Re: X-Y to VGA/USB converter
Thanks for the offer, Steve. I've got an FPGA development board
(DLP-HS-FPGA) and I think it'll be a good starting point. My initial target
is thus:
1. Interfacing to CRT-less Tek 7k mainframes (of course it won't be as fast
as a CRT, but still useful for low frequency work and special plugins like
curve tracers, SAs, logic analyzers).
2. Taking LO1 and LO2 from Tek 7k plugin SAs for frequency readout.
3. Interfacing with HP 8566B, 8568B. I will have to get the service manuals
and go from there.
Good enough for version 1 IMHO.
Cheers, Kuba
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sep 1, 2011, at 8:34 PM, Steve Fowler wrote: Kuba,
I have an HP 8568B at the moment and would like to see something like you
describe developed for it, and for the 8566B too, which I hope to acquire
soon. The output specs are widely available and there were many units
produced that now have aging displays. From 1978 to 1997 if I'm not
mistaken. If I were making something like you mention, I'd start with this
market and compete with the color LCD replacement currently available at a
hefty price. I don't have the knowledge to do that though, and I wish you
well with this endeavor. I'd be happy to take measurements of my SA's
outputs or evaluate a prototype for you.
Steve
On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 7:23 PM, Kuba Ober <ober.14@...>wrote:
**
What is the speed of the old Tek and HP X/Y monitors? The question is: are those fast enough to be used to replace
what was inside the box of various otherwise useful HP
instruments.
I'm also more than willing to have potentially extra functionality
included, perhaps bypassing some of the circuitry in the instrument.
My favorite would be to have a swept FFT by taking in directly
the baseband output from a SA -- with a 16 bit ADC it should be feasible.
I'm also looking at digitizing the frequency of the LO outputs from
a SA to obtain precise frequency for any part of the display.
I think I previously incorrectly said digitizing IF -- that's of course
possible, but it'd be the last IF if anything. Inputting any number of
LOs and digitizing their frequency should be very simple, as would be
calculating the resulting center frequency. I think the hardest part would
be to make sure my device won't pollute the LOs, so I'd be learning some
new tricks too.
My starting point is to run my 7L14 with a mainframe with no CRT, then to
tap LO1 and LO2 outputs for precise center frequency, then to tap directly
into the last IF output before the video processor (detector, LOG/LIN,
digitizer).
I can't really afford to get various other instruments that this would work
with,
so I thought it'll be easier to ask for ideas instead of having to rummage
through downloads of HP manuals.
So my appeal is as follows, to make it easy and technical: if you have a SA
or another instrument that you'd like to get a replacement display for,
give me
the specs on its X-Y-Z outputs, and also on the LO frequency ranges and
levels -- obviously if those LOs are available as outputs without
disassembly.
That's give me some idea as to how to set up the signal processing (gains,
bandwidths, etc).
Kuba
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
|
Re: possiable power supply fault hp16500c
Jason, ? I wouldn't loose much sleep over your equipment woes.? Older equipment will always need some repairs or maint of some form or another.? The equipment you pick up with 'no power' are sometimes the best pieces to get, they have not been tampered or altered from their original designs as much (rogue repair attempts).??Power supply failures or no signs of life?can be the best thing that happend to the machine?because some people just put it away .. on a shelf or in a closet for later review.? These can be really good jewels or treasures.? I bought a HP 34401 benchtop DMM (very nice?unit)?with no signs of life and come to find out, all that was wrong with it was it had a?blown .125/250v amp fuse which is the one used when operated on 220V instead of a .250 amp fuse.. so guess what? I replaced the fuse and the rear power input assembly (fractured inside the ITC connector) and shes like a brand new piece of equipment.. even passed calibration certification with flying colors.? ? Jon ? From: Alexandre Souza <alexandre.tabajara@...> To: hp_agilent_equipment@... Sent: Friday, September 2, 2011 8:34 AM Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] possiable power supply fault hp16500c ? If absolute worst comes to worst, you may be able to build up a power
supply from available units. There are some people on this list that has spare power supplies and may sell one for a cheap price to you. I believe they will enter in contact with you after this message :) Congratulations, the 16500C is a great tool, I have one myself :)
|
Re: I told you not to connect it to the transmitter
Sad to say!, I bet this thing brings 750+ just because it's on eBay! .... as the song goes...????? is great, beer is good, and people are crazy! ? From: Alan Melia <Alan.Melia@...> To: hp_agilent_equipment@... Sent: Friday, September 2, 2011 8:40 AM Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] I told you not to connect it to the transmitter ? Hi Fred I think the problem is you dont see that description when you choose "Used" as you fillout the posting form. I have alerted a couple of sellers to it ....they were selling non-working kit (spares/repair) They were a bit shocked to realise they could have been in recompensing the return postage due to misdescription.!! I am ever surprised that so few sellers even bother to wipe a rag over kit before the photograph it. This was a classic!! :-)) Alan G3NYK ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pa4tim" <fredschneider@...> To: <hp_agilent_equipment@...> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 12:44 PM Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] I told you not to connect it to the transmitter I love this ebay comment: Condition: Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. This item may be a floor model or store return that has been used. See the seller¡¯s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. Fred PA4TIM Op 2 sep. 2011 om 10:51 heeft Marco IK1ODO -2 <ik1odo@...> het volgende geschreven: At 12:22 02-09-11, you wrote:
Hi all----
< I_Analyzers&hash=item20bc760e05> LYZER-8591E-/140600806917?pt=BI_Analyzers&hash=item20bc760e05
Jonathan
Hmmm.... then burned, thrown in a canal, left to soak for five years,
and cleaned with the garden hose? ;-)
Some inox screw may still be good, and considering the price of HP
screws those days on 'bay...
Marco IK1ODO
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links
|
Re: I told you not to connect it to the transmitter
Hi Fred I think the problem is you dont see that description when you choose
"Used" as you fillout the posting form. I have alerted a couple of sellers
to it ....they were selling non-working kit (spares/repair) They were a bit
shocked to realise they could have been in recompensing the return postage
due to misdescription.!!
I am ever surprised that so few sellers even bother to wipe a rag over kit
before the photograph it. This was a classic!! :-))
Alan G3NYK
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
----- Original Message ----- From: "Pa4tim" <fredschneider@...> To: <hp_agilent_equipment@...> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 12:44 PM Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] I told you not to connect it to the transmitter I love this ebay comment: Condition: Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. This item may be a floor model or store return that has been used. See the seller¡¯s listing for full details and description of any imperfections. Fred PA4TIM Op 2 sep. 2011 om 10:51 heeft Marco IK1ODO -2 <ik1odo@...> het volgende geschreven: At 12:22 02-09-11, you wrote:
Hi all----
< I_Analyzers&hash=item20bc760e05> LYZER-8591E-/140600806917?pt=BI_Analyzers&hash=item20bc760e05
Jonathan
Hmmm.... then burned, thrown in a canal, left to soak for five years,
and cleaned with the garden hose? ;-)
Some inox screw may still be good, and considering the price of HP
screws those days on 'bay...
Marco IK1ODO
------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links
|
Re: possiable power supply fault hp16500c
If absolute worst comes to worst, you may be able to build up a power
supply from available units. There are some people on this list that has spare power supplies and may sell one for a cheap price to you. I believe they will enter in contact with you after this message :) Congratulations, the 16500C is a great tool, I have one myself :)
|
Re: possiable power supply fault hp16500c
On Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:48:04 -0000, you wrote: hi guys i am new to electronics and need some advice.
first my tale of woe....i wont bore you with all the details but basicaly i was stupid and brought privately a hp16500c, i drove 250 miles to pick it up (met the guy in a carpark!! first big mistake), and purchased what i belived was a fully working logic analyzer. ok yes it was stupid.got it home and it's dead!!! not a single sign of life.i had a 2 hour flap and panick then downloaded the service and read it a couple of hundread times (ok maybe 10-12times) i have checked the leds and it appears the 120v led dosnt light. so am i right in thinking that its the PSU thats croaked it? or are there other things i can check. Start with the power supply fuse, then the switch. In my 16500B. you draw a little power regardless (IIRC). You might check for that. Does seem to be the power supply. i would realy love to get it working as it took severn months to save up for it!! if it is the PSU is it possiable to get a replacement or can theese be fairly easilly fixed by an idiot? Check all the connections to the power supply. Check the voltage settings for input, make sure that the switch/jumper(s) are in the right position and present (if needed). the machine has 2 timing cards and a pattern generator so i am reluctant to consign it to skip. Worst case, you should be able to salvage the cards and use them in another 16500 B/C. Don't get the A because of the floppy drives only construction. You'll have to check on ebay for the power supplies, they are occasionally available. I'd also see if the supplies are the same in the B as the C. and even the A. A's are often inexpensive, but little can be swapped. If absolute worst comes to worst, you may be able to build up a power supply from available units. The PS were farmed out, so no schematics are generally available. They're switchers. Check also to see if there's a fuse on the PS itself that's blown. many thanks for any help your able to give sorry it isn't more at the moment. Harvey regards jason
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
|
possiable power supply fault hp16500c
hi guys i am new to electronics and need some advice.
first my tale of woe....i wont bore you with all the details but basicaly i was stupid and brought privately a hp16500c, i drove 250 miles to pick it up (met the guy in a carpark!! first big mistake), and purchased what i belived was a fully working logic analyzer. ok yes it was stupid.got it home and it's dead!!! not a single sign of life.i had a 2 hour flap and panick then downloaded the service and read it a couple of hundread times (ok maybe 10-12times) i have checked the leds and it appears the 120v led dosnt light. so am i right in thinking that its the PSU thats croaked it? or are there other things i can check.
i would realy love to get it working as it took severn months to save up for it!! if it is the PSU is it possiable to get a replacement or can theese be fairly easilly fixed by an idiot?
the machine has 2 timing cards and a pattern generator so i am reluctant to consign it to skip.
many thanks for any help your able to give
regards jason
|
Re: I told you not to connect it to the transmitter
I love this ebay comment:
Condition:
Used: An item that has been used previously. The item may have some signs of cosmetic wear, but is fully operational and functions as intended. This item may be a floor model or store return that has been used. See the seller¡¯s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
Fred PA4TIM
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Op 2 sep. 2011 om 10:51 heeft Marco IK1ODO -2 <ik1odo@...> het volgende geschreven: At 12:22 02-09-11, you wrote:
Hi all----
<>
Jonathan
Hmmm.... then burned, thrown in a canal, left to soak for five years,
and cleaned with the garden hose? ;-)
Some inox screw may still be good, and considering the price of HP
screws those days on 'bay...
Marco IK1ODO
|
Re: I told you not to connect it to the transmitter
At 12:22 02-09-11, you wrote:
Hi all----
<>
Jonathan
Hmmm.... then burned, thrown in a canal, left to soak for five years, and cleaned with the garden hose? ;-) Some inox screw may still be good, and considering the price of HP screws those days on 'bay... Marco IK1ODO
|
I told you not to connect it to the transmitter
|
Re: HP 343A V.H.F. noise source
--- In hp_agilent_equipment@..., Doug <dmcgarrett@...> wrote:
On 09/01/2011 12:49 PM, gianfrancocanale wrote:
Hi
I have found in a flee market the A.M. device.
Nice and with the the noise generator tube.
Now i want to build the power supply it.
The tube is not marked.
The HP catalogue says that the ENR is 5.2 dB
with a anode current of 3.1 mA.
Does anybody know the type of the tube used.
Thanks for the help
Gianfranco
_ <!-- #ygrp-mkp { border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-family: Arial;
margin: 10p
The tube is a 7-pin miniature directly heated vacuum tube
diode, type 5722. The noise is thermally limited by the
temperature of the cathode (filament). The plate current
is determined by adjusting the filament voltage.
The excess noise in a 50 ohm system is determined as
NFdb = 10 * LOG_10 (20 * I * R)
where: I = Plate current in Amps, R = generator resistance,
50 Ohms in this case. For simplicity, where you have a 50
ohm system, the calculation reduces to
NFdb = 10 * LOG_10 I,mA
There is a nice schematic diagram of a 5722 noise
generator at
Make that source and terminating impedance 50 ohms for
the USA, please! (Germans used to use 60 ohm test equipment,
probably as a compromise between 50 and 75 ohms. Old R&S
test equipment was designed for 60 ohms.)
Several manufacturers made these noise generators. They
could be used one of two ways: Either set the plate
current for a known ENR and then measure K-factor, or,
with plate current off, set a noise reference on a
receiver, then crank in 3 dB of attenuation in the
reciever IF, and increase the plate current until the
noise reference was the same value; read the plate current
and calculate. (You normally didn't have to; the current
meter was calibrated in noise figure.) Here's one
example:
AIL made an instrument like that--I think it was a 7005.
Because of unavoidable lead lengths, this kind of
instrument was good only to about 500 MHz, and there were
correction curves to apply above some VHF frequency,
usually around 100 MHz.
Please note that the specified current and excess noise
contain round-off errors. 3.1mA would produce 4.91 dB
ENR. It would actually take just a bit over 3.3mA to
achieve 5.2dB ENR.
doug, WA2SAY
--
Blessed are the peacemakers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A. M. Greeley
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Hi thanks to all for the lot of information I received. I will use them. The tube used in my device seems not to be a 5722, the pin out is quite different. From the info received I see that this seems not to be so important because I will build up a pover supply according to the needs of my unknown tube; the performances are not influenced by the tube type. Only one question which can be a reasonable anodic voltage to be used ?Not too much for the life of the tube not too low for not reaching the performances needed. Thanks to all Gianfranco
|
Re: X-Y to VGA/USB converter
Agreed. Self-contained in the unit itself is best as well.
You will need at least a set of two 10 bit converters for X and Y and a lesser resolution but similar speed converter for Z modulation. Jumpers for the different typical instrument voltage levels would be nice as well as pots for fine tuning of gain and offsets. Just some real basic analog stuff. Power should be a wide range input of say 6 to 24 volts, a LDO probably, and you may want it analog so as to not have to worry about noise.
If you think 100 kHz is sufficient then perhaps an AD7993 would be good, 2 uS and 4 input channels. LTC has a bunch of very high speed ADCs(10's of MHz), but, heck, so does everyone these days. You want unipolar or bipolar inputs for your analog front end of course. It will come down to price. If you get the right family you could even go 12 bit or more as options.
I would say to avoid the fancy features initially. Don't bite off too much, you can always release more features in firmware later on.
Peter
Let's see if this posts. I am getting frigging tired of the "Unable to deliver your message" Yahoo BS.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
--- In hp_agilent_equipment@..., "W2HX" <w2hx@...> wrote:
Personally, I like the no-PC approach. Don't have to worry about hard drives
failing, reinstalling long-obsolete operating systems, etc. I like a piece
of hardware (with embedded software)!
-----Original Message-----
From: hp_agilent_equipment@...
[mailto:hp_agilent_equipment@...] On Behalf Of Kuba Ober
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 8:10 PM
To: hp_agilent_equipment@...
Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] X-Y to VGA/USB converter
There will be a frame buffer, that's not a problem, and a video DAC
as an option -- it's one chip these days, not expensive either.
PC is of course cheap, but you may not wish to use one -- this is meant
to interface an instrument to a stand-alone off-the-shelf dirt-cheap
monitor OR a PC.
Kuba
On Sep 1, 2011, at 6:24 PM, Peter Reilley wrote:
If you go with VGA, DVI, HDMI or any other pseudo video
interface they you must include a video frame buffer, video speed
D/A converters and the logic to support it. Even though LCD
screens include a memory cell at each pixel it is not useful to you
given those interfaces. They scan the video just like the old CRT monitors.
You can't beat a PC for cheep high quality video.
What is the speed of the old Tek and HP X/Y monitors?
Pete.
----- Original Message -----
From: Kuba Ober
To: hp_agilent_equipment@...
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] X-Y to VGA/USB converter
That's "almost" what we want, but not exactly. It has a fixed
800x600 resolution, and it will look like crap on widescreen
monitors. For some reason everyone must be watching movies on
their monitors, because non-widescreen aspect ratios are disappearing.
I've recently been to a local Microcenter and the best deals were only
to be had on widescreen units with ridiculous resolutions (say 1600x1000).
I'm thinking of something that would be $100 in parts for a basic version,
optimized for use with real instruments not some imaginary specs someone
thought up.
This means:
1. Input channels with ranges that allow 1:1 connection to a selection of
popular instruments (here I need *YOUR* help!).
2. Screen colorization options -- again, based on behavior of real
instruments.
3. Use with available and "future-proof" monitors -- that means
analog VGA would be one option (solder a DAC), DVI another (solder
LVDS drivers).
I think that for spectrum analyzers it'd be cool to have an option
of double IF inputs and on-board frequency counting to generate
an accurate X position and on-screen display/cursors. Again: I need
input from *YOU* as all I have is a Tek 7L14 SA plugin. I would need
to know what are the output levels, frequency ranges, etc. on IF outputs
from various SAs.
Obviously the board would have room for various options (VGA output,
DVI output, USB output, IF input, etc) and they'd be populated as needed.
So a basic version may have USB interface and three 12 bit input channels
with
10MHz bandwidth, and nothing else.
Since it smells like an FPGA-based solution, it's not unthinkable to have
an optional high-resolution (16 bits at 50+ MSps) channel to take video output
from SA's and do level measurement and filtering or even swept FFT. This would come
at a small incremental hardware cost, but obviously would be very useful.
Cheers, Kuba
On Sep 1, 2011, at 4:12 PM, W2HX wrote:
Check out vectorVGA Tempest
$179. However, some scaling input will be needed. I inquired to this company
about using this for my 8566/68 specans. They have a product called the
VectorVGA PRO which is $2000 and will do what we want out of the box.
However, that's a lot of coin! I sent the XYZ specifications of my
specan
to them for comment on the applicability of the "tempest" version (which
has
nothing to do with electronic eavesdropping) and this is their
response....
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
|
Re: X-Y to VGA/USB converter
My understanding of SA's is that their displays are not fast.
There is no advantage is sweeping too fast and a lot of
disadvantages. I can't imaging needing more than 100KHz
of bandwidth on the X and Y axes. That should give you plenty of time
to draw the spectrum graph and the little bit of text. As long
as you are faster than the human bandwidth there is no
need to go faster.
Pete.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
----- Original Message -----
From: Kuba Ober
To: hp_agilent_equipment@...
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 8:23 PM
Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] X-Y to VGA/USB converter
> What is the speed of the old Tek and HP X/Y monitors?
The question is: are those fast enough to be used to replace
what was inside the box of various otherwise useful HP
instruments.
I'm also more than willing to have potentially extra functionality
included, perhaps bypassing some of the circuitry in the instrument.
My favorite would be to have a swept FFT by taking in directly
the baseband output from a SA -- with a 16 bit ADC it should be feasible.
I'm also looking at digitizing the frequency of the LO outputs from
a SA to obtain precise frequency for any part of the display.
I think I previously incorrectly said digitizing IF -- that's of course
possible, but it'd be the last IF if anything. Inputting any number of
LOs and digitizing their frequency should be very simple, as would be
calculating the resulting center frequency. I think the hardest part would
be to make sure my device won't pollute the LOs, so I'd be learning some
new tricks too.
My starting point is to run my 7L14 with a mainframe with no CRT, then to
tap LO1 and LO2 outputs for precise center frequency, then to tap directly
into the last IF output before the video processor (detector, LOG/LIN,
digitizer).
I can't really afford to get various other instruments that this would work with,
so I thought it'll be easier to ask for ideas instead of having to rummage
through downloads of HP manuals.
So my appeal is as follows, to make it easy and technical: if you have a SA
or another instrument that you'd like to get a replacement display for, give me
the specs on its X-Y-Z outputs, and also on the LO frequency ranges and
levels -- obviously if those LOs are available as outputs without disassembly.
That's give me some idea as to how to set up the signal processing (gains,
bandwidths, etc).
Kuba
|
Re: X-Y to VGA/USB converter
Kuba, I have an HP 8568B at the moment and would like to see something like you describe developed for it, and for the 8566B too, which I hope to acquire soon. The output specs are widely available and there were many units produced that now have aging displays. From 1978 to 1997 if I'm not mistaken. If I were making something like you mention, I'd start with this market and compete with the color LCD replacement currently available at a hefty price. I don't have the knowledge to do that though, and I wish you well with this endeavor. I'd be happy to take measurements of my SA's outputs or evaluate a prototype for you. Steve On Thu, Sep 1, 2011 at 7:23 PM, Kuba Ober <ober.14@...>wrote: **
What is the speed of the old Tek and HP X/Y monitors? The question is: are those fast enough to be used to replace
what was inside the box of various otherwise useful HP
instruments.
I'm also more than willing to have potentially extra functionality
included, perhaps bypassing some of the circuitry in the instrument.
My favorite would be to have a swept FFT by taking in directly
the baseband output from a SA -- with a 16 bit ADC it should be feasible.
I'm also looking at digitizing the frequency of the LO outputs from
a SA to obtain precise frequency for any part of the display.
I think I previously incorrectly said digitizing IF -- that's of course
possible, but it'd be the last IF if anything. Inputting any number of
LOs and digitizing their frequency should be very simple, as would be
calculating the resulting center frequency. I think the hardest part would
be to make sure my device won't pollute the LOs, so I'd be learning some
new tricks too.
My starting point is to run my 7L14 with a mainframe with no CRT, then to
tap LO1 and LO2 outputs for precise center frequency, then to tap directly
into the last IF output before the video processor (detector, LOG/LIN,
digitizer).
I can't really afford to get various other instruments that this would work
with,
so I thought it'll be easier to ask for ideas instead of having to rummage
through downloads of HP manuals.
So my appeal is as follows, to make it easy and technical: if you have a SA
or another instrument that you'd like to get a replacement display for,
give me
the specs on its X-Y-Z outputs, and also on the LO frequency ranges and
levels -- obviously if those LOs are available as outputs without
disassembly.
That's give me some idea as to how to set up the signal processing (gains,
bandwidths, etc).
Kuba
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
|
Re: X-Y to VGA/USB converter
Personally, I like the no-PC approach. Don't have to worry about hard drives
failing, reinstalling long-obsolete operating systems, etc. I like a piece
of hardware (with embedded software)!
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
-----Original Message----- From: hp_agilent_equipment@... [mailto:hp_agilent_equipment@...] On Behalf Of Kuba Ober Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 8:10 PM To: hp_agilent_equipment@... Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] X-Y to VGA/USB converter There will be a frame buffer, that's not a problem, and a video DAC as an option -- it's one chip these days, not expensive either. PC is of course cheap, but you may not wish to use one -- this is meant to interface an instrument to a stand-alone off-the-shelf dirt-cheap monitor OR a PC. Kuba On Sep 1, 2011, at 6:24 PM, Peter Reilley wrote: If you go with VGA, DVI, HDMI or any other pseudo video
interface they you must include a video frame buffer, video speed
D/A converters and the logic to support it. Even though LCD
screens include a memory cell at each pixel it is not useful to you
given those interfaces. They scan the video just like the old CRT monitors.
You can't beat a PC for cheep high quality video.
What is the speed of the old Tek and HP X/Y monitors?
Pete.
----- Original Message -----
From: Kuba Ober
To: hp_agilent_equipment@...
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] X-Y to VGA/USB converter
That's "almost" what we want, but not exactly. It has a fixed
800x600 resolution, and it will look like crap on widescreen
monitors. For some reason everyone must be watching movies on
their monitors, because non-widescreen aspect ratios are disappearing.
I've recently been to a local Microcenter and the best deals were only
to be had on widescreen units with ridiculous resolutions (say 1600x1000).
I'm thinking of something that would be $100 in parts for a basic version,
optimized for use with real instruments not some imaginary specs someone
thought up.
This means:
1. Input channels with ranges that allow 1:1 connection to a selection of
popular instruments (here I need *YOUR* help!).
2. Screen colorization options -- again, based on behavior of real
instruments.
3. Use with available and "future-proof" monitors -- that means
analog VGA would be one option (solder a DAC), DVI another (solder
LVDS drivers).
I think that for spectrum analyzers it'd be cool to have an option
of double IF inputs and on-board frequency counting to generate
an accurate X position and on-screen display/cursors. Again: I need
input from *YOU* as all I have is a Tek 7L14 SA plugin. I would need
to know what are the output levels, frequency ranges, etc. on IF outputs
from various SAs.
Obviously the board would have room for various options (VGA output,
DVI output, USB output, IF input, etc) and they'd be populated as needed.
So a basic version may have USB interface and three 12 bit input channels
with 10MHz bandwidth, and nothing else.
Since it smells like an FPGA-based solution, it's not unthinkable to have
an optional high-resolution (16 bits at 50+ MSps) channel to take video output from SA's and do level measurement and filtering or even swept FFT. This would come at a small incremental hardware cost, but obviously would be very useful.
Cheers, Kuba
On Sep 1, 2011, at 4:12 PM, W2HX wrote:
Check out vectorVGA Tempest
$179. However, some scaling input will be needed. I inquired to this company about using this for my 8566/68 specans. They have a product called the
VectorVGA PRO which is $2000 and will do what we want out of the box.
However, that's a lot of coin! I sent the XYZ specifications of my
specan to them for comment on the applicability of the "tempest" version (which
has nothing to do with electronic eavesdropping) and this is their
response....
------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links
|
Re: X-Y to VGA/USB converter
What is the speed of the old Tek and HP X/Y monitors? The question is: are those fast enough to be used to replace what was inside the box of various otherwise useful HP instruments. I'm also more than willing to have potentially extra functionality included, perhaps bypassing some of the circuitry in the instrument. My favorite would be to have a swept FFT by taking in directly the baseband output from a SA -- with a 16 bit ADC it should be feasible. I'm also looking at digitizing the frequency of the LO outputs from a SA to obtain precise frequency for any part of the display. I think I previously incorrectly said digitizing IF -- that's of course possible, but it'd be the last IF if anything. Inputting any number of LOs and digitizing their frequency should be very simple, as would be calculating the resulting center frequency. I think the hardest part would be to make sure my device won't pollute the LOs, so I'd be learning some new tricks too. My starting point is to run my 7L14 with a mainframe with no CRT, then to tap LO1 and LO2 outputs for precise center frequency, then to tap directly into the last IF output before the video processor (detector, LOG/LIN, digitizer). I can't really afford to get various other instruments that this would work with, so I thought it'll be easier to ask for ideas instead of having to rummage through downloads of HP manuals. So my appeal is as follows, to make it easy and technical: if you have a SA or another instrument that you'd like to get a replacement display for, give me the specs on its X-Y-Z outputs, and also on the LO frequency ranges and levels -- obviously if those LOs are available as outputs without disassembly. That's give me some idea as to how to set up the signal processing (gains, bandwidths, etc). Kuba
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Re: X-Y to VGA/USB converter
There will be a frame buffer, that's not a problem, and a video DAC
as an option -- it's one chip these days, not expensive either.
PC is of course cheap, but you may not wish to use one -- this is meant
to interface an instrument to a stand-alone off-the-shelf dirt-cheap
monitor OR a PC.
Kuba
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
On Sep 1, 2011, at 6:24 PM, Peter Reilley wrote: If you go with VGA, DVI, HDMI or any other pseudo video
interface they you must include a video frame buffer, video speed
D/A converters and the logic to support it. Even though LCD
screens include a memory cell at each pixel it is not useful to you
given those interfaces. They scan the video just like the old CRT monitors.
You can't beat a PC for cheep high quality video.
What is the speed of the old Tek and HP X/Y monitors?
Pete.
----- Original Message -----
From: Kuba Ober
To: hp_agilent_equipment@...
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] X-Y to VGA/USB converter
That's "almost" what we want, but not exactly. It has a fixed
800x600 resolution, and it will look like crap on widescreen
monitors. For some reason everyone must be watching movies on
their monitors, because non-widescreen aspect ratios are disappearing.
I've recently been to a local Microcenter and the best deals were only
to be had on widescreen units with ridiculous resolutions (say 1600x1000).
I'm thinking of something that would be $100 in parts for a basic version,
optimized for use with real instruments not some imaginary specs someone
thought up.
This means:
1. Input channels with ranges that allow 1:1 connection to a selection of
popular instruments (here I need *YOUR* help!).
2. Screen colorization options -- again, based on behavior of real
instruments.
3. Use with available and "future-proof" monitors -- that means
analog VGA would be one option (solder a DAC), DVI another (solder
LVDS drivers).
I think that for spectrum analyzers it'd be cool to have an option
of double IF inputs and on-board frequency counting to generate
an accurate X position and on-screen display/cursors. Again: I need
input from *YOU* as all I have is a Tek 7L14 SA plugin. I would need
to know what are the output levels, frequency ranges, etc. on IF outputs
from various SAs.
Obviously the board would have room for various options (VGA output,
DVI output, USB output, IF input, etc) and they'd be populated as needed.
So a basic version may have USB interface and three 12 bit input channels with
10MHz bandwidth, and nothing else.
Since it smells like an FPGA-based solution, it's not unthinkable to have
an optional high-resolution (16 bits at 50+ MSps) channel to take video output
from SA's and do level measurement and filtering or even swept FFT. This would come
at a small incremental hardware cost, but obviously would be very useful.
Cheers, Kuba
On Sep 1, 2011, at 4:12 PM, W2HX wrote:
Check out vectorVGA Tempest
$179. However, some scaling input will be needed. I inquired to this company
about using this for my 8566/68 specans. They have a product called the
VectorVGA PRO which is $2000 and will do what we want out of the box.
However, that's a lot of coin! I sent the XYZ specifications of my specan
to them for comment on the applicability of the "tempest" version (which has
nothing to do with electronic eavesdropping) and this is their response.... [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
|
[Fwd: Agilent Discussion Forums - We're moving to a new platform]
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Show quoted text
---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Agilent Discussion Forums - We're moving to a new platform
From: "Agilent Technologies" <site_assistance@...>
Date: Thu, September 1, 2011 3:47 pm
To: jfor@...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Valued Customer,
You are receiving this message because you are a registered user of
Agilent Discussion Forums. In October, Agilent will be moving Agilent
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Learn more here:
Our goal for this migration is that no post and no active user will be
left behind. We will migrate all posts, all attachments and all users with
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We will communicate more as we get closer to the new forum launch.
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|
hp 8935 e6380a santa cruz
Hi there,
I recently acquired an e6380a w/ option 1d5 for use on a local ham repeater project with the santa cruz amateur radio club. the unit passes all internal tests (service4 rom module) but i am looking for help with calibration.
Is there anyone in this area (san francisco bay area/ east bay/ south bay) who could help us with the proper equipment?
regards,
oliver
kj6ldd
|
Re: X-Y to VGA/USB converter
If you go with VGA, DVI, HDMI or any other pseudo video
interface they you must include a video frame buffer, video speed
D/A converters and the logic to support it. Even though LCD
screens include a memory cell at each pixel it is not useful to you
given those interfaces. They scan the video just like the old CRT monitors.
You can't beat a PC for cheep high quality video.
What is the speed of the old Tek and HP X/Y monitors?
Pete.
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
----- Original Message -----
From: Kuba Ober
To: hp_agilent_equipment@...
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: [hp_agilent_equipment] X-Y to VGA/USB converter
That's "almost" what we want, but not exactly. It has a fixed
800x600 resolution, and it will look like crap on widescreen
monitors. For some reason everyone must be watching movies on
their monitors, because non-widescreen aspect ratios are disappearing.
I've recently been to a local Microcenter and the best deals were only
to be had on widescreen units with ridiculous resolutions (say 1600x1000).
I'm thinking of something that would be $100 in parts for a basic version,
optimized for use with real instruments not some imaginary specs someone
thought up.
This means:
1. Input channels with ranges that allow 1:1 connection to a selection of
popular instruments (here I need *YOUR* help!).
2. Screen colorization options -- again, based on behavior of real
instruments.
3. Use with available and "future-proof" monitors -- that means
analog VGA would be one option (solder a DAC), DVI another (solder
LVDS drivers).
I think that for spectrum analyzers it'd be cool to have an option
of double IF inputs and on-board frequency counting to generate
an accurate X position and on-screen display/cursors. Again: I need
input from *YOU* as all I have is a Tek 7L14 SA plugin. I would need
to know what are the output levels, frequency ranges, etc. on IF outputs
from various SAs.
Obviously the board would have room for various options (VGA output,
DVI output, USB output, IF input, etc) and they'd be populated as needed.
So a basic version may have USB interface and three 12 bit input channels with
10MHz bandwidth, and nothing else.
Since it smells like an FPGA-based solution, it's not unthinkable to have
an optional high-resolution (16 bits at 50+ MSps) channel to take video output
from SA's and do level measurement and filtering or even swept FFT. This would come
at a small incremental hardware cost, but obviously would be very useful.
Cheers, Kuba
On Sep 1, 2011, at 4:12 PM, W2HX wrote:
> Check out vectorVGA Tempest
>
>
> $179. However, some scaling input will be needed. I inquired to this company
> about using this for my 8566/68 specans. They have a product called the
> VectorVGA PRO which is $2000 and will do what we want out of the box.
> However, that's a lot of coin! I sent the XYZ specifications of my specan
> to them for comment on the applicability of the "tempest" version (which has
> nothing to do with electronic eavesdropping) and this is their response....
|
Alexandre Souza