gbtnews #15 6 May 2003 Limited call for GBT Proposals Deadline: 2 June 2003 The next deadline for observing proposals for the GBT will be 2 June 2003. We have largely completed commissioning of the GBT through 26 GHz (K-band) and first tests of the 40-50 GHz (Q-band) system have been conducted successfully. Observing operations are becoming more routine. During April, about 45% of total telescope time went to refereed observing proposals. At this point, most of the remaining commissioning time is being used to check out observing programs before they are scheduled. Although there is some significant maintenance time scheduled this summer, the fraction of time available for observing will grow throughout the rest of this year. As described at the last call, we have a substantial number of proposals in the queue from previous calls, presently amounting to about 3750 hours, including those accepted at the February 2003 deadline. At the June 2003 deadline, and at the two deadlines following (October 2003 and February 2004), we will accept about 400 hours of new observing time. This will allow us to work down the existing queue of proposals over the next year, while still allowing high priority projects to enter the queue. Thereafter, we should approach a steady-state in which the proposals accepted at each deadline will equal the time available in the subsequent trimester. Although this does represent a restriction in available time in the short-term, it will allow priority projects to be accepted, including dissertation programs, rapid response projects, etc. Per usual, proposals 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. 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. 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 2 June 2003 deadline. Information about the program can be found at http://www.gb.nrao.edu/gbtprops/gbtpropnews/gbt_student_support.htm 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 Tuesday, 13 May 2003 and will close at 5 PM EDT on Monday, 2 June 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 _______________________________________________ Gbtnews mailing list Gbtnews@listmgr.cv.nrao.edu http://listmgr.cv.nrao.edu/mailman/listinfo/gbtnews