ASAC Telecon Monday 28th April 2003. 1530-1630UT

Draft Minutes and Actions

On line: 

Jean Turner
Chris Carilli
Lee Mundy
Phil Myers
Chris Wilson

John Richer
Pierre Cox
Rafael Bachiller

Ewine van Dishoeck
Al Wootten
Stephane Guilloteau

Diego Mardones

Munetake Momose
Tetsuo Hasegawa
Satoshi Yamamoto


Old Business

1. Minutes of the last telecon (20030305) had been circulated and were
accepted without change.

New Business

1. Status Report

SG gave a brief status report. There continues to be good progress with
negotiations in Chile, albeit at a slow pace. The NA-funded prototype
antenna handover and commissioning at the ATF is ongoing, but there are
problems with electrical and timing systems, and lack of 
documentation is hampering progress. More positively, the holography
system is installed and results of the first surface measurements should
be available in the near future.  Assembly of the EU-funded antenna at
the ATF site has started.  At the Chanjnantor site, the sites for nearly
all the proposed and adopted antenna pads have been checked out
visually, and most seem acceptable.  Soil tests will be done starting
this week.  SG also noted the recent report that the AIPS++ consortium
has come to an end, and this will have implications for ALMA but it
is currently unclear how that will play out. 

2. Report to Board

CW then led a detailed discussion of the draft report to the Board which
resulted from our last face to face meeting in Grenoble.  The wording of
several recommendations were discussed.  Chris will welcome further
comments this week, and will hope to circulate a near-final draft by
Friday 2nd June.  The last date for submission to the Board is 9th May.

The major action items for the Exec summary from the discussion are:
  A. For the configurations sections, it was agreed to leave the report
         as written -- not update it to reflect post-ASAC meeting developments.
  B. It was agreed that the second generation correlator was not in the
         charge for this meeting so its mention should be removed from
	  the exec. summary. Discussion can remain in the text.
  C. Add a sentence to the AIPS++ exec summary statement saying that the
         ASAC was disappointed with test results.
  D. A sentence should be added about reviewing the antenna specs if
         we are forced to have an inhomogeneous array.

Major action items for the General report are:
  A. In the amplitude calibration section, add science drivers for calibration
         goals and reference to an additional dedicated 2 FTE for calibration.
  B. Change wording in the correlator section to reflect that we would
         accept delivery of the 1st quadrant without upgrade -- not that
         we liked, or preferred, it that way.
  C. In the front end section, define "a short time", as minutes, not hours.
  D. In the summary, drop recommendations 8 and 9.

ACTION ALL: members to send any final comments on the report to Chris.

3. Date of Next Face To Face Meeting

Christine Wilson has kindly agreed to host our next face to face meeting
in Hamilton.  The preferred date is early to mid September.  We need a
two day meeting, and including a Saturday night stay can reduce
airfares, especially for European members. The final date cannot be
established until the European members are elected (by June 12th we
hope), but it is worth canvassing opinion now on a suitable date.

ACTION ALL: please send preferred/impossible dates to John Richer, for
the period 1-15 September. Also include any personal preference
for/against September 11 travel and preferred meeting days (ie whether
weekend is acceptable or not). 

4. Science IPT update

In the last few minutes of the telecon, Ewine gave a very quick update
on some recent Science IPT issues including long configurations.  Plans
for ALMA Week in June are progressing. Hills and Richer have produced a
first draft of a document describing requirements for Ancillary
Calibration devices needed for ALMA - such as a FTS, oxygen sounder,
etc.  These are currently not budgeted for, but Stephane Guilloteau is
working with the JAO to secure funds for the most essential devices.
ASAC members interested in this issue may contact John Richer for more
details.

5. Software

The item of software and AIPS++ was not covered due to time
constraints. 

6. Next Telecon

This is To Be Decided.  The customary date would be May 7th, but this is
probably too soon, but will be held in reserve if needed. The next date
would then be June 4th, and the Chair (and others?) may have a clash
with ALMA week responsibilities on that day.  A date will be circulated
by the Chair.


Summary of Actions

ACTION ALL: members to send any final comments on the report to Chris
this week.

ACTION ALL: please send preferred/impossible dates to John Richer, for
the period 1-15 September. Also include any personal preference
for/against September 11 travel and preferred meeting days (ie whether
weekend is acceptable or not).

John Richer & Lee Mundy, 2003-04-30