Band Scan

[aa4vv]

I am using Version 832D on a 4170. I do not see the "Band Scan" function. Am I missing something?

Thanks
Tom AA4VV

[k9fv]

Ver 832B ................... .....Version D
Distance to fault ............ Distance to fault
Refer to Antenna ............ Refer to Antenna
Constant Freq .............. Constant Freq
Band Scan ................... (Missing in D)
Measure Crystal ............ Measure Crystal
1/4 wave Stub .............. 1/4 wave Stub
Q measurement ........... Q measurement
Antenna Bandwidth......... (Missing in D)
Line Extension .............. Line Extension
Measure Zo...................(Missing in D)
(Missing in B) ................ Sync Out
(Missing in B) ................ Sweep Gen

I hope this formatting holds.

Those are the comparisions I have for the "Functions" menu tab for Version B vs D

Has anyone noticed D being MUCH slow in scan rate than before? maybe 10 times or more slower with scan looking "jerky" while scanning?

Ken H>

[aa4vv]

I do not have Sync Out or Sweep Gen. Otherwise mine are the same as yours. I am using 4170.

Wondering what Analyzer you are using?

Tom AA4VV

[k9fv]

Under "Functions" item on the menu bar your version 832D doesn't have the same items listed as what I have? Now that is interesting - I've got the AIM4170, using software version 832D, Feb 22, 2011. The following is in the "About" tab:

4170c ver 5.7 date=may 30 2010 15:56:38 cpuclk=6144 10khz fmax=170 ddsclk=50

Not sure what all that means, looks like it's the bios version? I'll bet it says:

4170c ver 5.7 date=may 30 2010 15:56:38 - date/time of bios
cpuclk=6144 - that says someting about the CPU Clock in the 4170?
fmax=170 - says this has a max freq of 170 mhz
ddsclk=50 - heck if I know.

I guess we'll have to wait until someone with knowledge helps - Bob???

73 de Ken H>

[Bob]

The menu got messed up during some recent changes. I'll take care of this on the next release.

The scan rate for the new version should be essentially the same as before. Make sure the latency for the comm port is set to 1. This makes a difference of about 2x. In some versions of windows the latency isn't available as a user option. In that case it appears to default to 1 and it works ok. The baudrate for a usb port doesn't seem to matter. Make sure there aren't any other applications running that take up a large percentage of the pc's cpu time. When averaging is set to zero, I get about 68 points per second with Win 7.

The About dialog window shows information about the firmware in the AIM microcontroler. The data is the date it was programmed. cpuclk is the clock for the controller in KHz. DDS clock is the clock for the DDS chips. This can be 20 MHz in earlier models and 50 MHz in newer models. These are equivalent because there is a multiplier inside the DDS that scales it up to 400 MHz in all models of the AIM4170.

73/Bob

[k9fv]

Thanks for the comments Bob - no rush on menu items, I think we can work around those just fine. I've went back to 832B - and when the dialog box gets behind the main screen I just move the main screen.

One thing Bob, if you could check the box in the program code to make the screen resizeable?

I am running XP Pro SP3 and by:

1)right click on "My Computer" icon on desktop.
2)then follow the path, "properties->Hardware->Device Manager->Ports(COM & LPT)->COM4 (COM port used)
3)then doble click on COM4 (Properties) and I get the tabs "General, Port Settings, Driver, and Details.

None of those have any Latency settings that I can tell. Under "Port Settings" I have Baud=9600, Data bits=8, Parity=None, Stop Bits=1, Flow Control=None". I have played with the baud rate up to 115,200 and see no scan rate change.

I am using a 4 COM port MOXA C104H/PCI Series adder card. Under Properties for that card I can change Rx FIFO Level and Tx FIFO Level, but I don't think that's anything to do with Latency.... does it?

These questions are not earth shattering to be answered, so put your time into making nice things:)

73 de Ken H>