Dear colleagues,

  the next EVLA CASA test is scheduled for Dec. 18-22.  This e-mail
summarizes the topics to be tested, and the basic logistics of the test.

* Testers
  I have the following listed as spending a substantial fraction of this
  week on CASA tests:

    Walter Brisken
    Mark Claussen
    Ed Fomalont
    Gustaaf van Moorsel
    Frazer Owen
    Michael Rupen
    David Whysong

  Many thanks to you all!  It will be a busy week, but there's lots of fun
  stuff to play with...

* Purpose
  This is the first "wide, not deep" test of CASA.  You are encouraged
  to try out your own data sets, rather than sticking with the dozen or so
  on the test Web page, which are just being used as pre-test checks by
  the CASA folks.

  Our main interests are the interface (including documentation) and
  basic calibration (including data weights).
  - Does CASA work for your data?
  - Do you have good tools for checking that?
  - Are you happy with the overall approach to calibration?
  - Do you like the user manual, the inline help, and the approach to tasks?
  Note that this will be the first full test of CASA itself (python, the new
  interface, etc.).

  There are four main components we're testing.

  1- The CASA interface, documentation, and help

    Testers: everyone.

  2- Basic calibration
    : solve
    : apply
    : interpolate
    : smooth
    : plot
    New capabilities introduced here for the first time include
    the calibration of data weights (hooray!), and the ability of BPOLY
    (bandpass) and GSPLINE (spline interpolation) to handle dual
    polarization data.

    While basic imaging (and the viewer) will be available, they are not
    the focus of this test, and both documentation and capability are
    somewhat rudimentary.  Similarly self-calibration is undocumented,
    is only available at the toolkit level, and is not guaranteed to work.

    Testers: everyone.

  3- Round-trip data flow: ASDM -> MS -> UVFITS -> AIPS
    This is aimed at showing whether CASA can be used as a "front-end
    filler" for AIPS, converting the Science Data Model and/or the CASA
    Measurement Set into one or more FITS data sets which are complete,
    have useful and full headers, and can be read into and manipulated in
    AIPS.

    Testers: Ed Fomalont and Michael Rupen.

  4- Pointing self-cal
    We would like to see whether Sanjay's pointing self-cal works, and
    whether the current interface is generally satisfactory.

    We have two new (untried!) test data sets available:
      - 1.3cm VLA obs. of Cyg A, with and without referenced pointing
        applied.  We have the on-line ref.ptg. results available as a
        cross-check here.
      - 20cm VLA obs. of a well-populated field, with various large pointing
        errors introduced through the magic of Ken Sowinski.  Ken has a
        file listing the offsets, which we will not see until after the
        test.

    Testers: David Whysong (M-W), Michael Rupen (Th-F), possibly others
      if interested.  We'll put the test data sets up on the Web site by
      Monday.

* Logistics
  - We begin with a kick-off meeting on

      MONDAY  8-9am  in AOC-317

    where Joe and Michael will go over some basics.  We're working
    on a Web page with all the basic information.

  - We have reserved AOC-317 for an hour in the morning each day
    next week, to get together for discussion and updates from the
    CASA folks.  Unfortunately the busy meeting schedule at the AOC
    doesn't allow a consistent time, so I will send out e-mail early
    each morning to remind you of the times for that day.  The schedule
    at the moment (all MT) is:

        M:  8-9am  AOC-317/CV-311  kick-off with intro from Joe/Michael
        T:  9-10am AOC-317/CV-311
        W:  8-9am  AOC-317/CV-311
       Th:  8-9am  AOC-317/CV-209  (CV-311 etc. are not available)
        F:  2-3pm  AOC-317/CV-311  discussion of results

    The T W Th meetings will likely be very short (10-15 minutes).

  - CASA contacts are
      Joe McMullin (esp. for interface issues)
      George Moellenbrock (esp. for calibration issues)
      Sanjay Bhatnagar (esp. for pointing self-cal)
      Kumar Golap (for anything at all :)
    Please e-mail (or just stop by and chat) with any of these people.

  - CASA is installed on all the public machines at the AOC, and can
    be accessed easily from any desktop computer running Redhat Linux
    or Mac OS-X.

    CASA can also be installed on any laptop running Redhat Linux or Mac
    OS-X.

    CASA will be installed on individual CV machines upon request.  Please
    let us know by the end of this week (i.e., by Friday Dec. 15th) if you'd
    like this service.


* Results
  - Comments and complaints should be sent to all three of
       mclausse, mrupen, jmcmulli

  - Each tester should send a brief summary of his/her experience to

       mclausse, mrupen, jmcmulli

    at the end of each day, and an overview of his/her experience at the
    end of the week (i.e., by Friday afternoon).  The aforementioned
    will summarize those results and present them in January.


That's it for now!  Please bring any questions to the NAUG meeting this
afternoon.

Best --

             Michael