Terry Bridges run - Feedback on observing at ING 03/06-Nov-1996

From:	SMTP%"nobody@ing.iac.es" 11-NOV-1996 15:00:58.53
To:	crb, tjb@ast.cam.ac.uk
CC:	
Subj:	Bridges run - Feedback on observing at ING

The following has been submitted via the on-line feedback form.

Observer...............Terry Bridges, Dave Carter
Telescope-Instrument...WHT/WYFFOS
Dates..................Nov 3-6
Run Reference..........w/96B/34
Email Address..........tjb@ast.cam.ac.uk

Overall Satisfaction rating = Good

Pre La Palma information rating = Excellent Additional comments on pre La Palma information

Lots of hard work by LPO staff before the run, and Don Pollacco kept me well-informed of Autofib status

Travel rating = Excellent

Additional comments on travel

Great travel support from Mavi as usual, no problems. I actually didn't have problems getting a Panda, though the Panda arrangements are a bit chaotic and could definitely be improved (it's always a bit of a scramble to find a Panda for your run)

Technical support rating = Excellent

Additional comments on technical support

We had few problems during our run, except for a minor problem at the end of the last night that only cost us an hour of time for our secondary programme. There was a lot of work done by Bart, Stuart, Paul and Don on Autofib and related software before and during the Wyffos commissioning that preceded our run, and this is much appreciated.

Autofib problems found during the first two nights of commissioning seemed to be solved by the regearing of the Autofib robot gripper. One or two minor problems trying to test fields with SETUP during the afternoon: back-illumination wouldn't turn on. Not sure if this is an actual hardware problem or micro software problem. Anyway, it worked when SETUP tried again. Carlos and Claudio were wonderful TOs, and have a great understanding of this complex system.

Technical performance rating = Excellent

Additional comments on technical performance

No problems with telescope. Few problems with instrument or software except as noted above. I believe the micro software to still be a source of problems generally with Autofib, and I am very happy that Paul Rees will be taking this on.

User facilities rating = Sufficient

Additional comments on user facilities

Thanks to Paul Rees and David Sprayberry for installing the latest versions of Configure and wyf_red respectively.

There is a *huge* need for more cpu (and disk space) on the island. It simply takes too long to run Wyf_red, Jim Lewis's IRAF data reduction package for Wyffos, on the island. It took over 2 hours to reduce one set of data (one program frame, one arc, one aperture reference frame, and one offset sky) on lpss2 (though I know lpss1 is faster, and there was a background job running on lpss2). In Cambridge, the same job takes an hour or less. Unless the island gets more cpu (i.e. a dedicated data reduction number-cruncher), people will not be able to do "real-time" Wyffos data reduction and get a quick check on their data.

Another problem is that the SPARC Real-Time display does *not* properly transfer Wyffos data frames, with their large headers, to the SPARC. This means that data reduction cannot be done directly on the SPARCs, but instead must be done by reading in tapes, always time-consuming and a hassle. In general, I am no fan of the Real-Time Display and suggest that it be scrapped; it does nothing that cannot be done with good old IRAF.

Catalogues could be a bit better arranged. Also, there should be information about how to access the ESO Spectrophometric catalogue on the WWW (this has finding charts, spectra, etc, and is very useful).

Administrative support rating = Good

Additional comments on administrative support

General comments

Note: most of the comments made above are my own, and not necessarily shared by Dave Carter.