Boonton 4300 SCPI documentation is the worst!!

[mdamico]

Can anybody point me to "good" Boonton SCPI command documentation?  I am trying to program the 4300 but I'll take any instrument doc at this point and see what applies. 

While I'm here...even the simple *IDN? returns the power in dBm rather than the equipment ID.  Does anybody know how to get the simple EQUIPMENT ID off this thing?

(I wish Agilent made 6-channel RF Power Meters)

[DavidJCrawford]

Have you talked over your issue with the Boonton technical support?

http://www.boonton.com/2002/support.html

I suspect that you have already done this but they would be the best people to help you with this.

David

[mdamico]

Actually, I have contacted them a few times and have not heard back from the applications engineer.  Perhaps today is my lucky day?  I am hoping that they have better documentation on some engineer's hard drive over there than that lame pdf of a "scanned" manual that came with the power meter. 

Boonton must have somebody who knows something about SCPI because they sent me LabVIEW drivers ~ except that the drivers were developed in a version that was so old that I couldn't open them (LabVIEW 3.1)  Not even NI has a copy of LabVIEW that old, even in their musuem! (I asked)  

I'm hoping somebody might be further down the Boonton/LabVIEW road than me and a list of Boonton compatible SCPI commands will land in my mailbox...we can always hope.  After a few weeks, I should have a list for anybody else who wants them.

Thanks for replying. 

         Mike

Message Edited by mdamico on 07-20-2006 09:53 AM

Message Edited by mdamico on 07-20-2006 09:57 AM

[DavidJCrawford]

Post the drivers that they gave you and I will have a go at converting them up for you so that you can read them in your current version of labview.

What version of labview are you using?

David

[mdamico]

I'm using LabVIEW 8.0.1.  That would be great if you would be willing to give it a try.  I'm not sure how to post them here and I don't have webspace to post them.  So, email me at mdamico@uccs.edu and I will send them to you.  (I'll edit out my email address after you email me).   

I'm curious...are you an NI tech support engineer, or just some nice development engineer willing to help somebody else? 

Thanks!

          Mike

[DavidJCrawford]

Mike

Nope, just another bloke doing his bit to help others keep their sanity

NI have a free utility that lets you convert up VI's from older versions. You just need to call your local NI sales office to get it.

I would really prefer that you zip them up and post them here using Attachment facility when you post.

thanks

David

[Dennis_Knutson]

Right below the message box is an attachment 'browse' button. Click that and find the llb for the driver.

I'm curious though how you are testing the communication. Is this in MAX? Getting a measurement result when you do an *IDN? query is odd and could indicate a problem with the instrument. It's also possible that the instrument had that data stored in it's buffer as the result of a previous command querry command sent but a read wasn't performed. Then, when you sent the *IDN? command, you got the measurement reading plus the id information. You can make sure the instrument's transmit buffer is empty by doing a VISA Read with some high number of expected bytes. If you get a timeout error, then you'll know the buffer is empty. Then do the *IDN? query and see if it responds correctly.

p.s. Next to your user name, you'll see three little boxes. Members with yellow/orange boxes (like yours) indicate LabVIEW users who do not work for NI. NI employees have blue boxes.

[mdamico]

Ah...that thing that says "Attachment"  (dooooh!)

I just heard from the Boonton applications engineer.  He said that the 4300 was developed prior to the 488 (GPIB) protocol was established, so the box does not recognize some of the standard SCPI commands.  It returns whatever is in the buffer every time is it queried.  That explains why even a blank string in VISA write returns the present power of the channel selected.   So what I can do is configure the power meter for whatever channel I want to read, etc, and then just read what is in the buffer. 

The Boonton applications engineer is going to NI next week and will try to get old drivers updated.  I will post the LabVIEW 3.1 drivers here as well.

Thanks!

             Mike

[DavidJCrawford]

Mike

Drivers recompiled from 3.1 to 4.01. You can now open them in LV8.

David

[mdamico]

Thanks a lot, David.  That helped very much.

          - Mike