Initial setup
Antenna overall setup
When opening a DISCOS observing session, it is necessary to perform a setup which includes the antenna unstow, the mount configuration in tracking mode, the minor servo setup. This is done by means of a unique command, which is specific for the wanted receiver, to be written in the operatorInput. The currently available choices are:
> setupSXP for the SX-band receiver
> setupCCC for the C-band receiver
> setupMMC for the M-band receiver
> setupKKC for the K-band receiver
> setupQQC for the Q-band receiver
WARNING:
It is necessary to manually select the observing focus using the hardware IF switch located in the control room. The figure below illustrates this rack.

The general setup command sets the antenna mount, the minor servos, the selected receiver and the default backend (TotalPower) according to default parameters. The antenna mode is set to ProgramTrack (allowing tracking and the execution of schedules), while the Local Oscillator frequency and the bandwidth are set as illustrated in the following table.
Receiver code |
LO freq (MHz) |
Frontend RF band (MHz) |
Backend IF band (MHz) |
Observed bandwidth (MHz) |
Observed band (MHz) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SXP |
2020 |
2200-2360 |
50-730 |
160 |
2200-2360 |
SXP |
8080 |
8180-8580 |
50-730 |
400 |
8180-8580 |
CCC |
4600 |
4620-5020 |
50-730 |
400 |
4650-5020 |
MMC (1) |
6956 |
5100-7250 |
50-730 |
500 |
6356-6856 |
KKC |
21869 |
21500-23000 |
50-730 |
400 |
21969-22369 |
QQC |
42850 |
39000-43500 |
50-730 |
400 |
42950-43350 |
Notice that the true observed band depends on the intersection between the frontend IF band and the chosen backend filter. The actual observed bandwidth and the band starting frequency are recorded in the output files (see Appendix C - Output files).
(1) For this setup, the FITS file will NOT report the actual values relative to frequency and bandwidth, as the present DISCOS release does not take into account the different conversion taking place for this receiver.
Logfile
The default logfile is named station.log. If the user wants to change it:
> log=[logfilename] (without extension)
Logfiles are stored in a dedicated folder (see Retrieving the data). When schedules are run, a new logfile is automatically started, and it is named after the schedule: [schedulename].log.