Broadcast masks (built-in) for Spike?

Spike software lacks the built-in broadcast spectral emission masks that were provided as part of the old SA44B software. While a documented procedure exists whereby each individual Spike user may independently produce his/her own masks, it’s more than a little klunky.

Could somebody at the factory at least port the old masks to spreadsheet format, so we can calculate them, save them as CSV files, and load them for our frequencies and levels, and do that again whenever a parameter changes, without having to reinvent them, too? Better yet, put the broadcast masks into Spike so they’re automatic? Those were one of the reasons I bought my SA44b.

Thanks –

– John Cone

Hey John,

Broadcast masks were one of the features that has yet to make it into the Spike software. It is a feature we want to add back in at some point though. I did ensure that Spike can be installed side-by-side with the old software (2.18) in the event you need to use any features that are not in Spike yet. I do apologize for the inconvenience.

I do like the idea of creating a CSV that can dynamically create the limit lines. I can’t offer that at this moment though, but I can point you to the documentation that we used to create the AM/FM masks, http://www.nrscstandards.org/DocumentArchive/NRSC-G201.pdf.

Regards,
A.J.

Hello!

I see that this was discussed many years ago…as I just bought the SA44B, is there any chance that the broadcast masks will ever be provided?

Thanks,

John

Hi John,

Broadcast masks were introduced into Spike under the Spectrum emission mask measurements awhile back (analysis mode drop down menu). For the SA44B, you may need to disable the outermost ranges (the ones that are > -80dB down) as the SA44B doesn’t have the dynamic range to measure these ranges. The noise floor will trip it. That being said you will still be able to visualize the ranges.

If you have any questions as you start working with this measurement, please let us know.

Regards,
Andrew

Found them…thanks!

John

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