[time-nuts] HP5342A GPIB programming

[Matt Ettus]

So, after a couple of hours messing with it, I finally got the counter
to tell me a frequency over GPIB.  The magic incantations, in Python
are:

        c.write('AUSR3LCT2ST2')
        freq = c.read(20)

Once I got that working, I set it up to print out the frequency at 1
second intervals.  That worked for 5 minutes, and now the GPIB
interface is essentially dead.  The counter appears to hear and act on
commands, but some acknowledge pin must have died because everything
times out now.  I think the GPIB is dead.

So, given that, anybody have any suggestions on a replacement?  I just
need something that counts to a few hundred MHz, has GPIB, is
reliable, preferably small, and preferably doesn't have a loud fan?

Also, anyone interested in a 5342A which works fine other than the
GPIB interface?

Matt

On Jan 30, 2008 6:05 PM, John Miles <jmiles at pop.net> wrote:
> Hmm, no, according to the 5342A manual, it uses CR+LF termination, so the
> normal query.exe utility should work.  It must be a triggering issue.
>
> Try the command
>
>         query 2 "AUSR4T2ST1" 500
>
> AU  = auto frequency mode select (as opposed to M=manual)
> SR4 = 10 Hz resolution
> T2  = fast sample (no delay)
> ST1 = output only when addressed
>
> That's similar to Example 2 on page 3-25 of the manual, which doesn't rely
> on the 'trg 702' statement in the first example.  Either T0 or T2 mode (page
> 3-23) should work with query.exe; T1 may not.
>
> Also try it with ST1 versus ST2 in the last three characters of the command,
> to see if that makes a difference.
>
> -- john, KE5FX
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com]On
> > Behalf Of John Miles
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 5:38 PM
> > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
>
> > Subject: Re: [time-nuts] HP5342A GPIB programming
> >
> >
> > Sounds like a handshaking issue.  It may not be related, but you
> > might take
> > a look at the 5345a.cpp example.  The 5345A is kind of nonstandard in that
> > it terminates responses with CR (ASCII 13) rather than CR/LF
> > and/or EOI.  I
> > have to set the EOS character to 13 in 5345a.cpp to receive any data from
> > it.
> >
> > -- john, KE5FX
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: time-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com]On
> > > Behalf Of Matt Ettus
> > > Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 5:25 PM
> > > To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement
> > > Subject: [time-nuts] HP5342A GPIB programming
> > >
> > >
> > > I have an HP5342A with GPIB, and am having trouble getting a reading
> > > out of the GPIB interface.  It seems to work ok, and when I send it
> > > commands with talk.exe from the KE5FX GPIB tools, it responds to the
> > > command.  But any time I query it, it just sits there and times out,
> > > although the front panel indicates something is happening.  In the
> > > manual, it talks about sending an HP BASIC command to trigger a
> > > measurement, but I don't know how to do that with the command line
> > > tools.
> > >
> > > Any ideas?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Matt
> > >
> >
> >
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