An optimised observing strategy was arrived upon by conducting several experiments using test time awarded on GMRT. There were three main aspects which were explored. First was to do with the settings, the second was do with the differences in the day and night observing and the third was to do an optimum sky coverage for each pointing.
Experiment 1: Same fields were observed on three consecutive days, with the same configuration and settings except the ALC (automatic Level Control) being included or excluded from the signal path and the IF and baseband bandwidths. The results of this experiment are shown in the figure below. This figure is taken from a talk given by S.K.Sirothia It is clear that the data obtained with the ALC on and with a 16 MHz IF bandwidth gives the best results and this is what we adopt for the survey.

Experiment 2: Comparing the results from nighttime and daytime observing. We compared the images obtained using data taken in the day time with the images from the data taken in the night time. We find that on the average the images made from the data acquired in the night time is better by a factor of about 1.5. We have requested GTAC and the Observatory to schedule our observing in the night time.

Experiment 3: We compared the results of different sky coverages. Each pointing at a given HA is observed for 3.5m. We compared the images made from data over 3 HAs with data over 5 HAs. The results obtained using data over 5 HAs were clearly better and this is used in our survey.