You can change the max file size allowed in the preference menu. It is limited to 1GB when running the 32-bit version of Spike.

If you need even more flexibility than what Spike provides, you could consider programming to the API directly, then you full control over the acquisition and recording process.

Regards

Hi Paul,

Are you referring to the spectrum plot in zero-span mode? or the time plot?

In both plots, the input power setting will play a large factor in the noise floor. The BB60C has maximum sensitivity at -50dBm input power/reference level. You want to try to set your input power setting to ~5dB above your expected input level to achieve the best dynamic range.

In the spectrum plot, the noise floor is also affected by the RBW. You can lower the RBW in that plot, but you might have to increase the length of the captures to achieve lower RBWs.

In the time domain plot, the noise of the AM samples will be affected by the IF bandwidth setting. You can expect the time domain samples to decrease by 3dB every time you halve the IF bandwidth.

Let me know if you have additional questions.

Regards

[Andrew]

Hi Dan0,

The spectral window in zero-span mode is plotted using a width equal to the sample rate. The rolloff you see is the software filter we apply to the data. The filter cutoff (6dB point) is selectable in the zero-span controls. The filter is a standard windowed sinc filter using the blackman window. The size of the filter does vary based on decimation and there can be cascaded filters at higher decimations.

Let me know if you have follow up questions.

Regards

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Andrew.
• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Andrew.

Thanks for reporting this.

Go ahead and run the MSI directly and let me know if it installs.

Regards

Jon,

The 3D waterfall plot was removed in version 3.1.8, so I suspect 3.1.7 is the last version with it. I will link it below.

The plot is gone for now, we don’t have any plans to introduce it again.

I don’t think you can install two different versions at the same time. But to get around this, I would install 3.1.7 and then simply copy the whole Spike directory at C:/Program Files/Signal Hound/Spike/ to somewhere else. That Spike directory is fully standalone and is not dependent on any other files on the system. Then simply install the latest version of Spike. You can run the latest version of Spike from the normal location and when you need the 3D plot, run it from the directory you saved.

https://signalhound.com/sigdownloads/Spike/Spike(x64)_3_1_7.zip

Let me know if you have questions.

Regards,
Andrew

[Andrew]

Catalin,

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll fix this as soon as I can. You can also just send me a quick email if you see something like this.

Regards,
Andrew

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Andrew.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Andrew.

Hello Andrew,

The calling convention for the BB60 functions is Cdecl.

I don’t know if I’ve heard of someone using Excel VBA, but I have seen C#, VB, VB.NET. I would imagine it’s possible.

Hopefully someone here can help.

Regards,

kullboys,

In the latest version of Spike, the waterfall plot has cursors and a timescale. In the process though, we removed the 3D plot so we can focus more on the 2D plot features. Additionally we added a configurable sweep depth and scroll bar. You can have a sweep history up to 50k sweeps.

You can find the latest version of Spike here
http://www.signalhound.com/Spike

In regards to your USB problems, what spectrum analyzer are you using? What kind of PC are you running it on? Do you have a make/model number for your PC and CPU?

Regards,
Andrew

Based on the screenshot, the all white background in the center of the application indicates there is a GPU issue/incompatibility.

Are you able to try updating the GPU drivers for your system? You will have to find them on the HP website. We may be using newer OpenGL features than you have available on the system. From the HP website, this PC supports OpenGL 2.0 which is the bare minimum required by our software. If none of the GPU driver updates fix the issue, I suggest looking for a newer PC to run the software.

Regards,
Andrew

HHonza,

Since each BB60C has different calibration data which controls the sensitivity of the receiver based on the reference level, it is possible for the same reference level to provide different gain/attenuation settings. A good test would be to set the reference level to -50dBm, match RBW/VBW/center freq and measure the level of the noise floor (trace averaging can help). You can also manually control the gain/atten by enabling the manual gain/atten settings (file menu).

Feel free to email justin@signalhound.com with any more information or pictures.

Regards,
Andrew

[Andrew]

Hello Nazar,

I’m looking at this function right now and there is only one location where this error value (-3) can be returned. The code for this is below.

if(device < 0 || device >= TG_MAX_DEVICES) {
return tgDeviceInvalidErr;
}

where TG_MAX_DEVICES = 4.

So if the device integer provided is less than 0 or greater then 3 then this error (-3) is returned. I would look into the interop between your C# application and this function. This integer argument is not being passed properly. You are using DllImport and setting the calling convention to Cdecl?

Regards,
Andrew

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Andrew.

Hi Mike,

While not ideal, it is still possible to install the legacy software side by side with Spike to still access this feature when needed. I’ll link the older software version below.

https://signalhound.com/sigdownloads/SA44B/Setup2_18B.msi

Regards,
Andrew

Hi Mike,

The trigger input port on the SA44B is now solely used for the tracking generator synchronization. There is not external trigger support in zero-span for the SA devices, only for the BB60 and SM200 analyzers. I apologize for the confusion. Ideally we would grey that option out in zero-span mode for the SA devices. As per the product manual, there was triggering functionality in our legacy software, but it was extremely limited and had lots of stability issues.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Andrew

Hi testpoint,

Thanks for the feedback. We have discussed something like this a few times here at Signal Hound but at this point we don’t have any definite plans to work on this. Maybe in the future.

If you have any additional comments or questions, let me know.
Andrew

[Andrew]

(Edited as a follow up on this topic after conversations with the customer)

One of the weaknesses of the BB60C is the low Dynamic Range/SNR. It is the result of amplification in the RF section to reduce residual signals.

Depending on your settings we would expect a maximum ~48dB SNR in a given IF band. (measuring SNR at 40MS/s IQ) It may be less in some configurations (as you mentioned, band zero).

The SM200A would be our recommended receiver if you needed better performance in this regard.

Thank you for your patience Jonathan. It was nice talking to you. Let us know if you have follow up questions/comments.

Regards,
Andrew

• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Andrew.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Andrew.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 3 months ago by Andrew.

Hi Hendorog,

Good catch! Definitely a bug, and I can get it out for the next release.

As always, thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello Kaushal,

Based on the image you provided, you will need to try to update the graphics drivers for your PC.

If you are able to provide the make/model of your PC or provide the model for the display adapter for your PC (Device Manager -> Display Adapters) I can help try to find the latest driver for it.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello Charles,

There is not currently a way to display this number. To clarify as well, MER(dB) == SNR(dB) ?

You can find an equation for the EVM(%) -> SNR(dB) conversion here.
https://www.keysight.com/main/editorial.jspx?ckey=847674&id=847674&nid=-11143.0.00&lc=eng&cc=UG

I can look into adding this for a future release of Spike. I look forward to your response.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello Jason and Miran,

It looks like Justin is correct. There is something additional I needed to do to get port numbers above 9 to work properly. I can now get Spike to connect to higher port number devices properly. You should see this in the next version of Spike (no timeframe yet). Apologies for the difficulties and thanks for the feedback so we could get this fixed.

Regards,
Andrew

[Andrew]

Hello Shira,

We don’t have any long term recording tools specifically for 1 frequency only. Our recording functionality is limited to either full sweeps or IQ data captures. This might be something we would be willing to add in a future release.

An easy possible solution to your problem would be to utilize SCPI commands to control the Spike software and record these frequency values to your CSV file. The latest version of Spike is compatible with a number of SCPI commands which you can use to sweep the BB60C and place markers. For your use case, you could write a small script to continually sweep the BB60C and place a marker at the frequency of interest, and read the marker amplitude after each sweep, storing it to your file.

You can find the SCPI programming examples and manual in our SDK, which are compatible with Spike version 3.2.0

https://signalhound.com/download/bbsa-application-programming-interface-for-windows-3264-bit/

Regards,
Andrew

• This reply was modified 7 years, 4 months ago by Andrew.

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