NATIONAL RADIO ASTRONOMY OBSERVATORY

MEMORANDUM

DATE:

TO: Operators

FROM: Ron Maddalena

SUBJECT: Updated Operators Instructions and Notes for SubmitObsFile and SubmitObsProc

These notes and instructions will change as we get experience with the new utility.

Operators and I will get an e-mail message every time an observer submits a file, even if the observer doesn't request sending one. In this way we will know who is submitting what.

When someone is remotely observing, operators should check their e-mail often for news about newly submitted files.

Files are FILTERed so if no one edits the file the operator doesn't have to FILTER the file again. Observing files are passed though CHECKER; the messages it generates are stored so that operators can check for errors before running PCTOMOD. No checking is done on procedure files.

The submitted files are placed into a world readable and writable directory called ~oper140/ObservingFiles. For security reasons, don't tell anyone where the directory is located. Please contact me or Nancy if you see any unusual files in the directory.

Procedure files will have the name of the procedure as specified on the first line of the file and an extension prc. Note that the names could be different from the name of the observer's original file. That is, if the observer submits a file with SubmitObsProc My.File but the first line in My.File specifies PROC BLAH, you will see the file blah.prc in the ~oper140/ObservingFiles directory.

The observing files in the directory will have the name of the project code as specified on the files' O-line and an extensions of ost, sst, ckr, or old. Files with the extensions ost and sst are our well-known flavors of observing files, the extension ckr is a log of the results from CHECKER, and the extension old are previously submitted files that have the same name as a newly submitted file. Note that the names could be different from the name of the users original file. That is, if the observer submits a file with SubmitObsFile Todays.File but the O-line in Todays.File specifies A123B7 as the project code you will see files a123b7.ost (or sst), a123b7.ckr and maybe a123b7.old in the ~oper140/ObservingFiles directory.

You can look at the files from your workstation accounts but DO NOT MODIFY them. They are in a PC version and any editing will destroy the usefulness of the file. Either the observer should make the changes and resubmit the file or the operator can make the changes using the PC (see the next note).

On the PC at the 140-ft the files will appear under a drive called F:. Thus, typing DIR F: should list all the submitted files. To send the files from the PC to the Modcomp, the operator runs PCTOMOD and specifies something like F:/A123B7.OST for a file name. The operators can modify the files using FILE-ED or most PC editors.