The telescope is controlled by the operator, assisted by the astronomer-on-duty, in the local as well as in the remote observing modes. The operator tunes the receivers during night time and is in charge of the supervision of the telescope; he has to leave occasionally the control room. During this time the astronomer on duty takes over. Remote observations thus require two persons at the telescope and are only possible for a limited number of hours. For safety reasons, direct access to the OBS/OBSINP telescope control programmes from outside is not allowed, except from IRAM Granada.
Remote observing using OBS/OBSINP is possible from the downtown Granada IRAM office, while keeping close contact with the operator/astronomer-on-duty via e-phone or other means. The RED data are on display. Short (few hours) proposals can be carried out this way by experienced observers. This mode of observation should be requested at least 2 weeks in advance.
``Service observing'', with the PI staying at his home institute, is also possible upon request for some programmes (of less than 8 hours, with only one set of tunings and few sources or positions to be observed). Observations are made by the local staff (operators helped by the astronomer-on-duty or by a member of the investigator's institute present at the telescope for his/her own observations). We will try to send you the spectra.30m data-files and the two pages of the OBS monitor if your computer allows it (Spain, France or Germany only, so far). This is a passive way of observing, no direct interaction with the telescope through OBS being possible. For this type of observation, we request an acknowledgement of the IRAM staff member's help in the forthcoming publication.