gbtnews #13 27 December 2002 Limited call for GBT Proposals Deadline: 3 February 2003 The next deadline for observing proposals for the GBT will be 3 February 2003. We presently have about 4000 hours of proposals in the queue from previous calls, and are discharging these gradually. During the winter months, a large fraction of available telescope time will go to K-band, Q-band, and Spectrometer commissioning, performance enhancements, and program checkouts. To avoid an excessive buildup in the queue, while allowing access for priority and time-critical projects, this call will be limited to ~400 hours of observing time. Given the limited time available, the Scheduling Committee will give some preference to meritorious programs that are time critical, such as target of opportunity proposals and those needed for Ph.D. programs. The proposals otherwise will be rank-ordered and selected until the available time is exhausted. Proposals will be accepted for all standard observing modes at frequencies through 50 GHz. By early spring, commissioning of basic observing capabilities at frequencies through K-band should be substantially completed and Q-band commissioning will be underway. As these activities conclude this spring, the fraction of time available for regular scientific observations will grow significantly. Available observing modes include spectral line, continuum, pulsar, and VLBI/VLBA. Pulsar modes include those with the Spectral Processor, and the BCPM (Berkeley-Caltech Pulsar Machine) through agreement with its developers. Receivers include 290-920 MHz (PF1), 910-1230 MHz (PF2), 1.15-1.73 GHz (L), 1.73-2.60 (S), 3.95-5.85 (C), 8.0-10.1 (X), 12.0-15.4 (Ku), 18.0-26.5 (K), and 40-50 GHz (Q). Proposals requesting GBT participation in VLBA or global VLBI observations should be submitted to the VLBA only, not to the GBT. As this scheduling period is for the late spring and summer months, programs at frequencies of K-band and above will be deferred until at least next autumn, with the possible exception of target of opportunity requests. The Observatory continues to offer financial support for graduate and undergraduate students performing research with the GBT through the Student Support Program. Applications are made in conjunction with GBT observing proposals, and will be accepted at the 3 February 2003 deadline. Information about the program can be found at http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbtprops/gbtpropnews/gbt_student_support.htm We can occasionally support observing requests for background survey projects done in a drift-scan mode while the telescope is parked for maintenance. Proposals for such projects can be submitted for the 3 February deadline. These proposals should be for frequencies below ~1.7 GHz (L-band and below), for projects such as pulsar, HI, OH, or continuum surveys. The projects must be amenable to arbitrary, but indicated, telescope position. The projects will be scheduled strictly on a time-available basis, and there is no guarantee of total time available. The programs will be active for a maximum of 12 months from the deadline. All proposals must be submitted electronically using version 1.1 of the NRAO Proposal Submission Tool (PST), which is available from the downloads page. If you have downloaded v1.1 previously, you need to download a new version of the gbtDatan.xml file, which informs the PST of available resources, start and end dates, etc., for each semester. This is a simple text file, which needs to be copied to the appropriate source location for the PST to access. Proposal receipt will open on Monday, 6 January 2003 and will close at 5 PM EST on Monday, 3 February 2003. Questions about the proposal submission process may be addressed to Carl Bignell (304-456-2165). Technical questions about GBT hardware, software, and observing modes may be addressed to Ron Maddalena (304-456-2207). Phil Jewell