[Psrfits] STT_DATE and STT_TIME

[Dick.Manchester at csiro.au]

Hi Scott

Thanks for your response. I'm certainly not suggesting that we get rid of
STT_IMJD, STT_SMJD and STT_OFFS, which as you say define the precise start
time of the obs (and are the only parameters to do so). Just STT_DATE and
STT_TIME, which as I said, haven't been in the psrheader.fits definition
for about seven years.

Does this ease your concerns?

Regards
  Dick

On 26/02/14 12:10 PM, "Scott Ransom" <sransom at nrao.edu> wrote:

>It probably isn't a huge issue, but in PRESTO and psrfits_utils, we
>count the STT_* fields as the _real_ time and compare that with
>DATE_OBS.  So if you get rid of the STT_* fields, we will have to change
>those bits of software.
>
>Scott
>
>On 02/25/2014 07:26 PM, Dick.Manchester at csiro.au wrote:
>> Hi all
>>
>> I've come across a bit of an anomaly in the psrfits files being written
>> by the Parkes DFBs. When we first defined the psrfits format, we had
>> STT_DATE and STT_TIME in the main header. Then in V2.8 (Feb 2007) these
>> were removed from the definition and DATE_OBS was added for
>> compatibility with FITS standards. Ever since then  STT_DATE and STT_OBS
>> have not been in the header template. However, the PDFBs have continued
>> to write these lines in the main header (as well as DATE_OBS).
>>
>> I propose that we cease writing STT_DATE and STT_TIME with the Parkes
>> DFBs. They are redundant and furthermore confusing since the the time
>> differs slightly from that in DATE_OBS.
>>
>> I think this is a Parkes-only issue, but if anyone feels that this is a
>> bad move, please let me know. I'll wait a week before asking Warwick to
>> make the changes.
>>
>> Regards
>>    Dick
>>
>>
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>
>-- 
>Scott M. Ransom            Address:  NRAO
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