I'm not sure how luck plays into programming the 3456A,
it is a very rigidly defined state machine that is well
documented in the operation manual.
The 3456A is programmed using an slightly enhanced version
of what is colloquially known as "R2D2" style.
There is a table of all commands in the operation manual,
and each command is 1 or 2 upper case ascii letters
followed by one or more ascii numbers.... syntactic sugar
is not allowed. No commas, spaces, tabs, etc... just
numbers.
What the 3456A won't do, is take long text commands, such
as "VOLTAGE", or "FILTER", or "IDENTIFY" or "IDN?", but
rather takes one or two letter abbreviations like, "V", or
"F".
Otherwise, it is the poster child for simple to program.
You do have to wait around for the meter to finish its
operations, but that is a pretty common among HPIB
devices.
The ability to calibrate most functions from the panel
next to the terminals is nice... as long as the little
10T wire wound pots are still noise free.
-Chuck Harris
On Sat, 5 Apr 2025 21:57:51 -0700 "John Kolb"
<jlkolb@...> wrote:
I love that I can calibrate them with a screwdriver rather than
stepping through software menus.
Good luck with the GPIB programming. They predate the SCPI
programming standards.
John??? KK6IL
On 4/4/2025 10:57 AM, BobH via groups.io wrote:
I picked up the meters today. They are model 3456A. Both work, but
need some cleanup. The power switch on on unit sticks on and the
front/rear terminal switch is dirty. A quick checkout shows both
reading within a few mV of my 34401A. Now I need to port my GPIB
tools to talk to them.
