunk mark5access somewhere (e.g ~/evlbi/RtFC).

svn co https://svn.atnf.csiro/difx/libraries/mark5access/trunk

Edit setup.sh to add PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH for this installation first. But only when you source setup.sh