ESA-E Series E4402B Spectrum Analyzer, changing into talker mode

[bge22]

I am trying to write a driver for the E4402B Spectrum Analyzer and I am able to get give the Spectrum instruction but I am unable to retrieve any information from the spectrum. Is there a sequence of commands that allows me to retrieve information or switches the spectrum into talker mode. thank you

[AaronK]

Hi,
If you are able to get a response to a *IDN? the instrument is at least able to communicate. I am not sure what sort of command you would need. You should check the user manual of that device for more information on the commands that it accepts and the data that is returned.

Best Regards,
Aaron K.
Application Engineer
National Instruments

[bge22]

Hello,

I get no response from the *IDN? command either. I have read the manuals provided from hp and cannot find anything else. I have worked on the non-ESA series Spectrum Analyzers and Network Analyzers that did not use the SCPI language and had no problem communicating. The thing i noticed is that there is no visible switch into talker mode. I do not know if that is necessary or if the switch occurs without showing up on the display.
I have read every manual from HP that i could find. I am wondering if anyone has had this problem or where else i could look.
Thank you.

[AaronK]

Hi,

Are you able to talk to other devices with your card? If you were able to, then we could narrow it down to the instrument itself. Also, try using NI-SPY to see what communication is happening.

Best Regards,
Aaron K.
Application Engineer
National Instruments

[bge22]

I am able to talk with other devices. I am trying to use NI-SPY but am having trouble making sense of its output. Thank you

[AaronK]

Hi,

NI-Spy will show you exactly what is being sent from the driver to the card. It is good for looking down to the small details of the communication. Another question I have concerns testing. Have you tried using the VISA interactive control (visaic) to try to communicate "by hand"?

It seems like this is a termination character problem. Check what kind of termination char (or combination) the device requires. It may never switch over because it does not know you are done sending. While not talking about GPIB, consider this KB: http://ae.natinst.com/operations/ae/public.nsf/fca7838c4500dc10862567a100753500/8887d749a5e24ac88625696200665c56?OpenDocument

It talks about termination chars and may help you out!

Best Regards,
Aaron
K.
Application Engineer
National Instruments