• Avoid running at a 5 second cadence as it affects the draw of current and can lead to unnecessary QS Resets
• Be sure to have stop and restarts every 5 hours if running a multi-quadrant program
• Avoid more than 10 QS moves per hour over the weekend
• Issue two stops at least 71 seconds apart with the 2nd stop 5 minutes before a sequence start
• Leave 5 seconds between start of a sequence and first register poke
• Be sure you use correct target class
• Refer to Karel's page for additional information
• Refer to Ted's page for information on Calibrations that are run as needed
• Refer to the AEC webpage for the most recent AEC information
• Refer to the contact list if there are any problems
• There is a command limit of 278. This applies to the 3-day load for the weekend as well (SAAI & SAAO do not count towards command limit)
• To check on station passes:
  the station list that the timeline program uses is at
  /tsw/dbase/ops/stations
• To see the code for a sequence: select run on the timeline and hit the show sequence table button, find your sequence, click twice on it and hit examine selection
• Timeline is due 2pm local Goddard time
• Always check the log file before concluding the timeline is done and fine
• Always leave at least one full minute between a repoint command and any subsequent commands
• Always do a test run of any special observations
• Formula for determining fixed exposures is 2.*sqrt(steps/4.)*default

Before starting a timeline be sure to 1st check the health page to make sure that data is still being recorded and that the QS is in a good position (see the health monitoring instructions for more information). Also check the data from the current day to make sure that the correct data is being taken.

Valid QS positions:
171 - 28 and 29
195 - 10 and 11
284 - 2 and 1
UV - 20 and 19

To open a timeline on cheyenne:

login as trace
prompt>cd /tsw/obs/timeline (this is where the TIM files are stored)
prompt>ls *DOY* (to see what has been done so far that day): the command lt will list the last 20 files
Enter the DOY and hit return
Enter comments at the top of the comment window
be sure to include any utims that you plan to use and also be sure to put your initials and date that the timeline was created somewhere in the comments section
The timeline should come up with station passes and SAA times listed and you should check to make sure there are 4-6 passes per day
(Note: SAAI is the start of a SAA time and SAAO is the end)
If it is during eclipse season DAYI and DAYO will also appear, these represent the end and start of eclipses. For a few weeks before and after eclipse season the instrument will go through what we call Atmospheric Absorption Zones (AAZ).
If you are opening an existing timeline, go to insert and select TIM and type in the name of the timeline you are inserting. If you are not opening an existing timeline you can start entering in your science plan as described below
Be sure to check the current trace plan for anything that is supposed to run that week.
Synoptics should be run Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (be sure that the 171 Synoptic does not run during an SAA) and focus.utim should run once a month

Get HLZ information:

This information is often not needed, but good to have on hand
They are sometimes needed for special engineering runs
There are 3 different idl routines that one can use to get this information
idl>.run hlz_to_utim
idl>hlz_to_utim,doy,yy
This puts a file on /tsw/obs/utim with the HLZ zones and register number information and the file is called HLZ_date.utim

idl>high_mag_lat, ['dd-mmm-yy tt:tt','dd-mmm-yy tt:tt'], latm, times
This makes a screen plot for the requested time interval showing the SAA's as ***** and the HLZ's as bars with dashed line. The bars with a solid line are extremely generous HLZ's: avoid these times to be absolutely sure of minimal radiation.

idl>tr_plot_hlz, 'dd-Mmm-yy', /hc
This prints four 6-hour plots of the type described above.

Editing of the timeline

- Save your work throughout the day by selecting the save button on the timeline and then either printing the timeline or dismissing the message.
- Run the simulator throughout the day by selecting run and hitting the run timeline button. Be sure to run the timeline after it has been saved, this assures that the correct files appear on the webpages
-Check the .log file in /tsw/obs/timeline to be sure that sequences are running appropriately
- Adding sequences to the timeline:
go to insert and select STOP 5 mins before you want to start a new sequence (be sure to issue two stops 71 seconds apart)
go to insert and select START SEQ and put in the time and sequence
to change a sequence or add another sequence to the start select modify or double click on the start, make the changes, and hit the apply button
to poke the registers for certain sequences, insert a CMD and then type ICSQREG (REG= #, VAL= #) and fill in the #, or use the set regs option
(Note: $G1 is reg 17, $G2 is reg 18 and so on and so forth)
(Note: first register poke must be placed 5 seconds after start of sequence)

- Adding a utim to the timeline:
one can also write a .utim file in /tsw/obs/utim that has all the the commands built in. Please see example utims in the utim directory

- Do pointing (we want to repoint every 4-6 hours): Select the track button on the timeline
Hit the lat/long button and put in the lat/long information and the date you got the information (Note: this info can be obtained from either the NOAA page, image_tool, or previous TRACE data) and fill out the information on the bottom half with the start time of pointing coordinates and how often to update it
When selecting target class, be sure to use appropriate target class for sequence that is running
Hit the write timeline button and then see the PNT lines on the timeline with the coordinates (edit times here if needed)
Remember that the pointings provided are the estimated closest wedge position

- 2nd way to do pointing is to simply select the insert pointing. Again be sure to select the appropriate target class

- Run the simulator to see how the timing and memory is (Note: use the previous days memory usage to determine accuracy of simulator)

- Re-edit the comments window with details

Make IAP's:
Go to insert on the timeline and select IAP
Write in the information and get the pointing to the nearest update time from the simulator (it has the exact trace pointings)
Look on the soho calendar for the JOP and campaign numbers
IAP's are located on /tsw/obs/iap

Send the timeline to the FOT by 2pm Goddard time:
prompt>cd /fotdisk/fot/inputs/timeline and the file is the most recent rego file (you do not need to be in this directory to run send2fot)
Type send2fot and enter the year and doy (yydoy) a list of files for that DOY will appear, enter the number that corresponds to the file you wish to send
E-mail trace_fotops and write that you sent the timeline over
They send a verification report to /fotdisk/fot/outputs/TVR
If you need to send a second version
prompt> cd /fotdisk/fot/inputs/timeline and cp TYYDOYREGOTL.00 TYYDOYREGOTL.01 and then send2fot the .01 version. Be sure to send another e-mail to trace_fotops telling them that there is a second version

Final planning tasks

- Go to http://chippewa.nascom.nasa.gov/~dcm/data_base/trace.html and fill out the information on observations for the day,

-Also prepare a few images from the week's data and send to Karel for the TRACE picture of the day website

NASA Security Statement