1994/07/28 Here are brief instructions for starting up the SONIC after it has been shut down for the day. 1. Check that the switch on the front of the camera electronics is on "DIP frame" and the two switches on the pc board in the back are up (toward pots.) 2. Turn on the camera electronics with the switch on the power supply. 3. Make sure filter dial is at BLK position (980). 4. Log in to the Sun if you haven't already done so. Start X by typing xinit if it doesn't happen automatically. 5. Type 'cd; gonsonic' in any xterm window. Numerous new windows should appear, including the SONIC command interpreter. Arrange windows to your liking. 6. Start up the temperature monitor/feedback program by typing 'tsonic' in any xterm window. The default temperature for the detector is 30.0 kelvins. (This may not be necessary if the temperature control program is already running.) 7. Go back to the dome, and turn switch on front of electronics to "Ext. frame". The red light should blink once per second; if not, flip back to "DIP frame" and make sure the computer is talking to the camera before continuing. (If something has gone wrong, fix it, exit the command interpreter, and go back to step 5.) 8. On back of electronics, put two switches down (away from pots). You may wish to check voltages. (Typical voltages, in the order they appear on the rotary switch, are: Digital power supply=5.0, Aphirst=4.0, Vdduc=2.0, Vcc=5.4, Vphirst=5.0, Vgate=-1.3, Vgg=0.99, Vdd=2.0, Vdetsub=2.060, Vrstuc=1.910. The difference between the last two is the detector bias, which should be 150 mV.) Vgate will have to be reset later; see below. 9. Wait until temperature is stable at 30.0 K. You can monitor temperature in a shell window by cd'ing to the current data directory (/sonic/flwo2///; the actual values were printed when you typed "tsonic"). Then type "tail -f temp.log". This will give a continuing typeout of the log file. You can stop the typout with control-c. 10. When the temperature is stable, type "int 3;tv" in command window. (Frame time should already be one second.) Resulting counts should all be between 3000 and 8000, everywhere on the array. If not, use "sv 1 " and "sv 2 " to adjust. When done, type "sac;int 4" to prepare for observing. 11. In command window, type "sac;int 4" if not already done. Set filter to blocker if not already there. Check dark, set Vgate. (Command is 'vg -1.4', for example.) The new detector has varied between -0.8 and -1.4; it wouldn't surprise me if there were further changes. To check Vgate, type "tv" with the frame time set to 1 second. Vary Vgate with the command "vg ", substituting the desired value of voltage. (Don't forget the minus sign.) Always be sure to approach each value from negative to positive, e.g. "vg -1.6;vg -1.4" is acceptable, but the reverse is not. Watch a few integrations at each value to allow the detector to stabilize at the new value. You can look at a patch of data with the command "dp" or mouse around the image display. If Vgate is too negative, there will be lots of prominent areas of hot pixels. If Vgate is too positive, dark current on the whole array will be high and will decay slowly. If uncertain, you may wish to try a longer frame time to see the dark current better. Decrementing Vgate in intervals of 0.1 volt should be adequate. One wants to set to the most positive value that does not produce excess dark current. 12. Measure and record dark frames and a bias frame. Make sure the filter is on BLK, edit the comments, and then type "darks" to do this automatically. (The file "dark" must be in your home directory, and you will get only 1, 10, and 30 second frame times. If you will use other frame times, make another file similar to 'dark', edit it appropriately, and call it via "source ". You may wish to define an alias to do this. Use 'ft .20' for the bias frame.) 13. Do linearity check and dome flats, if needed. Check that irtcs program moves filter to correct locations. (Dial numbers are inside front cover of notebook and are typed out in the monitor window.) 14. Turn telescope on. If starting from complete power down, initialize coordinates using telescope levels. 15. Open dome when cool enough outside. You can check temperatures on computer monitor at back of control room. Open mirror cover (but not while dome is opening or closing. If mirror cover was open, close it while opening dome, then open it again.) Disconnect power cord from dome! 16. Set on bright star, using finders if necessary. 17. Find the star in SONIC (command "ft 1;tv"), and update telescope coordinates. (It may be easier to find star in guide TV first.) 18. Focus telescope. If this is your first night check SONIC rotation angle and set if required. 19. With star centered in SONIC, move the guider back on-axis. The star should be centered in the TV and in focus. If not, recenter and focus the TV (not the telescope!). (Focusing will require searching for a faint star.) Tell the guider PC the new center coordinates. 20. Check the TV rotation, and adjust if necessary. If you have to change it, you will have to repeat step 18. TV orientation is not critical unless using the autoguider. 21. Observe!