7.1. Relevant Literature on the Internet
As in other branches of astronomy, much of the most recent publications can be found on the WWW. The LANL/SISSA electronic preprint server (xxx.lanl.gov) has been described in some detail in my tutorial. Radio astronomy topics are becoming increasingly popular on this server, although some of the most productive radio astronomy institutions have not yet discovered its efficiency and cost savings for the distribution of their preprints. Some institutions offer at least the titles of their preprints (if not full versions) on the WWW. Those preprints still circulated only on paper may be found in the STEP- and RAPsheets of the STScI and NRAO (NTweb.stsci.edu/STEPsheet/ and annie.cv.nrao.edu/rapsqbe.htm). Among the comprehensive collection of astronomy newsletters at sesame.stsci.edu/lib/NEWSLETTER.htm, there are several of interest to radio astronomers, depending on their area of research.
A few relevant proceedings volumes are also accessible on the WWW, e.g. the one on ``Energy Transport in Radio Galaxies and Quasars'' ([Hardee et al. (1996)]) discusses a wide variety of phenomena encountered in extragalactic radio sources, and papers from this volume are available as PostScript files from www.cv.nrao.edu/jetworks. Three other volumes ([Cohen & Kellermann (1995), Zensus et al. (1995), Zensus et al. (1998)]) bring together recent advances in high-resolution radio imaging of compact radio sources (see www.pnas.org/, www.cv.nrao.edu/vlbabook, and www.cv.nrao.edu/iau164/164book.html).
7.2. Finding Radio Astronomers around the World
Directories of astronomers in general have been described in section 7 of my tutorial for this winter school. Commission 40 (``Radio Astronomy'') of the IAU offers a list of its 860 members (www.ira.bo.cnr.it/IAU_Com40/Org/IAU_scroll.html), and 660 of them appear with their email address.
7.3. Proposing Observations with Radio Telescopes
Like in most other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, proposals are accepted via email at most radio observatories. Many of them offer their proposal forms on the WWW, like e.g. for the various NRAO telescopes at www.nrao.edu/administration/directors_office/proposals.shtml, for the ATNF telescopes at www.atnf.csiro.au/observers/apply/form.html (including Parkes and VLBI), for MERLIN at www.jb.man.ac.uk/merlin/propsub/, for the Arecibo dish at www.naic.edu/vscience/proposal/proposal.htm, for the BIMA mm array at www.astro.uiuc.edu/~bima/call_for_proposals.html, or for the JCMT at www.jach.hawaii.edu/JCMT/pages/apply.html. VLBI proposal forms for the EVN are available at www.nfra.nl/jive/evn/proposals/prop.html, and for the VLBA see the NRAO address above. No web forms were found e.g. for the MRAO or IRAM telescopes, nor for the WSRT.
Some institutions still require the proposals to be sent via regular mail, e.g. the MPIfR Bonn (www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/div/effelsberg/observing_time.htm) for proposing time at the Effelsberg 100-m dish. It would be difficult here to give a comprehensive list of URLs for the many radio telescopes distributed over the globe.