AIPS HELP file for MK3TX in 31DEC24
As of Thu Apr 25 3:06:17 2024
MK3TX: Task which extracts text files from MkIII archives
INPUTS
INTAPE 0.0 9.0 Tape drive number
HELP SECTION
MK3TX
Task: This task interactively reads text files from MkIII VLBI
archive tapes (either "A" tapes or "B" tapes). It
prompts for inputs. See EXPLAIN MK3TX for details.
Adverbs:
INTAPE.....Tape drive from which to read files.
EXPLAIN SECTION
MK3TX: Extracts text files from a MkIII VLBI archive tape.
DOCUMENTOR: C. Flatters, NRAO/AOC
RELATED TASKS: MK3IN
PURPOSE
Haystack MkIII archives contain a number of text files
associated with the correlation of an experiment as well as the
correlated data for that experiment. Several of these files contain
information that is useful during data reduction. A list of file
types is given below. MK3TX allows text files to be extracted from
the archive tape. It handles both "A" and "B" tapes.
OPERATION
MK3IN is an interactive program. It first reads the index from
the archive and then displays a list of text files found on the tape
and asks the user to choose one. For example
Text files found on tape:
1 -- #A0000
2 -- #A7226
3 -- #EC740
4 -- #FR740
5 -- #LT740
6 -- #PL042
7 -- #PS000
8 -- #PS740
9 -- #SK740
Enter number of file to extract (0 to exit):
At this point the user should enter an integer number
corresponding to the file he wishes to extract. For example
to extract #EC740 above the user should type '3 <RETURN>'. If
the number entered is larger than the highest number displayed
or is negative the menu and prompt will be displayed again
until the user gives a valid file number. If the user enters
zero then the task terminates.
After the user has entered a valid file number MK3IN will
position the tape at the correct file. The file has a header
which should contain the name of the file. If this does not
match the requested file name MK3IN will ask the user whether
he wishes to continue: in most cases the header is merely
corrupt and the user may answer yes. After finding the file
prompt for an output file name.
Enter output file name:
The output filename must be proceeded by a 'logical' name for
the output directory. Set this up using commands of the form
DEFINE MYVLBI DISK$USER2:[USER.VLBI] (VMS)
setenv MYVLBI ~/vlbi (Unix C shell)
MYVLBI=/mnt/user/vlbi; export MYVLBI (Unix Bourne shell)
export MYVLBI=~/vlbi (Unix Korn shell)
Note that the 'logical' name must be in upper case. An example
of a valid file name is
MYVLBI:EC740
If the name is entered in mixed case it will be converted to
upper case.
When a filename has been given MK3TX will display the messages
Skipping 3 files forward to #EC740
#EC740 found
and begin to translate the tape file to the local text file format.
Numbers and names will vary, of course. If no errors occur then MK3TX
will display the message.
Extracted 25 lines from #EC740
and display the file menu again. The user may choose to extract
another file as above or to exit by typing '0 <RETURN>'.
MKIII TEXT FILES
The following is a list of text files that might be found on a
Haystack MkIII VLBI archive tape. The following conventions are
used in the file names.
tttt the archive tape number
nnn or nnnn the 3 or 4-digit experiment
number assigned by the
correlator
iii an integer distinct from
either of the above.
File name Comments
========= ========
#A0000 An index to the archive tapes from the
correlator at which the tape was written.
Contains no useful information.
#Atttt The "A" file for this tape. The "A" file
summarizes the information held on the tape
for each scan, including the multi-band and
single-band delays found by the Haystack
FRNGE program.
#ECnnn The experiment catalogue. This lists the
or scans in the experiment and the tapes on
#Ennnn which they were archived.
#FRnnn The FRNGE control file. See Walter Alef's
or lecture in "Very Long Baseline
#Fnnnn Interferometry -- Techniques and
Applications" (Ed. Felli & Spencer,
Reidel, 1989) for details.
#LTnnn A summary of the MkIII field system log
or files.
#Lnnnn
#PLiii Unknown. Appears to contain a subset of
the "A" file and may be associated with the
plotting of FRNGE solutions.
#PS000 Processing summary of experiments
correlated at the correlator at which the
tape was written.
#PSnnn Processing summary for this experiment.
or
#Pnnnn
#SKnnn Schedule file. Contains a large amount of
or information, most of which is duplicated in
#Snnnn the data. Also contains the exact
telescope names used by the correlator and
which are required by MK3IN.
[LOG?i Log file. The letter following LOG is the
antenna code and the digit is the last
digit of the experiment serial number
(?). Log files for your experiment are
not guaranteed to be on your archive
tapes and any log files found on your
tapes are not guarenteed to belong to
your experiment.
REFERENCES
Alef, W. "Scheduling, Correlating and Postprocessing of VLBI
observations", in "Very Long BaseLine Interferometry --
Techniques and Applications", Ed. M. Felli and R. E. Spencer,
Reidel, Holland, 1989 p97.