PATT ITAC Report for Semester 95B

The individual partner TAGs hold meetings in their respective countries prior to the PATT session to assess applications from their own country. At these meetings informal numbers of shifts are nominated for each application in a priority order. The Chairpersons of each TAG bring their respective lists to the PATT where the ITAC combine the awards, include discussion of the engineering and commissioning requirements and assess the international applications. The final allocations of shifts are made by the ITAC.

Applications to be considered

UK status			45

Canadian status			37

Netherlands status		17

International status		10

University of Hawaii		7

TOTAL:				116

It should be noted that if the PI on an application is a JCMT staff member based in Hilo, then the application is assessed by the appropriate national TAG. However, by Board rule, International status is given to any application where the only named collaborator from any partner country is such a JCMT staff member. International applications are assessed by the Chairpersons of the national TAGs at the ITAC meeting.

Time Available (in 16-hour nights)

No. of nights in semester 95A	     	183.0

Engineering and Commissioning 		42.5

University of Hawaii (10%)       	14

Director's discretionary use       	4

Available for PATT science:		122.5

Awards (in 16-hour nights)

UK status		62.5

Canadian status		28.5

Netherlands status	23.0

International status	8.5

University of Hawaii	14.0

TOTAL allocation:	136.5

Attribute by JCMT Board formula (in nights)

UK		50.9

Canada		29.3

Netherlands	20.5

International	22.2

The reduction in allocation of time for UKT14 is again due to reduced request as applicants await the arrival of SCUBA to continue their programmes. The Lethbridge Group have requested to bring their own Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) system this time. Previously their FTS interfaced with the UKT14 bolometer but they now have a stand-alone instrument with its own bolometer and cryostat. No RxG time was requested for this semester.

Instrument distribution

UKT14		14%

FTS		2%

SBI		7%

RxA		37%

RxB		33%

RxC		7%

L/M/95A/U22, approved for long-term status for two semesters, was given 6 shifts. This is the final award of time for this project.

L/M/Y/C05 was awarded 'thesis status' by the Canadian TAG several semesters ago and has not yet been completed. For 95B it has an award of 3.5 shifts. The programme will continue through future semesters until completed.

L/M/95B/U14 and L/M/95B/U15 were awarded long-term status for 2 semesters with awards of 8 shifts and 4 shifts respectively in 95B. Further shifts may be given in 96A subject to submission of a report.

Engineering & Commissioning

The engineering & commissioning time for 95B includes major engineering periods to replace the telecope encoders for 24-bit models, to upgrade the antenna azimuth track.

Commissioning of the antenna and instrumentation continues with periods required to characterise and improve the surface via metrology and beam map measures, monitor the antenna performance and tracking through pointing and inclinometry runs, measure receiver performances and efficiencies, and increase the catalogue of standard spectra available at the telescope. In addition time is required to complete the set of observing tests remaining from 95A which include pre-SCUBA chopping/noise tests, 'continuous spinning' polarimeter tests, DAS non-standard configuration tests and software upgrade tests.

Time has been allocated for commissioning of RxB3 and RxW but no time for SCUBA. There are non-standard instrument configurations schedule for 95B (SBI & FTS) which require set-up and calibration time.

Observatory Backup Programme

The Observatory Backup (M/94B/I09) was discussed in view of the submission for further time. The ITAC decided that this programme may continue BUT only for CO (2-1) and 13CO (2-1) mapping of the nominated sources. More explicit requests must be made through the ITAC before proceeding to observe any other lines and/or sources. The ITAC also recommended that the current data be made available to the community.

Fallback Programmes

A number of applications have been approved by the ITAC to be included in the schedule should either RxB3 and/or RxW fail to meet the delivery date. The commissioning time set aside for these instruments will be apportioned according to the partner funding ratio of 55:25:20 = UK:Canada:Netherlands after 10% has been given to the University of Hawaii. Applicants on these fallback programmes will be informed by the JCMT Scheduler when/if their time is to be scheduled.

Since the fallback applications do not necessarily fit directly into the scheduled slots for the instruments some changes may be required to the schedule for the second half of the semester. All applicants affected will be informed in advance by the JCMT Scheduler.

Service time

Allocations for this semester are:

CDN = 6 shifts allocated;

NL = 0 shifts allocated;

UK = 8 shifts allocated

Redesign of the JCMT Application form

The revised version of the PATT3 form met with a great deal of approval at the last round of applications. It is likely that some minor revisions to this form will occur as further flexible scheduling and serviced observing is implemented. The current version of the form should now be used wherever possible. Older versions will be phased out. The new form is available on the JCMT homepage of the World Wide Web. There is also a template form available which enables a suitable Latex output to be generated from a simple editing of the file.

The first 2 pages of the form are to be completed by all observers. The third page need only be completed and submitted with UK applications.