Proposal Preparation

Because of peculiarities of the interferometer, proposals must be written with special care. Even at the proposal stage, it is of the utmost importance to provide the following parameters:

• A source list with accurate coordinates
• A source list with velocities and line width for spectral line observation
• Observing frequencies, and especially the choice of USB or LSB receiver tuning. If only one line is to be observed, this choice may be postponed to select the optimum sensitivity according to receiver performance; this should be mentioned explicitely. If more than one line should be observed simultaneously, consult the ``Frequency Setup'' document for details.
• Required spatial and spectral resolution, and estimate of required sensitivity.
• The bandpass calibrator and two phase calibrators selected, if possible, from the standard IRAM list.
• Required dynamic range (spectral and spatial).
• Dates to be avoided during scheduling, because of sun avoidance (a circle of 45 degree radius), phase stability requirements (daytime is often useless in summer), or other reasons (specify).
• Any other stringent constraint (e.g. coordinated observations).

This information is absolutely required to decide the feasibility of the program, a prerequisite before the program committee can consider the proposal.