Joint Astronomy Centre
James Clerk Maxwell Telescope
660 N. A'ohoku Place
Hilo, Hawaii  96720  USA
25 June 2002

Dear Colleague,

As Director of the JCMT I would like to take this opportunity to
congratulate you on the award of telescope time and to hope that your
observations will be extremely successful.  This letter contains
information that is important for you, as Principal Investigator, and also
for us in providing the support and the infra-structure to enable your
observations to be undertaken successfully.  My continuing goal is to
ensure that only the weather should mitigate against a successful and
productive observing run, providing that you, the astronomer, have
fulfilled your part.


NEWS : You will find below information on the new Observing Tool (OT)
====   to be used by all SCUBA users this semester.


The schedule for the coming semester is in place.  You can access
the current version of the schedule from the Web :
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JACpublic/JCMT/Observing_info/Schedule/schedule.html

The national TAGs have agreed that wherever possible, each country's
allocations should be concatenated into blocks of shifts with individual
projects flexibly arranged within each block. Programs requiring
exceptional weather are often paired with those less demanding upon
weather conditions: in this way both may be successfully completed within
the one block. International projects may also be similarly "blocked" with
projects from the partner countries.

Possible arrangements of observers and programs include:

1. When two programs are explicitly paired together the observer
   may be one or other of the PIs involved. You should contact
   Gerald Moriarty-Schieven (gms@jach.hawaii.edu) about the particular
   arrangements.

2. If your shifts are followed on the schedule by 'Flex' shifts, then you
   will be the observer for the entire period. Your program will use
   suitable weather as it occurs, until you have exhausted your
   allocation. The remainder of the block will be used for observing other
   approved programs that can tolerate (typically) poorer weather.

3. If your program is not followed by 'Flex' shifts, your program
   will be performed in 'classical' mode, with you as the observer.
   In the event of unsuitable weather you or the TSS(s) will perform
   backup observing.

4. Programs approved but not scheduled may still be observed in
   service mode during the 'Flex' shifts described above. Your
   presence is not required at the telescope.
   Observations made for you during 'flex' time will be undertaken either
   by a colleague (usually from the same partner country) or by the TSS.

   An observing plan must still be completed with sufficient accuracy and
   detail that the observations can be conducted without direct
   consultation with you or with any of your collaborators.

   We will attempt, but cannot guarantee, to make available remote
   eavesdropping during serviced observations if required.  We will not
   endeavour to attempt too much without keeping you informed of progress.
   If this is required it is imperative that you contact your support
   astronomer WELL BEFORE the flexible scheduled block takes place.

Regardless of which observing mode is assigned to your project, it is
mandatory that a completed observing plan be submitted by 31 Aug 2002.
The ITAC have decided that any applications without a submitted plan after
that date may be dropped from the allocation.  This semester sees the
introduction of a new observing tool (OT) for SCUBA observations, while
heterodyne observations are still to be prepared via the submission of a
template. [ Observing plans may be revised at any time. ]

HETERODYNE templates may be obtained from our website at:

http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JACpublic/JCMT/Apply_time/Templates/line_template.txt

and instructions on their completion may be found at:

http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JACpublic/JCMT/Apply_time/Templates/guidelines.html

SCUBA observations should be prepared using the new Observing Tool (OT) :


IMPORTANT NOTE FOR SCUBA USERS: Release of the Observation Tool (OT)
====================================================================

As most users will be aware the JCMT has been embarked on an Observation
Management Project for the past two years to bring the final benefits of
flexible queue observing in terms of increased scientific efficiency. This
project is being done in conjunction with UKIRT and the first part of the
system, the Observation Tool, was released on UKIRT last semester. It is now
the JCMT's turn. The new software will be released in the next semester and in
02B, all SCUBA observing will be carried out with these new tools. Upon
the arrival of ACSIS (expected 03A), these same tools will provide the
basis for the preparation and execution of heterodyne observing programs also,
and so will soon be the sole interface between the science observer and the
JCMT telescope and instrument suite.

If you have observed with SCUBA before, please note that this system
*completely replaces* the old template-based submission method and the
manual editing of ODFs. In 02B, all SCUBA observations will have to
be prepared and submitted by the PIs (or their collaborators) using
our graphical observation preparation tool, the JCMT-OT.

Be assured that we will offer every possible assistance to you in
preparing your projects. In addition, it is recommended that observers
coming to the telescope spend at least a few hours in Hilo with their
support scientist before heading up the mountain in order to fully
familiarise themselves with the new observing suite.

You will receive instructions on downloading the software as well as
preparing and submitting your observations via email shortly after
July 1st. If you are going to be completely out of email contact in
the month of July and you have targets that are observable in the
beginning of the semester, please provide your support scientist with
a collaborator's contact details. It is intended to attempt to undertake
training sessions through perhaps selected telecons at some point in the
near future. The organisation of this will be done on a national basis
and all users will be informed in due course.

The purpose of the changes is to improve the service we provide to PIs
and observers while decreasing the extra workload associated with
flexibly scheduling the facility. We hope the improvement will soon be
obvious, but your patience through any teething problems is greatly
appreciated. While this system has been commissioned on UKIRT and comments
built-into the JCMT system, which has also been subject to scrutiny in Hawaii
and through the external Project Scientist, observers will have opportunity
for input and feedback to ensure that the best product is available for
observers.
=========================================================================

If you are to be present at the telescope during your observations then
you will be assigned both a telescope system specialist and a staff
scientist to provide you with necessary support. The TSS should be
familiar with all aspects of the operations of the telescope and its
instrumentation and will of course be present for the whole of your run.
The staff scientist would normally expect to be at the telescope for only
your first shift but will be available by telephone for consultation for
the whole of your allocation. I encourage you to make full use of your
staff scientist before, during and after your observing. They are a
precious resource and available to help you, the observer, maximise your
scientific goals.

It is essential that SCUBA observers spend at least one half day in the
office with their support astronomer and SCUBA support staff (especially
software) prior to observing. SCUBA continues to be a brilliant but
complex instrument and to use it efficiently you will need to review the
user-interface (OT) prior to going to the telescope. New SCUBA users
should spend at least a day in the Hilo office.

You should arrange for travel and accommodation at HP to match the
schedule, arriving at least one *working* day before the start of your
observations in order to consult with your support scientist in Hilo, and
to acclimatise at HP. Please send your accommodation request form
   http://www.JACH.Hawaii.Edu/JACpublic/homepage/accommodation_form.html
to Donna DeLorm, JCMT Secretary, at least 3 weeks prior to your arrival.

You will be notified of any changes to your allocation, but it would
be advisable to check the schedule at frequent intervals. If you
have any further questions about the schedule let Gerald Moriarty-Schieven
(gms@jach.hawaii.edu) know as soon as possible.

Explanatory notes that provide important information for all
observers visiting the JAC and JCMT can be found on the Web at:
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JACpublic/JCMT/Apply_time/Forms_safety/forms_safety.html
and it is imperative that you read these prior to making any
arrangements for your visit. One extremely important point to mention
is that as principal contact it is YOUR responsibility to ensure
that your collaborators are familiar with the information contained
in these notes since this letter is not being copied to them.

If you are unsure of any aspect of observing at the JCMT please
do not hesitate to contact your staff scientist. If they are not
available, contact Per Friberg (p.friberg@jach.hawaii.edu).
You may also find the information you seek on our website
    http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/JACpublic/JCMT/
We use an e-mail exploder for distribution of urgent messages directly to
interested parties and if you wish to receive such e-mail, please
send an e-mail containing the message      subscribe jcmt_users
to majordomo@jach.hawaii.edu  .

As a result of an increased focus on safety issues, all observers
will be given a safety briefing prior to their proceeding to the
telescope.  This is mandatory, will take place on each visit (even
for experienced observers) and is the responsibility of the support
astronomer to ensure that this is completed.

We also require the formal completion of an observing report for
each shift of telescope use.  This provides valuable information to
many staff regarding the use of time and problems unearthed, and
alerts the PI of any project you observe that data have been acquired
for them. (Similarly, you will be alerted whenever data are acquired
for your project, and the data are made available to you within
24 hours.) The current version of this reporting system interacts
directly with the heterodyne observing database while the new SCUBA OT
will automatically generate the report and maintain the SCUBA database.
Your support scientist will be able to provide the latest instructions
and news on the submission of nightly reports.

In the spirit of raising of awareness and motivation, if you are
visiting the telescope, I believe it would be good practice to
give the TSS(s), especially the new staff members, an overview of
the science you are hoping to do and to discuss with them the
modes of observation you will be undertaking - such as spectral
scanning, line mapping, continuum mapping etc. This will also help
them as they develop their skills at undertaking serviced observing.

Let me again tender an open invitation for you to give a scientific
colloquium during your pass through the Hilo office. Please contact
Gerald Moriarty-Schieven by e-mail (gms@jach.hawaii.edu). The staff
here look forward to such events and it ensures we are up to date
with the specific research undertaken on the JCMT and elsewhere. The
seminars are advertised to the neighbourhood facilities and there is
always a wide variety of scientists from the six telescopes, present
in the audience. I thank all those who have contributed.

Additional Notes:
1. The JCMT operates a 16-hour night : One TSS/SS will provide coverage
   from 17:30 to 21:30, and another from 21:30 to 09:30.
2. There may be the occasion (especially at the weekend) when an observer
   on second shift is required to stay for an additional half hour
   so that the TSS can fill the cold loads on the instruments.
3. Extended hours are now a rarity due to the staffing situation.
   Please consult your staff scientist beforehand if you have a pressing
   need to observe outside of the scheduled period (17:30 - 09:30).
4. Check the vehicle schedule on the computers before using any vehicle.
   Late changes to the vehicle schedule are not guaranteed to be
   accommodated, and you are strongly discouraged from requesting time
   changes different from those on your original booking form except
   under exceptional circumstances.

I wish you all the very best with your observing.

Sincerely yours,

Professor Ian Robson
Director, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope