Minutes available from the TOG Chair's web area

1. Garrington to make the Mk2/Lovell phase referencing technique available as a working process for users.
2. All stations should look at data regularly with chchk program, use it to locate significant RFI and report the results to Polatidis and CRAF representatives, and use it to check phase-cal throughout the session.
3. Polatidis, Lindqvist and Burgess to define standards for RFI monitoring and report at the next meeting.
4. All stations should look at pipeline results available from the JIVE webpage, in particular amplitude corrections found by selfcal on strong, compact calibrators.
5. All stations to provide detailed Wx and RFI comments in experiment logs.
6. All stations to continue monitoring Tcal throughout sessions.
7. de Vicente to report on implementation of continuous tpi on VLBA systems.
8. Stations to produce ANTAB and RXG files as soon as possible after the end of a session, within 2 weeks.
9. All stations to forward FS error log files to Himwich and include details of what the FS was doing when the crash occurred.
10. Reynolds and Walker to incorporate frequency agility information in SCHED.
11. All stations to look at NME reports sent by JIVE.
12. Gunn to send email before each session when the final versions of all schedules are ready for download.
13. Reynolds to report on the feedback re. amplitude calibration methods from spectral line users at JIVE.
14. All to check that Mk5 modules are placed squarely on a flat surface when received, otherwise connectors are easily damaged when bent 8-packs get inserted in Mark 5 units.
15. All stations to try to run the FS diagnostic tests and investigate the results.
16. Reynolds to work with Rene Vermeulen on the guide for polarization calibration using WSRT local interferometry data.
17. Paragi to implement labelling of fringe plots with sky frequency and sideband.
18. JIVE webmaster to add URLs where stations can look for experiment feedback to 'VLBI links' on EVN web site (see TOG webpage)
    • Links added by Lisa Harvey-Smith on 1 March
19. All stations should condition disk packs if time permits, especially those which are to be used for 1Gbps recording.
20. All stations which do both astronomy and geodesy should clearly distinguish between astronomical and geodetic 8-packs and ensure there is no “leakage” into the wrong pool.
21. Alef to distribute astronomical/geodetic disk database information to Haystack.
22. All stations to ship disk packs as soon as they are full, at least once per week.
23. Disk packs should be shipped with one European and one US address on covers so they can be easily returned in case a shipment is lost in transit.
24. Foley to start a wiki page for FS documentation, which all users can contribute to.
    • A wiki for the TOG has been created on the JIVE wiki. Anyone can view the wiki. Passwords to edit it can be requested from Kristine Yun at JIVE. See Foley's message from 11 December on the EVNtech mail archive.
25. Burgess to look into making the EVNtech mail archive accessible on the web.
    • Burgess and Ant Holloway have made a password-protected archive of mail sent to EVNtech available on the web
26. All (especially non-geodetic) stations to check FS weather logging, as the information can now be used.
27. Campbell to look into producing phase-cal plots at JIVE.
28. JIVE support scientists to include checking of sampler statistics as part of NME feedback.
29. JIVE support scientists to look into a scheme to estimate the quality of pipeline amplitude calibration results.
30. Friends to provide gain curves free of opacity corrections (as if taken outside atmosphere). Campbell to inform users. Also PIs of 22 GHz experiments to be informed that Onsala has a different method of calibration at 22 GHz (hot load instead of noise diode), which means that Tsys values are already corrected for opacity.
31. Campbell to determine an appropriate place to put WSRT and Effelsberg calibrator flux measurements.
32. Smythe to send email reminding stations of procedures for checking Mark 5 recording.
    • Smythe sent email on 22 January which is available on the EVNtech archive (see also next message in thread from Ed Himwich)
33. Smythe will contact Brisken to organise a teleconference with NRAO on Mark 5 software status.
    • Contact has been established between JIVE and NRAO.
34. Alef to send email to stations regarding disposal of tapes.
35. Alef to ask Mantovani if Directors can donate money to purchase spare Mark 5 backplanes.
36. All to send constraints for the next TOG meeting to Alef.

The next TOG meeting will be held at the Yebes Astronomical Observatory on November 12, 2007. For more information see http://www.oan.es/tog2007/