Examples

  Let's go over an example in more detail. The observing script basic.ex, also detailed in Chapter , is reproduced below:

#! /bin/csh -f
#
#    Observing Script for ORIMSR
#
#    PI:  Jim Morgan (UMD)
#    Email: morgan@astro.umd.edu
#    Telephone: (301) 405-6853
#    Correlator set to observe CO
#    LST Range of main source: 01:00 - 10:00.
#
# Setups follow     ==========================================
#
setup name=tuning cormode=4 corbw=50,50 corf=525,475,525,475 \
      restfqs=115.2701,115.2701,115.2701,115.2701,115.2701,115.2701,115.2701,115.2701 \
      obsline=co \
      dopsrc=orimsr dopcat=j2000.cat freq=115.2712 iffreq=500
#
setup name=all itime=30 elevlim=12 nchan=-1 stop=+24
#
setup name=passband setup=all source=3C454.3 vis=3C454.3 maxobs=1
#
setup name=calib setup=all source=0541-056 vis=0541-056 stop=+6
#
setup name=orimsr setup=all source=orimsr vis=orimsr \
      catalog=j2000.cat nchan=1
#
# Observing follows ==========================================
#
#  Since the tuning needs only to be done once for the entire
#  project, it is done in the following way.  The start
#  keyword insures that the setup command does not start
#  before the main loop is ready to begin.
#
scan setup='tuning' start=0100
#
#  Observe the passband first.  The stop keyword insures
#  that it doesn't run too long (i.e. at least 5 hours
#  is spent on the main loop).
#
scan setup='passband' stop='stop-500'
#
#  Start the main loop and run it until the project ends.
#
loop srcsetup='orimsr' calsetup='calib'
#
# End of script    ===========================================
#
exit 0

Before we start running the script, the LST needs to be set with lstsymbol. Next, the project command is used to run your observing script. In checker, we pipe the output to a logfile, in order to be produce a nicer looking summary later on. In the example below the UNIX standard as well as UNIX error output have been diverted to a logfile.

    % lstsymbol lst=100
    % project name=basic.ex start=100 stop=1000 >& basic.log

The logfile contains a lot of output, and sometimes it is useful to look at all of it. But, for now, we're interested to see which sources have been observed, and for how long. To do this search for the string MINT in the log file:

    % grep MINT basic.log

MINT: 3C454.3    -1  1  30.0 01:04-01:30  32.6- 39.1  52.5- 48.2 00:02  00:24
MINT: 0541-056   -1  1  30.0 01:30-01:41 -62.9--60.1  16.1- 18.0 00:05  00:06
MINT: orimsr      1  1  30.0 01:41-02:08 -58.5--51.8  19.3- 23.8 00:03  00:24
MINT: 0541-056   -1  1  30.0 02:08-02:17 -53.4--51.1  22.5- 24.0 00:03  00:06
MINT: orimsr      1  1  30.0 02:17-02:44 -49.5--42.8  25.2- 29.3 00:03  00:24
MINT: 0541-056   -1  1  30.0 02:44-02:53 -44.4--42.1  28.1- 29.5 00:03  00:06
MINT: orimsr      1  1  30.0 02:53-03:20 -40.5--33.8  30.6- 34.3 00:03  00:24
...

The second column contains the source, followed by the nchan keyword (which merely signifies narrow or wide-band data mode, since the actual number of channels was determined by the correlator setup), followed by the number of pointings, the integration time (in seconds), the start/stop LST in the sixth column, the start/stop azimuth and elevation in the seventh and eighth column. The last two columns contain an estimate of the slewing time, and the total time spend in the MINT program (this included the slewing), all rounded to the nearest minute.

Finally, a summary of the observertion is obtained by the summary  command:

    % summary basic.log

Summary for basic.log :
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
      source  nchan #g itime   lst0-lst1     az0-az1     el0-el1 slew     obs
MINT: 3C454.3    -1  1  30.0 01:04-01:30  32.6- 39.1  52.5- 48.2 00:02  00:24
MINT: 0541-056   -1  1  30.0 01:30-01:41 -62.9--60.1  16.1- 18.0 00:05  00:06
MINT: orimsr      1  1  30.0 01:41-02:08 -58.5--51.8  19.3- 23.8 00:03  00:24
MINT: 0541-056   -1  1  30.0 02:08-02:17 -53.4--51.1  22.5- 24.0 00:03  00:06
MINT: orimsr      1  1  30.0 02:17-02:44 -49.5--42.8  25.2- 29.3 00:03  00:24
...
MINT: 0541-056   -1  1  30.0 08:44-08:53  45.6- 47.9  27.4- 26.0 00:03  00:06
MINT: orimsr      1  1  30.0 08:53-09:20  49.5- 56.2  25.3- 20.9 00:03  00:24
MINT: 0541-056   -1  1  30.0 09:20-09:29  54.6- 56.9  21.7- 20.2 00:03  00:06
MINT: orimsr      1  1  30.0 09:29-09:54  58.5- 64.7  19.3- 15.0 00:03  00:22
MINT: 0541-056   -1  1  30.0 09:54-10:00  63.1- 64.6  15.9- 14.9 00:03  00:03
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimates of Slewing and Observing (in minutes) plus their ratio
----------------------------------
Source       Slew      Obs   Ratio
--------  -------  -------  ------
0541-056       47       87   0.540
3C454.3         2       24   0.083
orimsr         42      334   0.126
--------  -------  -------  ------
Total          91      445   0.204
----------------------------------

The following kind of warning messages were found:
### Warning [MINT]: stoptime truncated by project stoptime

For all sources the overhead, listed under Slew is compared with the on-source time, listed under Obs. Note: currently the slewing times are reasonable estimates, but also include hardware stabilization times, which are not accurately known. These estimates can be off, but are probably accurate within 50%.