The KE5FX GPIB Toolkit is a collection of free Windows utilities that will help you make and record research-quality measurements with GPIB-based electronic test equipment.

This is version 1.61 of the Toolkit, released July 20, 2008. The latest release is always available for downloading here. For troubleshooting help and additional application notes, check the FAQ.

The GPIB Toolkit is provided with full C++ source code for public- and private-sector, educational and Amateur Radio / hobbyist use. Comments and feedback are always welcome.

John Miles, KE5FX
jmiles@pop.net

7470.EXE is a Win32-based emulator for the HP 7470A plotter. See its User Guide for more information.

PN.EXE is an automated phase-noise measurement utility for HP, Tektronix, and Advantest spectrum analyzers. See its User Guide for more information.

SSM.EXE is a spectrum surveillance monitor application for HP, Tektronix, and Advantest spectrum analyzers. See its User Guide for more information.

PROLOGIX.EXE is a configuration utility for Prologix GPIB-USB adapters (version 3 or later) and Prologix GPIB-LAN adapters.

All of the GPIB Toolkit applications support both Prologix and National Instruments GPIB adapters. When using a Prologix adapter, it's necessary to edit the C:\Program Files\KE5FX\GPIB\CONNECT.INI file to tell the GPIB Toolkit where to find the Prologix adapter's virtual serial port or network address.

This task is easy to accomplish with PROLOGIX.EXE. Simply run the program, select the Prologix adapter in the device list, and press the Update CONNECT.INI button. (Be sure to exit from PROLOGIX.EXE before attempting to run any other GPIB Toolkit application.)

Beginning with the V1.50 release of the GPIB Toolkit, it is no longer necessary to select Device or Controller mode in PROLOGIX.EXE unless you wish to use the optional Terminal or Advanced Settings controls. Each Toolkit application will configure the Prologix adapter's mode and address settings as needed.

SATRACE.EXE can be thought of as a console-oriented version of SSM. It requests one or more traces from any spectrum analyzer supported by SSM, and writes them to stdout as lists of comma-separated frequency/amplitude pairs.

Like SSM, SATRACE is a read-only GPIB application; it does not alter any spectrum analyzer control settings except for sweep synchronization (and span-width display modes where necessary). Its command-line parameters are also very similar to those supported by SSM.

           Usage: satrace <address> [<options>...]
           
           Examples using GPIB address 18:
           
           satrace 18               Auto-identify analyzer at GPIB address 18 and acquire
                                    a single trace from it
           
           satrace 18 -856xa        Special option required for use with HP8566A-HP8568A
           
           satrace 18 -8569b        Special option required for use with HP8569B/8570A
           
           satrace 18 -358xa        Special option required for use with HP3588A/3589A
           
           satrace 18 -3585         Special option required for use with HP3585A/B
           
           satrace 18 -advantest    Special option required for use with supported 
                                    Advantest R3200/R3400-series analyzers
           
           satrace 18 -scpi         Special option required for use with Agilent E4400-
                                    series and other SCPI-compatible analyzers
           
           satrace 18 -f            Use low-resolution acquisition for faster sweeps
                                    (if supported)
           
           satrace 18 -t            Disable GPIB timeout checking during long sweeps
           
           satrace 18 -ao:-7        Add -7 dBm to all reported amplitude values
           
           satrace 18 -fo:150000000 Add 150 MHz to all reported frequency values
           
           satrace 18 -reps:15      Acquire 15 successive traces (0 = run until keypress)

           satrace 18 -header       Display time/datestamp and available analyzer control
                                    settings
           
           satrace 18 -lf           Separate frequency/amplitude pairs with linefeeds
                                    rather than commas
           
           satrace 18 -spline:800   Resample trace using cubic spline reconstruction to
                                    generate (e.g.) 800 points, regardless of the
                                    analyzer's trace array width
           
           satrace 18 -point:128    Resample trace using point-sampled values
           
           satrace 18 -min:128      Resample trace using minimum bucket values when more
                                    source points than requested are available
                                    (otherwise use spline)
           
           satrace 18 -max:128      Resample trace using maximum bucket values when more
                                    source points than requested are available
                                    (otherwise use spline)
           
           satrace 18 -avg:128      Resample trace using averaged bucket values when more
                                    source points than requested are available
                                    (otherwise use spline)
           
           satrace 18 -connect:"xxx" 
                                    Specify GPIB command string to be issued when 
                                    initially connecting to instrument
           
           satrace 18 -disconnect:"xxx" 
                                    Specify GPIB command string to be issued when
                                    disconnecting prior to program termination

           satrace 18 -856xa -f     Example using multiple options

           c:\program files\ke5fx\gpib>satrace 18 -reps:100 -point:500 >temp.txt

For more details on trace resampling, see the FAQ ("How do the trace-resampling options in SATRACE and SSM work?").

By default, the following utilities are installed with the rest of the GPIB Toolkit executables in the C:\Program Files\KE5FX\GPIB directory.

PARSE.EXE is a simple command-line utility that allows you to inspect HP-GL files by dumping their instructions to stdout.

QUERY.EXE is a standalone GPIB query utility intended for diagnostic purposes and batch/shortcut files.

TALK.EXE is a standalone GPIB command-transmission utility intended for diagnostic purposes and batch/shortcut files.

LISTEN.EXE is a standalone GPIB data-reception utility for ASCII traffic, intended for diagnostic purposes and batch/shortcut files.

BINQUERY.EXE is a standalone GPIB query utility intended for diagnostic purposes and batch/shortcut files. It illustrates how to retrieve arbitrarily-large binary data blocks from GPIB instrumentation.

5345A.EXE and 5370B.EXE are two example programs that show how to communicate via GPIB with the HP 5345A and HP 5370B frequency counters, respectively.

ECHOCLIENT.EXE and ECHOSERVER.EXE are intended for troubleshooting and benchmarking TCP/IP connections. These utilities communicate over port 4242. (Note that benchmark results obtained from these programs are normally limited by the GPIB Toolkit's network layer, rather than by the connection itself.)

PRINTHPG.EXE sends a plotter data file (.PLT, .HPG, etc.) to the default DOS printer (PRN device). This printer should be an HP LaserJet or compatible model that supports legacy HP-GL commands. Other printers can be used by 7470.EXE, but the bitmaps printed by 7470.EXE will lack the resolution and fidelity obtainable by sending the plotter file directly to a genuine HP-GL-compatible printer.

If you have a LaserJet and want the best-quality black-and-white output possible, PRINTHPG.EXE is the way to go. Note that even LaserJets don't support some HP-GL features, like UC (User Character) opcodes! If your instrument relies on these, you'll need to use 7470.EXE to render its plots and print them as fixed-resolution bitmaps.

By default, the following batch files are installed with the rest of the GPIB Toolkit executables in the C:\Program Files\KE5FX\GPIB directory. They may be inspected and modified with any word processor or text editor capable of working with plaintext ASCII files.

WIFI_HP8566.BAT uses TALK.EXE to program an HP 8566B spectrum analyzer at GPIB address 18 for 2350-2550 MHz sweeps at 5 dB/division, selecting a -35 dBm reference level and 0 dB of RF attenuation. It then launches SSM.EXE with max-accumulation and WiFi band boundaries enabled.

WIFI_TEK490.BAT uses TALK.EXE to program a Tektronix 494AP analyzer at GPIB address 3 in a similar fashion. The analyzer's CRT readout is turned off to prevent burn-in.

R3267.BAT uses BINQUERY.EXE to request (.BMP) images from an Advantest R3264, R3267, or R3273 spectrum analyzer at GPIB address 7.

The C:\Program Files\KE5FX\GPIB directory also contains two subdirectories, Composite noise baseline plots and Sample HPGL files. These two subdirectories contain a variety of .PNP and .PLT files that can be loaded and displayed by PN.EXE and 7470.EXE, respectively.