Programmer’s Guide HP ESA-L1500A Spectrum Analyzer HEWLETT@’ r!!a PACKARD HP Part No. E4411-90003 Printed in USA January 1997 0 Copyright Hewlett-Packard Company 1997. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, adaptation, or translation without prior written permission is prohibited, except as allowed under the copyright laws. 1400 Fountaingrove Parkway, Santa Rosa CA, 95403-1799, USA The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this material, in- cluding but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard shall not be liable for errors contained herein or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, per- formance, or use of this material. The following safety symbols are used throughout this manual. Familiarize your- self with the symbols and their meaning before operating this instrument. CAUTION Caution denotes a hazard. It calls attention to a procedure that, if not correctly performed or adhered to, would result in damage to or destruction of the instrument. Do not proceed beyond a caution until the indicated conditions are fully understood and met. WARNING: Warning denotes a hazard. It calls attention to a procedure which, if not correctly performed or adhered to, could result in injury or loss of life. Do not proceed beyond a warning note until the indicated conditions are fully understood and met. WARNING: This is a Safety Class 1 Product (provided with a protective earthing ground incorporated inthe power cord). The mains plug shall only be inserted in a socket outlet provided with a protective earth contact. Any interruption of the protective conductor inside or outside of the product is likely to make the product dangerous. Intentional interruption is prohibited. 2 Contents 1 Preparing for Use and Printing Connecting Your Spectrum Analyzer 16 Connecting the HP-IB to the Computer 18 Connecting the RS-232 Interface to an HP Vectra or IBM Compati- ble Personal Computer 20 If There Is a Problem 22 Printing 23 What is HP-IB? 27 What is the RS-232 Bus 28 2 Programming Basics What’s In This Chapter 36 Writing Your First Program 37 Modifying the Program 41 Enhancing the Program with Variables 44 Getting Data from the Spectrum Analyzer 46 3 Programming Examples What You’ll Find in This Chapter 50 Reading Trace Data Into a Variable 5 1 Saving Trace Data in a computer 52 3 Contents Loading Trace Data from a Computer Disk 54 Different Formats for Trace Data Transfers 55 Saving and Loading Instrument States 66 Returning the Spectrum Analyzer to its Former State 68 Measuring Harmonic Distortion 69 Monitoring System Operation 72 Using Markers 79 Using Limit Lines 81 Measure Signal Bandwidth 82 Measuring Noise 83 Using Amplitude Correction 84 Examples Using the RS-232 Interface 85 4 Programming Command Cross References Command to Front-Panel 94 Front-Panel to Command 106 Functional Index 113 Command Backwards Compatibility 120 5 Programming Commands 4 Contents Command Syntax Conventions 124 Programming Command Descriptions 13 1 ALIGN Self-alignment Routines 132 AMPCOR Amplitude Correction 135 ANNOT Annotation 138 APB Trace A Plus Trace B 140 AT Attenuation 141 ATC Transfer Trace A to Trace C 143 AUNITS Amplitude Units 144 AUTO Auto Couple 146 AXB Exchange Trace A and Trace B 148 BAUDRATE Baud Rate of Spectrum Analyzer 150 BLANK Blank Trace 152 BML Trace B Minus Display Line 153 BRIGHT Display Brightness 154 BTC Transfer Trace B to Trace C 155 BXC Trace B Exchange Trace C 156 CAT Catalog 15 8 CF Center Frequency 16 1 CLRAVG Clear Average 163 5 Contents CLRW Clear Write 164 CLS Clear Status Byte 165 CMDERRQ Command Error Query 166 CONFIG Configuration 167 CONTRAST Display Contrast 169 CONTS Continuous Sweep 170 CORREK Correction Factors On 171 DATASTAT Data Status 172 DATEMODE Date Mode 174 DEFCONFIG Default Configuration 175 DELETE File 176 DEMOD Demodulation 178 DEMODT Demodulation Time (Dwell Time) 180 DET Detection Mode 182 DL Display Line 184 DN Down 186 DONE Done 187 ERASE Erase 189 EXITSHOWSYS Exit Configbhow System Screen 190 FA Start Frequency 191 Contents FB Stop Frequency 193 FOFFSET Frequency Offset 195 FREF Frequency Reference 197 FS Full Span 198 GETPRNT Get Print 199 GRAT Graticule 202 HD Hold Data Entry 204 ID Identify 205 INVERTLCD Inverse Video 206 INZ Input Impedance 208 IP Instrument Preset 210 LG Logarithmic Scale 213 LIMIDEL Delete limit line Table 215 LIMIDISP Limit Line Display 216 LIMIFAIL Limits Failed 218 LIMIFT Select Frequency or Time Limit Line 220 LIMIHALF Select Upper or Lower Limit Line 221 LIMILINE Limit Lines 223 LIMIREL Relative Limit Lines 226 LIMISEG Enter limit line Segment for Frequency 228 7 Contents LIMISEGT Enter limit line Segment for Sweep Time 23 1 LIMITEST Enable Limit Line Testing 234 LN Linear Scale 236 LOAD Load 237 LSPAN Last Span 239 MDS Measurement Data Size 240 MDU Measurement Data Units 243 MEAN Trace Mean 246 MEANTH Trace Mean Above Threshold 248 MF Marker Frequency Output 250 MINH Minimum Hold 252 MKA Marker Amplitude 253 MKACT Activate Marker 255 MKBW Marker Bandwidth 257 MKCF Marker to Center Frequency 259 MKD Marker Delta 260 MKF Marker Frequency 262 MKFA Marker to Start Frequency 265 MKFB Marker to Stop Frequency 266 MKFC Marker Counter 267 8 Contents MKFCR Marker Counter Resolution 268 MKMIN Marker Minimum 270 MKN Marker Normal 27 1 MKNOISE Marker Noise 273 MKOFF Marker Off 276 MKP Marker Position 277 MKPAUSE Marker Pause 279 MKPK Marker Peak 28 1 MKPP Marker Peak-to-Peak 283 MKPX Marker Peak Excursion 284 MKREAD Marker Readout 286 MKRL Marker to Reference Level 288 MKSP Marker to Span 289 MKSS Marker to Step Size 290 MKTBL Marker Table 292 MKTH Peak Threshold 294 MKTRACE Marker Trace 296 MKTRACK Marker Track 297 ML Mixer Level 299 MOV Move 301 9 Contents MXMH Maximum Hold 304 NDB Number of dB 305 NDBPNT N dB Points 307 NDBPNTR N dB Points Bandwidth 310 NORMLIZE Normalize Trace Data 3 11 NRL Normalized Reference Level 3 13 NRPOS Normalized Reference Position 3 15 OL Output Learn String 317 PCTAM Percent AM 3 19 PCTAMR Percent AM Response 321 PEAKS Peaks 323 POWERON Power-On State 327 PREAMPG External Preamplifier Gain 328 PRINT Print 329 PRNPRT Printer Port 33 1 PRNTADRS Printer Address 332 PRNTMARGB Printer Margin Bottom 333 PRNTMARGT Printer Margin Top 335 PRNTRES Printer Resolution 337 PSTATE Protect State 338 10 Contents PWRBW Power Bandwidth 339 PWRUPTIME Power Up Time 342 RB Resolution Bandwidth 343 REV Revision 345 RFCALIB 50 MHz Signal 347 RL Reference Level 349 RMS Root Mean Square Value 351 ROFFSET Reference Level Offset 353 RQS Service Request Mask 355 SAVE Save File 358 SEGDEL Segment Delete 361 SER Serial Number 363 SETDATE Set Date 364 SETTIME Set Time 365 SHOWSYS Show System 366 SMOOTH Smooth Trace 367 SNGLS Single Sweep 370 SP span 371 SPEARER Speaker 373 SPZOOM Span Zoom 374 11 Contents SQR Square Root 375 SRCAT Source Attenuator 377 SRCPOFS Source Power Offset 379 SRCPSTP Source Power-Level Step Size 381 SRCPSWP Source Power Sweep 383 SRCPWR Source Power 385 SRQ Force Service Request 387 SS Center Frequency Step Size 391 ST Sweep Time 393 SIB Status Byte Query 395 STDEV Standard Deviation of Trace Amplitudes 397 SUM Sum of Trace Amplitudes 399 SUMSQR Sum of Squared Trace Amplitudes 401 SWPCPL Sweep Couple 403 TDF Trace Data Format 404 TH Threshold 411 TIMEBASEC Timebase Coarse Adjustment 413 TIMEBASEF Timebase Fine Adjustment 415 TIMEDATE Time Date 417 TIMEDSP Time Display 4 19 12 Contents TITLE Title 420 TM Trigger Mode 421 TO1 Third-Order Intermodulation Measurement 423 TOIR Third-Order Intermodulation Response 426 TRA/TRB/TRC Trace Data Input and Output 428 TRSTAT Trace Status 432 TS Take Sweep 434 UP Up 436 VARIANCE Variance of Trace Amplitudes 437 VAVG Video Average 439 VB Video Bandwidth 441 VBR Video Bandwidth Ratio 443 VIEW View Trace 444 XCH Exchange 445 6 Error Messages Descriptions 448 Index 455 13 Preparing for Use and Printing 15 Preparing for Use and Printing Connecting Your Spectrum Analyzer Connecting Your Spectrum Analyzer These topics are covered in the following section: l Connecting the Hewlett-Packard Interface Bus (HP-IB) to the computer . Connecting the RS-232 interface to your computer l Connecting your spectrum analyzer to a printer l If there is a problem l Information about HP-IB and RS-232 Connecting Your Spectrum Analyzer to a Computer The spectrum analyzer works with many popular computers. However, the steps required to connect your spectrum analyzer to a specific computer depend on the computer you are using. Before turning to the interconnection instructions for your computer, please read the following general information. Configuring Your Computer System Every computer system has a specific configuration. Your system configuration might include a printer or an external disk drive. Whenever you add another piece of equipment (for example, your spectrum analyzer), you may need to reconfigure your computer system so that the computer knows where and how to send infor- mation to the newly added device. Some computers do not require configuring when a spectrum analyzer is con- nected. Others require a simple modification. The most common modification is changing the configuration information stored on the computer’s operating system disk. A few computers require the insertion of an add-on board, or “card.” Refer to your computer documentation if your system needs these modifications. All of the test programs for HP-IB and RS-232 interfaces are written using the BASIC language. If you have never entered or mn a BASIC program, refer to your computer documentation.