Hi...
I use mostly NI GPIB cards adapters, but from the little work I've
done with the HP/Agilent stuff, I think the same overall principle
applies, re software development for instrument control.
First step...
Install the USBGPIB adapter drivers, tools and utilities Exactly as
the instruction
Dave,
I don't remember being your college tutor on this - in fact I never was a
college teacher, but what you've laid out below is pretty much what I taught
all the trainee programmers I had.You've done a very good job of putting
it in a nutshell.
The objective of the whole is to achieve
There was also a project in Everyday Practical Electronics magazine for a
GPS based frequency reference with 10MHz 1MHz outputs. Issues April May
09 had the frequency reference, and issue October 09 carried a project for a
1PPS driver for an analogue quartz clock. If I remember rightly, 1 or
I have not yet met with success, but I have a little more experience ;)
Since so many people have made helpful suggestions, I thought I'd include the
current status.
Just downloaded the most recent version of NI-488.2 version 2.5 off the NI
website. It downloaded/unzipped/installed without any
Dave Baxter wrote:
As my old college tutor kept trying to drum into us, the programs
purpose and function should be easily read in the comments. The code
is the translation from your comments, to get the machine to do your
bidding.
Document what you do, in the source comments, line by line
Two YEARS later?
I sometimes have trouble understanding what I got working days ago! G
But yes, that was what I was going on about.I also keep all my less
than successful software projects and ideas, as often though the
overall result was not what was wanted, plans changed, I ran out of
In a message dated 14/10/2009 11:16:12 GMT Daylight Time,
jpet...@nvidia.com writes:
Just downloaded the most recent version of NI-488.2 version 2.5 off the NI
website. It downloaded/unzipped/installed without any apparent issue.
The Devices and Interfaces - Measurement Automation
I'd be (happily) surprised if the NI libraries recognized Agilent
devices. I think they only support their own cards though.
There could also be a problem if you have both Agilent and NI support
libraries installed. I ran into this on Linux when I tried to install
the NI-provided drivers
Sorry Stefan..
Yes you are of course correct in that no compiler/interpreter (I know
of) checks comments for correctness. But that's not the point of
them. They need to be there to describe the intended purpose of the
code, above the actual implementation.
If you have to modify code (yours or
The standard I used in my department was that
when anyone changed code, they commented out
the original code and then entered their new
code with a date and explanation of the change.
That way you have the what and why the previous
developer originally thought he was doing and
what, when, and
Jerome...
As others have said, you *Must* use Agilent's software tools with their
hardware, not NI's.
There are other GPIB/IEEE488 software vendors who's tools can use NI's
and other third party controller cards, but NI software will only be
able to use NI hardware.
So, you need to go find and
Hello All,
We aren't all made of money so here is the slow but free approach:
Download Visual C# or VB, etc express version from Microsoft for free.
http://www.microsoft.com/exPress/
Download visa + driver CD from NI for free.
On 10/14/09 5:46 AM, Mike Naruta AA8K a...@comcast.net wrote:
The standard I used in my department was that
when anyone changed code, they commented out
the original code and then entered their new
code with a date and explanation of the change.
That way you have the what and why the
You want to try to work on code that started life as Borland C (from the
DOS world) and is now C++ ...
Actually, given my druthers, I think I really would prefer not to have to
do that.
It sounds like an exquisite form of torture, especially if it's not really
C++ but is instead C with objects
We aren't all made of money snip
It may be worth taking a course at the local collage to qualify for the student
license of Labview.
I agree that it is not intuitive to use but some of that may be my past
programing experience. Using Labview is very easy compared to writing your own
drivers.
Hi Stanley:
It turns out the many of the HP Panel Drivers include Labview code along with
the HP VEE code, but they don't talk much about it.
The key problem talking to older equipment with modern (fast) computers is the
timing. Old instruments are much slower than today's computers so you
Jerome...
I can appreciate the frustration you are experiencing with this. I don't
like to do much programming anymore because of so many undocumented rules
and procedures needed to make things work that ought to be simple. However,
in your case, I think I can be of some help.
The Agilent IO
Hi,
I'm looking for the schemes used on the
frequency synthesizers that change frequency
in few microseconds time (or less)
at microwaves lets say circa 12-18Ghz)
Obviously with some resolution (let's say 100Khz step
or in that order)(otherwise it would
be a trivial exercise in the BW of the PLL
On 10/14/09 12:25 PM, Luis Cupido cup...@mail.ua.pt wrote:
Hi,
I'm looking for the schemes used on the
frequency synthesizers that change frequency
in few microseconds time (or less)
at microwaves lets say circa 12-18Ghz)
Obviously with some resolution (let's say 100Khz step
or in
At 21.54 14/10/2009, Jim Lux wrote:
That's partly because fast frequency hoppers and frequency agile radars are
export controlled, and that's one of the applications of a fast switching
synthesizer.
I had to repair some Comstron synthesizers - probably same problem,
no docs around for those
Hi
At least on paper you can run a DDS at VHF/UHF and put it into a (very)
wideband PLL driving a 12-18 GHz VCO.
As mentioned previously - spurs will be an issue. You also will need to get
a hold of some DDS chips with GHz-ish clock rates.
Bob
-Original Message-
From:
Behalf Of Luis Cupido
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:25 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: [time-nuts] fast freq. synthesis schemes
Hi,
I'm looking for the schemes used on the
frequency synthesizers that change frequency
in few microseconds time
Bob Camp wrote:
Hi
At least on paper you can run a DDS at VHF/UHF and put it into a (very)
wideband PLL driving a 12-18 GHz VCO.
As mentioned previously - spurs will be an issue. You also will need to get
a hold of some DDS chips with GHz-ish clock rates.
One could use a suitably high
Hello all,
I have just obtained an Austron 2201 GPS time and frequency receiver
and I was hoping I might appeal to the good people here for pointers
to manuals for the box.
Downloadable is preferred, but I would happily pay to have one copied.
Thank you!
--
Russell
Take a look at the manuals for some commercial units as a place to start.
The Ailtech 380s would go to 0 to 2 GHz w/ 0.1 Hz resolution in under 20
uS as I remember.
-John
At 21.54 14/10/2009, Jim Lux wrote:
That's partly because fast frequency hoppers and frequency agile
Hi
For that matter, drive a microwave VCO with a couple high speed dac's.
Calibrate the tuning curve as best you can and run an open loop synth.
Appropriately summing a couple of 16 bit parts could give you KHz level
steps. You can also dress it up a bit by running a pair of VCO's with one
in
Hi guys,
I wouldn't normally waste bandwidth with this kind of thing, but this is
particularly cool and most definitely time related:
http://www.eng.yale.edu/pep5/pocket_watch.html
-Bob
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Hi timenuts,
Sorry to reply to my old thread, but I promised to let you know about that
project. 10 months after, I successfully reproduced the OPT 030 option without
any problem. Now, I want to build my own prescaler design in order to produce
some kits without having to bother about
I have a 2201 sitting in my lab with antenna and manuals that I would
like to sell for $300.
Francesco Ledda
Garland, Texas
Oct 14, 2009 08:55:48 PM, [1]time-n...@febo.com wrote:
Hello all,
I have just obtained an Austron 2201 GPS time and frequency receiver
and
Thanks! I would like to buy it from you.
I have tried to send you a more detailed email off list.
--
Russell
At 4:48 PM -0500 2009/10/14, frle...@verizon.net wrote:
I have a 2201 sitting in my lab with antenna and manuals that I would
like to sell for $300.
Francesco Ledda
Pretuning is the right strategy, but for microsecond agility, YIGs may be
the wrong choice due to their main-coil inductance.
If I were building an agile 12-18 GHz synthesizer I'd try a heterodyne
scheme with varactor-tuned oscillators and a fixed (or very coarsely tuned)
YIG or DRO. Either way,
-Original Message-
From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On
Behalf Of John Miles
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 4:44 PM
To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
Subject: Re: [time-nuts] fast freq. synthesis schemes
Pretuning is
Despite what all the hype will say, do not expect it to be Easy or
Quick (whatever programming language you use, and I include LabView in
that respect too!) Programming, and doing it well, in any language, for
whatever reason, takes time and thought to get Just Right, so that all
Thank you all by your replies.
There are very good suggestions to investigate.
The solutions that a DDS is a reference of
large loop BW PLL may have indeed spurious issues
and is not so attractive.
The use of a DAC for coarse tune to get it
near lock is to be considered yes...
I'll detail a bit
I would use a DDS, but only for fine tuning
in a summing loop. E.g., use a
DAC to pretune the varactor or YTO to
within 50 or so MHz, feed the sampler
LO port with a clean 100 MHz crystal,
then close the loop by comparing the
sampler IF to the DDS-generated offset signal.
This is a nice
Ooohh.. Sampling Phase Detectors or Harmonic Mixers.. The problem
is that you have to hit them with a lot of power on the reference
port (+20dBm wouldn't be unusual)
Depending on your application,
making that much LO power that is suitably quiet is a challenge.
Presumably, though, you're
Hi,
I am selling my Fluke 6681 Counter. It is in very good condition, comes with
operator and service manuals. $800 I will email pictures if interested.
Jeff
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Dear All,
To clarify, I was not comparing a quick app to read/set a HP 59309A digital
clock with some of the awesome applications produced by the members of this
group.
Additionally, I would not recommend Visual basic for a large application either!
My idea is to encourage everyone to roll
The next version of Lady Heather has support for some bigger screen sizes.
Unfortunately the graphics library used cannot enter an arbitrary full screen
video mode. It needs to know what the screen res is before it can set a full
screen video mode.
It can create a window of arbitrary
At 10:50 PM 10/14/2009, Mark Sims wrote:
The question is what is the maximum full screen resolution of your
video monitor? If there is some consensus on screen sizes in
use, I can optimize the code for maximum natural goodness...
1280x1024.
Mark,
My screen sizes are 1900x1600 --- 1600x1200 --- 1024x768
BillWB6BNQ
Mark Sims wrote:
The next version of Lady Heather has support for some bigger screen sizes.
Unfortunately the graphics library used cannot enter an arbitrary full screen
video mode. It needs to know what the
Mark,
Correct that to read 1920x1200 on the first one.
BillWB6BNQ
WB6BNQ wrote:
Mark,
My screen sizes are 1900x1600 --- 1600x1200 --- 1024x768
BillWB6BNQ
Mark Sims wrote:
The next version of Lady Heather has support for some bigger screen sizes.
Unfortunately the graphics
The next version of Lady Heather has support for some bigger
screen sizes. Unfortunately the graphics library used cannot
enter an arbitrary full screen video mode. It needs to know what
the screen res is before it can set a full screen video mode.
It can create a window of arbitrary
1680x1050, another is 1280x1024, a laptop at 1152x864 another laptop at
1024x768.
Mark Sims wrote:
The next version of Lady Heather has support for some bigger screen sizes. Unfortunately the graphics library used cannot enter an arbitrary full screen video mode. It needs to know what the
The question is what is the maximum full screen resolution of your
video monitor? If there is some consensus on screen sizes in use, I
can optimize the code for maximum natural goodness...
There are several good screen sizes.
In the old days, the magic numbers were either 1280x1024 or
Laptop (wide screen) 1280 x 800
Netbook 1024 x 600
Desktops -
a. 1024x768
b. 1280x1024
c. 1680x1050
John K1AE
-Original Message-
From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On
Behalf Of Mark Sims
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 11:50 PM
To: time-nuts@febo.com
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