Hi Andy,

Thanks for sharing your frustration. Delta markers can be tricky and there might be alternative interfaces that simplify using them. Other spectrum analyzers simplify the use of delta markers by making them a separate marker. It is something we have considered.

The delta marker button toggles delta marker. So if the delta measurement is active, simply press the delta button to remove the delta marker and go back to regular marker measurements. When you want to make another delta measurement, press the delta button and the delta marker will be placed on the current marker position.

Let me know if you have further questions or have additional feedback.

Regards,
Andrew

Hi Charles,

Thanks for the feedback. The software you describe is what we would eventually like to offer. As previously mentioned, we don’t have any definite plans or time frame for this yet. I would not expect this type of functionality soon. We did just simplify the interface between LabVIEW and our programming APIs recently. I would think the easiest way to get to OFDM demodulation would be to use third party software (Matlab or LabVIEW) with our programming interface. Having never done this, I can’t say what kind of effort this would require.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello Raja,

You can find the peak amplitude by searching for the largest value in the sweepMax array that is returned from the API.

Regards,
Andrew

Hi jjoonathan,

Thank you very much for the feedback. If I remember correctly, the downconverter offset was a flat frequency offset (adjusting the frequency readouts)? Is that adequate for your needs? I’ll see if this is something I can sneak into the next release. There may not be a new release for a few months as we are deep in product development and are preparing for a trade show in June.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello causilgey,

Yes, this laptop sounds adequate for the BB60C. If you have any issues getting the software running, send me an email at aj@signalhound.com and I can help you troubleshoot. It looks like you might have trouble with the USB ports though. If I am looking at the right laptop, the two ports are on opposite sides of the machine, which means you will need an extension cable for one of the USB cables (the BB60C requires two USB ports, one of which must be USB 3.0) You can extend the 2.0 cable cheaply. You could also consider using a powered USB 3.0 hub for the BB60C as well, we use this one in our production lines with success https://www.amazon.com/Belkin-SuperSpeed-USB-3-0-4-Port/dp/B009AR2MD2

Let me know if you have additional questions or need clarification.

Regards,
Andrew

Hi Danny,

There is not a direct method to mute the output. We usually suggest changing the frequency outside your range of interest.

There is no method that I would think would be adequate or repeatable enough for OOSK.

We do sell a VSG that would be capable of OOSK, but the pattern memory is limited (2048 IQ samples) as well as the available samples rates. If you think you would be interested in this, we can talk about your requirements and ensure it would fit them.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello itronid,

I apologize for the issues. I believe you will need to update the firmware on the device before it can be used with Spike. Send me an email at aj@signalhound.com and I will send you a link to the firmware update tool.

Regards,
Andrew
Signal Hound | Software Developer

Hi Andy,

Currently, it cannot be controlled in zero-span mode. It was possible at one point, which is why the controls exist. They will likely be removed in a future software update.

The Input Pwr setting will control the sensitivity of the BB60C. 0dBm being lowest sensitivity, -50dBm being the highest sensitivity. (in ~5dB steps) We suggest to set the Input Pwr setting to highest power you expect + 5dB. The displayed reference level is not tied to the Input Pwr as in sweep mode, so you can control the two independently.

It might be in a future update where you can set manual gain/atten globally, so it doesn’t need to be set in each mode. Maybe in a dialog that has controls relevant only to that receiver.

Let me know if you have further questions or comments.

Regards,
Andrew

bbowar,

I would need to know more about the PC. Make, model, and CPU? There isn’t any direct incompatibility with 32-bit systems and the BB60C. Generally when the BB60C cannot be found, it is a USB 3.0 issue. (“Device not found” issue? or a different type of issue?) The PC may not have native USB 3.0 support or may need some USB 3.0 driver updates.

Regards,

Hello Raja,

Here is the code for finding the peak frequency in C.

In the code below, you will already have sweepSize, binSize, and startFreq from the API, and you will have the sweepMaxArray from the get sweep API function. This should be easy to convert to Visual Basic.

double peak = -2000.0; // Small initial value
int peakIndex = -1;
for(int i = 0; i < sweepSize; i++) { if(sweepMaxArray[i] > peak) {
peak = sweepMaxArray[i];
peakIndex = i;
}
}

double peakFrequency = startFreq + binSize * peakIndex;
double peakAmp = peak;

Regards

Hello Gudjon,

If you want to control the TG directly, without an SA44/SA124, use the TGStandalone application found in the installation directory at C:\Program Files\Signal Hound\Spike\. Spike will only allow you to interface a TG after either a SA44 or SA124 is connected in the software.

Let me know if you have additional questions.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello Yu Ching,

The marker set frequency entry accepts absolute frequency values only. You are unable to set a relative frequency offset with this entry. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards,
Andrew

Hi Andre,

Just to clarify, you are asking for customize-able overlays (shaded regions) where you can select color, frequency range, etc?

I think this sounds like a very interesting idea. Thank you for your suggestion!

Regards,
Andrew

Hello Yu Ching,

You are correct, there is no direct channel power measurement in the API. You will need to calculate it. The most typical way this is performed is by either integrating the frequency bins of a sweep (in power units) or averaging the power of an IQ waveform. LabVIEW might have these measurements available in the signal processing or related libraries.

I will attach the pseudo-code for the sweep method. This is pulled from Spike.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Regards,
Andrew

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Hello dwc,

Thanks for the update. Are you using one of our Labview example .vi’s?
Unless the .vi specifically checks that saOpenDevice passed and aborts properly, it might continue on and error out on some array allocation/access error. If it is one of ours, we could revisit it to ensure it behaves properly.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello dwc,

The first thing that comes to mind, is the ftd2xx.dll file present in the same folder as your executable?

Windows 10 shouldn’t make a difference.

You could try to run your application out of the Spike directory. You could use dependency walker to determine if you are missing any dependencies.

Are you using Visual Studio to develop your application? Are you able to run your application from within Visual Studio on the Windows 10 machine?

Let me know if none of these work.
Regards,
Andrew

Hi tma,

It will, good point. It would be best to set the reference level to the maximum value (+40) before switching over to the VSWR plot, this way you don’t have to worry about needing another store-thru.

Regards,
Andrew

Hi tma,

Thanks for letting us know about this. I was able to reproduce the issue immediately. This is something I can address on the next release of Spike. There is currently a trick to get rid of the message. If you set the “Ref Level” above the peak of your signal, for instance, in your picture, the peak is ~5.5. Set the Ref Level to +6dBm or higher and the error will go away. In short, the software is comparing the VSWR sweep to the dBm reference level and not the VSWR reference level.

Let me know if you have additional questions or need further clarifications.

Regards,
Andrew

Hello Ivan,

OFDM decoding is not currently possible with our software. Adding this to our software is something we have discussed many times, but we don’t have any definite plans at this point.

If you have access to something like Matlab with the communications toolbox, this might be an alternative.

Regards,
Andrew

Andy is correct, if software image rejection is enabled, the Bluetooth packet would be identified as a spur. You can disable it in the File->Settings menu.

Also, increasing your RBW and selecting the min/max detector will increase your chances of capturing a transmission.

The bandwidth of a Bluetooth transmission is greater than the instantaneous bandwidth of the SA44B, so it will be difficult to make accurate measurements on this type of signal.

Let me know if these suggestions help.
Regards,
Andrew

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