THE BATSE ASCII RAW DUMP PROGRAM Kim Tolbert February 11, 1992 The Raw Dump Program produces ASCII output of BATSE data between selected times for selected detectors. The user can select whether to display Discriminator Large Area (DISCLA) counts, satellite position information, and/or housekeeping information. On entering the program, the user is presented with a menu displaying the current settings of parameters and the available commands. The user either accepts the default value of a parameter, or changes the value by typing the first 3 letters of the parameter description, comma, the new value. When the parameters are set as desired, the user issues a command (again, the first 3 letters are sufficient). Upper or lower case may be used for input. A detailed description of the parameters and commands is given below. Typically, a user selects an input file via the INP parameter, specifies a time interval via the STA and END or TOT parameters, sets the output device via the OUTP parameter, and issues the DUMP command. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Raw Dump Program Parameters: Note: All times are entered in the format YY/MM/DD,HHMM:SS.XXX Seconds and fraction of seconds (SS.XXX) are never necessary, and year, month, and day (YY/MM/DD) aren't necessary when entering subsequent times on the same day. INPUT FILE - Name of input BDB or FDB file (see DATABASE parameter description). Use the FILELIST command to get a list of available files. No default value; input file must be explicitly selected by user. There are three selection methods: INP,FILENAME - enter file name directly. INP,T,TIME - enter a time (date or date and time) contained in desired file. Example: INP,T,91/4/30,0900 INP,F,FLARE# - enter a flare number contained in the desired file. Example: INP,F,233 DATABASE - Selects BDB or FDB database. There are two sets of files - BATSE Data Base (BDB) containing the complete DISCLA data, and Flare Data Base (FDB) containing the time interval before, during, and after a solar flare. BDB files are not available to remote users. Example: DAT,FDB START TIME OF DUMP - Defaults to the start time of the input file when a file is selected. (See note above for format of times.) Example: STA,91/04/21,1230 or STA,1230 TOTAL TIME - Duration of interval of data to dump in seconds. Defaults to 10 seconds. Example: TOT,300 (sets duration to 5 minutes) END TIME OF DUMP - Defaults to 10 seconds after the start of the input file. (See note above for format of times.) Example: END,91/04/21,1235 or END,1235 DETECTORS SELECTED - Detectors to dump. Separate by commas or a hyphen. These detector numbers are fixed and always refer to the same physical detector (the numbering does not change with angle from Sun). Default is detectors 0 through 7. Example: DET,0-3 (selects detectors 0, 1, 2, and 3) HEADER PRINT - Options are ENABLE or DISABLE. Select whether to list information in the file header (the start and end time of file, and the number of 2.048 second packets in the file). DISCLA PRINT - Options are ENABLE or DISABLE. Select whether to list DISCLA output (the number of counts recorded in each 1.024 second sample in the four energy channels (25-50, 50-100, 100-300, and >300 keV), the Charged Particle Detector, and the non-anti-coincidenced counter for energies greater than 25 keV). The data is not corrected for livetime or overflow. POSITION PRINT - Options are ENABLE or DISABLE. Select whether to list GRO position information (x,y,z coordinates of GRO position in Earth- centered inertial coordinates, azimuth and elevation of geocenter position, and x and z right ascension and declination of the GRO pointing direction in astronomical coordinates). HOUSEKEEPING PRINT - Options are ENABLE or DISABLE. Select whether to list housekeeping information. The data are labelled with mnemonic codes, so you must be familiar with the data file structures. OUTPRINT - Output device for DUMP and PRINT commands. Options are TERMINAL PRINTER, or FILE. If you plan to mail the ASCII output to yourself, set this parameter to FILE so you don't have to wait while it prints on the screen. Default is the terminal. Example: OUT,FIL (direct DUMP or PRINT output to a file) EMAIL ADDRESS - Address for mailing ASCII output. This parameter only appears after the user has issued the DUMP or PRINT command and opted to mail the file to himself. On subsequent mailings for the PRINT command, this address will be used instead of prompting the user for an address each time. To mail to a different address, reset this parameter. Example: EMA,SDAC::KIM --------------------------------------------------------------------------- B. Raw Dump Program Commands: DUMP - Tabulates the requested information. You will be prompted after the dump for whether to mail the dump information to yourself. EXIT - Exit Raw Dump Program. FILELIST - Displays a list of the available BDB or FDB files depending on user's selection of DATABASE parameter. HELP - Display this help file on screen. You will be prompted for whether to mail the help file to yourself. LIST - Display the menu. PRINT - Re-print the results of the most recent DUMP command on the output device specified by the OUTPRINT parameter. You will be prompted for whether to mail the dump information to yourself. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (This information is stored in file BATSE$DATA:HELP_RAWDUMP.TXT.)