Information Re: Arecibo Proposals for the September 4, 2012 Deadline

Arecibo proposals submitted for the September 4, 2012 (17 EST), deadline are for telescope usage during the six-month (or in some cases one-year) period beginning January 1, 2013.

1. Proposals should be prepared under the revised procedures detailed in Revised Procedures for Proposal Disposition and Telescope Scheduling.
2. While a high percentage of Arecibo telescope time for radio astronomy is presently being used for large surveys, we note that there will be no prior preference given to survey versus other types of proposals. We STRONGLY encourage the submission of proposals that are not classified as surveys. Time allocation will be determined by peer review and telescope scheduling pressure, which varies greatly as a function of LST and day/night.
3. A 700-800 MHz receiver is available for use in the band that was temporarily freed up by TV channel reallocations in 2009. Proposals to use this receiver are on a shared risk-basis, subject to the evolution of band occupancy, and the practicality of use. The RFI situation as of August 12, 2009, (when the last major TV turned off) can be seen here. Sadly, the RFI situation has worsened since 2009, with new occupants taking up their allocations (e.g. at 734.7-739.3 MHz).
4. For the September 4 deadline, we note the availability for general use of the new Arecibo PUPPI (Puerto Rico Ultimate Pulsar Processing Instrument) pulsar backend. For the time being this backend has a command-line interface (eventually it will be integrated into the Arecibo observing software CIMA).

5. The 2 x 7, dual-polarization, 300-MHz bandwidth, "Mock" spectrometers are available to all ALFA users. For details see Mock Spectrometers for ALFA users.
6. A SINGLE-PIXEL MODE for the Mock spectrometers is available. This can provide up to 1 GHz of contiguous spectral coverage. On-line pulsar folding is not yet supported. For use of the Mock spectrometers with a single-pixel receiver, see Specifics for Mock Single-Pixel mode .
7. The WAPP spectrometer provides an 8-band, dual-polarization, single-pixel observing capability for spectral lines or pulsars. This mode can place 8 independent bands over a 1-GHz range, each band having up to 100-MHz bandwidth. A contiguous 680-MHz spectral coverage can be obtained after allowing for filter roll-off. For an overview of WAPP capabilities, see WAPP spectrometer information.

(Updated: 5 August 2012)