Call for Proposals - February 1, 2010 deadline

Arecibo proposals submitted for the Monday, 1st February 2010 deadline are for using the telescope in the eight months beginning 1st June 2010 (i.e. valid for two trimesters).

A high percentage of Arecibo telescope time is being used for large surveys. However, we STRONGLY encourage the submission of innovative proposals that are not classified as surveys.
A 700-800 MHz receiver is available for use in the band (temporarily) freed up by the recent TV channel reallocation. This receiver is continuously being improved. Proposals are encouraged on a shared risk-basis, subject to the evolution of band occupancy, and the practicality of use. The RFI situation as of 12 August, 2009, (when the last major TV turned off) can be seen via: http://www.naic.edu/~phil/800/800rfi.html#12aug09.
The 2 x 7 dual-polarization channel, 300-MHz bandwidth, "Mock" spectrometers are available to all ALFA users. For details see http://www.naic.edu/~astro/mock.shtml.
A partial implementation of a NEW SINGE-PIXEL MODE for the Mock spectrometers is available, which enables their combination such as to provide up to 1 GHz of contiguous spectral coverage. On-line pulsar folding is not yet supported.
The WAPP spectrometer provides an 8-band, dual-polarization, single-pixel observing capability for spectral lines or pulsars. This mode can be used to place 8 simultaneous bands, each of up to 100-MHz bandwidth, as desired within a 1-GHz band. 680 MHz of contiguous spectrum can be covered allowing for filter roll-off. An overview of the present capabilities of the WAPP backend is to be found at: http://www.naic.edu/~wapp/.
Large proposals, (i.e. those requesting at least 300-400 hr -- though at the NAIC Director's discretion, sometimes less than this), are subject to skeptical review after evaluation by the normal science referees. Progress reports of existing large proposals will be skeptically reviewed annually. All skeptical reviews will take place in August.
A policy for follow-up proposals by survey consortia has been included as Section 5.8 of the web document detailing information about Proposals & Policies, see :-- http://www.naic.edu/~astro/proposals/proposal.shtml#5.

Please note that the 610-MHz receiver is no longer available. Also, while we try to keep the maximum possible number of receivers cooled and ready for observing, this may not always be possible. Thus availability of the S-high and C-high receivers cannot always be guaranteed, and these receivers will often be scheduled in campaign mode.

Arecibo Observing Information

Proposal submission details, and a web-based cover sheet, can be found at http://www.naic.edu/~astro/proposals/. A guide for new users of the telescope is at http://www.naic.edu/~astro/guide. Other user-related information is at http://www.naic.edu/~astro/.

Radio sources with declinations of about -1° < Dec < +37.5° are visible from Arecibo, and can be tracked over the range of zenith angles between 1.1° and 19.7°.

Available receivers in the (frequency-agile) Gregorian Dome, their frequency coverage, typical System Temperature, Telescope Gain and System Equivalent Flux Density (SEFD = T_sys (K)/Telescope Gain (K/Jy)) are:

Rx-name	Freq. coverage	Tsys (K)	Gain (K/Jy)	SEFD (Jy)
327	312 – 342 MHz	50 + T_sky	10.5	>7.5
430Gr	422 – 442 MHz	45 + T_sky	11	5
800	700 – 800 MHz	~110	9	11
ALFA	1225 – 1525 MHz	30	~10	~3
L-wide	1.15 – 1.73 GHz	25 &ndash 40	9 – 11	2.4
S-low	1.8 – 3.1 GHz	32	8	3.4
S-radar	2.33 – 2.43 GHz	25	10	2.5
S-high	3.0 – 4.0 GHz	28 – 34	7 – 10	3.3
C	3.85 – 6.1 GHz	25 – 30	6 – 10	3 (5 GHz)
C-high	5.9 – 8.1 GHz	26 – 29	4.5 – 7.5	5 (6.9 GHz)
X	7.8 – 10.2 GHz	28 – 35	2.5 – 5.5	7.5 (9 GHz)

To these should be added the 47 and 430-MHz systems in the Carriage House. For the latter:

Rx-name	Freq. coverage	T_sys (K)	Gain (K/Jy)	SEFD (Jy)
CH430	425 – 435 MHz	60 – 100	8 – 16	3.5 – 12

Pulsar, spectral-line, VLBI, and continuum backends are available to exploit all these receivers.

The Arecibo Mk-5A disc-based recorder for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is available for use with the HSA, EVN and Global networks at all bands up to 10 GHz. Those wishing to include the ultra-high sensitivity of Arecibo in their VLBI observations should submit proposals directly to these networks rather than to Arecibo, including justification for the use of the 305-m telescope. The maximum data recording rate at Arecibo is currently 1 Gbps. However, HSA observations are limited to a maximum data rate of 512 Mbps. eVLBI science runs with the EVN have been made up to 512 Mbps.

The Mk-5A system is also available for single-dish baseband-sampled data recording.