Reminders

• MIRIAD-101:
  • for users the MIRIAD package is a set of Unix commands, often called ``tasks'', with a set of keyword=value command line parameters to control the program. Typicallly you source a script (e.g. miriad_start.csh) to change your Unix environment to have this package included.
  • The Miriad Program (called miriad) is a special (miriad) unix program that acts like the AIPS shell and is an alternative method to invoke Miriad programs. Useful for newbies, as a way of learning individual tasks.
  • Miriad data are directories, with items (normally files, but see below) inside.
• To get help on a task, mirhelp <taskname>, e.g. mirhelp invert. Another quick way to get help is invert -k or invert -kw.

• source names are stored in UPPER case in visibility files, and are normally converted to upper case before any comparision. Hence the following two examples are synonymous:

      select=source(mars)
      select=source(MARS)
  

• Autocorrelations and a noise source are present in the data, so often you will wind up having to select them out, the minus sign creates an exclusion selection:

      select=-auto,-source(NOISE)
  

  A notable exception where select=-auto does not work is selfcal and mfcal. This is a bug being worked on.

• When invoking a task from the Unix shell, use quotes for keywords that use Unix meta characters, such as parenthesis. Example

      % uvspec select='win(3)'
      % uvspec select="win(3)"
  

  If you are in the MIRIAD shell, these quotes are not needed.