Plateau de Bure received its new Rohde & Schwarz SMA100.B22 frequency generator in early 2009, and performed a short VLBI test on the Pico Veleta - Plateau de Bure (PV-PB) baseline on March 10 only hours before the old 30-m receiver cabin was dismantled to make room for EMIR. The resulting fringes were of excellent quality, and confirmed the VLBI-grade stability of the new generator.
During the commissioning of EMIR, a second PV-PB test was performed that confirmed the VLBI capabilities of the new Pico Veleta receiver and LO system.
In the Global May session from May 8th - May 12th, both IRAM instruments participated. Plateau de Bure observed 78% of the scheduled scans (of the missed scans, a quarter were due to the sun avoidance at Bure, and the rest mainly due to bad weather). Pico Veleta had difficult weather conditions, and could only observe 24% of the scheduled scans.