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Hi Jbluff,
A couple quick questions. What happens when you launch the software (with the device plugged in and the light green) after the device has been plugged in for many minutes? Does the software find the device first try then? Also, does the API ever find the device? Even after many minutes of being plugged in?
The Option 2 is unique in that it needs to be plugged into the PC for several minutes before warming up to be operational. I want to rule that out as a possibility first.
Feel free to email me at aj@signalhound.com if you prefer email.
Regards,
A.J.Thank you all for the suggestions. I keep track of all of them.
We are currently working on a couple bugs, (bad text rendering on some machines, and attempting some fixes for users who have been unable to use Zero-span)
Also I have hopefully found the source of the printer issues some are facing.
Look for that release next week. I’ll keep squeezing in bug fixes and requests as I have time and as we see appropriate.
Mark, thank you for the feedback and suggestions. I’m glad the new software is working out for you.
EMHue, thank you for the attention to detail. The sweep time is definitely not right for sweeps that are partially updating. I like the idea of an update marker. Also the tracking generator controls present on the control panel are THE controls for configuring the TG sweeps. These controls are detailed in the user manual. The frequency controls are still used to define the frequency range of the sweep. The step entry controls how much the center frequency is adjusted when you use the up/down arrow buttons next to the center frequency entry. These are also detailed in the manual if you want more information. Thanks again for the feedback.
Andy, thanks for the heads up, for now the TG will remain on once you open the manual controls.
Regards,
A.J.Hello Marholt,
Thank you for the follow up. We have not tried other small portable solutions such as the Raspberry Pi or other alternatives. Might I suggest an x86 alternative such as a tablet or netbook with an Atom processor or Celeron processor? There might be x86 single board computers that work, I believe Intel has released a few in the last couple of years below $100. We just released a major update to our SA44 API which is compatible with x64 and x86 processors. This is the route you might have to take if you are looking to avoid longer sweep times.
If you have any further questions, let me know.
Regards,
A.J.Hello Victor,
Thank you for the follow up question. We are only going to integrate our tracking generators due to time and it also simplifies our products. We are a small team and don’t have the time to learn how to program and integrate a number of other generators, all of which will come with their own quirks and obstacles.
We do provide a programming interface to all of our devices if you are ambitious enough to build this solution for yourself.
Regards,
A.J.Hi Ray,
Thank you for the feedback. You are correct about the manual marker entry. There are only a discrete number of amplitude points to use, and so we show you which frequency bin is being used. Our older software did this in the background but just showed you the frequency you entered. Good catch.
Has your PC had issues with printing in other applications as well, or is it only in the Spike software? A temporary fix, might be to save to an image and then print the image, albeit a more time consuming process. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Regards,
A.J.Hello Defect,
Thank you for the question. At this point we do not have plans to extend the line of signal generators for scalar network analysis beyond our tracking generators.
Regards,
A.J.Hello Mark,
Thank you for the feedback and suggestions. I did want to let you know that we released a version yesterday (version 3.0.2) which enables you to set a marker frequency. This entry has been added directly to the control panel. Hopefully this will help you accelerate your measurements. You can download the latest version here signalhound.flywheelsites.com/spike
Regards,
A.J.Hi Roger,
I know we discussed this question via email, but for anyone else, the BB60C only can operate over USB 3.0 with the supplied y-cable.
Regards,
A.J.Hello marholt,
The speed of measurements is going to be correlated with the speed of the processor. We also experienced long sweep times and measurements when using the Beagleboard.
Regards,
A.J.Hello Roger,
We are seeing some caching issues here as well. It might take a few before everyone gets the freshest copy of the download page. In the meantime..
A direct link is here,
https://signalhound.com/sigdownloads/Spike/Spike(x64)_3.0.2.zip for 64-bit
and
https://signalhound.com/sigdownloads/Spike/Spike(x86)_3.0.2.zip for 32-bitif the page isn’t immediately refreshing for you.
Regards,
A.J.Hi KBONE,
Thank you for the feedback and images. It is much appreciated. This is an issue that we are aware of, and a couple of other users have reported this behavior as well. We will be attempting a fix for this within the next couple of weeks and hopefully it will resolve the issue.
Regards,
A.J.skylight,
“Buongiorno Claudio, sono il tecnico di riparazione qui al Signal Hound. Per fortuna io parlo Italiano e cosi’ ti posso fornire una risposta (Ho visitato Italia per due anni come un missionario, quindi, se volevo insegnare o conversare con gli Italiani, dovevo per forza imparare l’Italiano! Vero?!). Comunque, qui ce un link dove puoi trovare la nuova programma, si chiama SPIKE:
https://signalhound.com/spike/
Devi scaricare la nuova programma e puoi, quando lo apri, fai clic sul “Install”. Puoi, quando il “install” e quasi finito, devi selezzionare la casella che dice “I Agree”. Fammi sappere se ce qualche altre cose che posso fare per te. Mi chiamo Beau. (AJ mi ha fato lasciare questo risposto sotto il suo nome perche io non ho il proprio autorita’ qui sul nostro sito.) Grazie mille! “
Chris, Thank you for positive feedback and the suggestion.
Andy, It was a missing JPG plugin for the Qt framework we are using. I will look forward to hearing if including the plugin fixes the issue for you.
Roger, Thank you for the feedback and the many suggestions. We appreciate it. I wanted to make a note on virtualization on the Mac. I do not believe at this point we will be offering any support for those who are running Windows in a VM. If you are receiving the Device Connectivity Error in Spike then this means that real data loss has occurred (e.g. USB packets dropped). It sounds like the suppress error function in the old software might have been hiding the issue.
Mark, Just to clarify, you have managed to get the software running by dropping in your calibration files from the old software? If you still need your calibration files, you can go here https://signalhound.com/custdata/P1131/
Regards,
A.J.Hello Roger,
We are working on the 32-bit version right now. Expect it within a week. It will be on the downloads page.
Regards,
A.J.Hello Andy,
Thanks for your patience. I think we have a fix for the JPG issue you are experiencing. It will be pushed out on the next update. Look for 3.0.2 in the coming days.
Regards,
A.J.Hey Tom,
I’m glad you managed to resolve the issue. I just noticed a number of typos in my post. I apologize for the confusion.I have also just released an update to the software, version 3.0.1, on the Spike download page. This update has tentatively addressed the issue you have seen. Update at your leisure since you have already resolved the issue manually. Thank you for your patience.
Regards,
A.J.Hi Tomh,
Thank you for notifying me of this. This appears to be an issues for serial numbers starting with 0. I will begin working on a fix today.
In the mean-time
Download your calibration file manually from here
https://signalhound.com/custdata/P0300/D03000181.bin
Rename the file from D03000181.bin to D 3000181.bin (notice I replaced the first zero with a space) and place the file in the folder
C:\ProgramData\SignalHound\cal_files
The ProgramData folder is hidden, you will have to show hidden folders in the windows settings, (you can google how to do this if you do not know). You might then have to create the SignalHound and cal_files folder. Drop the calibration file in that folder and then try the starting the software again.If you do not want to do this, you can wait a day or two for a fix.
I apologize for the inconvenience.Regards,
A.J.Andy,
To save as a JPG, simply enter the file name you want to save with the .jpg extension.Lasse,
Once you have set your trigger type to Video, and have selected a trigger level and edge, the software begins looking for the trigger. If one is not found after a period, then the screen will update with the ‘armed’ text. If a trigger is found then you will see the trigger with the ‘triggered’ text. If the ‘single’ button is pressed, the software will stop when the next trigger is found. For a rising edge trigger, the software will register a trigger when the input power rises above the selected level. A pulsed amplitude input is an easy way to test this functionality.Regards,
A.J.Hey Andy,
If you have previously installed our SA44/SA124 software, you should not need to install the USB drivers, but we are including the latest FTDI USB drivers with the download package, and downloading them is fast. The installer does not install the drivers, so new users or installations on new computers will need to install the USB drivers.
The installer does install the BB60 drivers, but due to the way FTDI packages their drivers in the latest version, they have to installed separately.
A.J.
Hello Mervin,
The software provides user defined limit lines. Users can define spectrum masks/limit lines via a CSV file usually of the form (freq, min, max) triplets which define the spectrum mask and the software will report a pass/fail message for each sweep.
Regards,
A.J.