azonenberg changed the topic of #scopehal to: libscopehal, libscopeprotocols, and glscopeclient development and testing | https://github.com/azonenberg/scopehal-cmake, https://github.com/azonenberg/scopehal-apps, https://github.com/azonenberg/scopehal | Logs: https://freenode.irclog.whitequark.org/scopehal
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<bvernoux> hello
<azonenberg> o/
<tnt> bvernoux: what's broken in your E4432 ?
<bvernoux> "Burst Generator Memory Test" fail at 37%
<azonenberg> if it's just a sram chip you can probably rework it easily
<azonenberg> assuming it's off chip, and you can find it
<azonenberg> and a spare part
<bvernoux> Linked to Option UN8 / UND
<bvernoux> yes but I have also an other error
<bvernoux> Internal Calibration on Hardware Options UN8 / UND => Calibration Failure
<bvernoux> With both UN8 and UND selected (like it was by default)
<bvernoux> "I/Q Calibration in Progress" up to "7% completed" then Error "517, Calibration Failure"
<bvernoux> Utility => Error Info (3 Error messages):
<bvernoux> Utility => Instruments Adjustements => Hardware Options => Calibrate Selected Items => Start Calibration and Store Results =>
<bvernoux> "517, Calibration failure;ARB Cal"
<bvernoux> "517, Calibration failure;ARB Cal"
<bvernoux> "517, Calibration failure;Upgrade Calibration failed.Data not stored."
<bvernoux> and this one smell bad
<bvernoux> It seems UN8 and/or UND options have a problem to be confirmed ...
<azonenberg> Also, anybody looked at the "minivna tiny"?
<bvernoux> azonenberg, definitely not good for accurate measurement ;)
<azonenberg> well yes, but how inaccurate? :p
<azonenberg> if it's a bit noisy that's fine, if the results are 5 dB off that's not
<bvernoux> anyway IIRC it is good enough to tune antenna
<bvernoux> some 2.4GHz Ant ...
<azonenberg> Do you think it would be enough to see a gross impedance mismatch by looking at S11?
<bvernoux> also the calibration is awful compared to real VNA ;)
<azonenberg> if i short the resistors with 0R's
<bvernoux> there is no any cal kit with parameters
<bvernoux> but for the price it is what is expected
<bvernoux> maybe xaVNA is better for the price to be checked
<azonenberg> Or a picoVNA :P
<bvernoux> I have no Tiny VNA to compare
<azonenberg> But not exactly price matched
<bvernoux> picoVNA is clearly an other game ;)
<bvernoux> will do comparison with my HP 8753D 6GHz ;)
<bvernoux> but I'm waiting the final calibration parts
<azonenberg> ah ok
<bvernoux> to have ultra accurate things ;)
<bvernoux> also the Cal Kit values as I'm not sure I have set them correctly I shall receive official "VNA Cal Kit Manager 2" ckm file soon
<azonenberg> Yes the xaVNA looks a lot nicer
<azonenberg> in the low-cost category
<bvernoux> I have a good reference to check with TAS400 antenna from RFSPACE ;)
<bvernoux> with the S11 parameters of my Antenna
<bvernoux> also I have a 6dB attenuator reference in my cal kit which was measured with S2P with a 20GHz VNA which cost > 20KUSD as ref
<tnt> bvernoux: I had to replace the SRAM chips on my UND board, there was a "service note" about it.
<bvernoux> tnt, and before you had similar error as me ?
<bvernoux> maybe it is just SRAM failure
<bvernoux> I need to find the exact reference to replace them and even upgrade to 8M
<bvernoux> as I do not have the 8M option
<tnt> bvernoux: it was failing a self test. I had never tried to run calibration on it.
<tnt> Also of interest, I asked Keysight support and they provided me with the UND board schematics :)
<bvernoux> ha great
<bvernoux> could you share it ?
<bvernoux> as I have not found the schematics :(
<bvernoux> i have service manual but they do not contains schematics
<tnt> email ?
<bvernoux> else the Agilent E44xx are amazing and very easy to use
<bvernoux> bvernoux@gmail.com
<bvernoux> I use USB to GPIB with all my instruments
<bvernoux> already built Qt App for the VNA ;)
<tnt> yeah, I have them all on LAN to GPIB. But recently it started to throw errors again :/
<bvernoux> next step is to add the Agilent E44xx maybe in an other APP ...
<tnt> I have to take it appart and see what's wrong.
<bvernoux> ha yes LAN to GPIB is even better than USB GPIB in theory
<azonenberg> Just ordered a xaVNA
<bvernoux> so far I have only USB GPIB
<azonenberg> So we'll see how that goes
<bvernoux> azonenberg, really not bad for the price ;)
<bvernoux> azonenberg, I recommend to buy good calibration kit too
<bvernoux> the one provided with it is "crap" anyway for +10USD we cannot ask more ;)
<azonenberg> I'll do that eventually, to start I'll just use the one it comes with
<azonenberg> right now what i want to do is see just how far off my impedances are from the nominal values in sonnet
<azonenberg> and try to figure out why
<bvernoux> anyway it is very stable
<azonenberg> a field solver should not be calculating impedances that are 50% off from the real values
<bvernoux> but warning with lot of points ;)
<bvernoux> it crash
<bvernoux> probably SW bug
<bvernoux> good points is it is fully open source SW
<bvernoux> a must is to export S1P / S2P and use them in MegiQ VNA app for tuning or also a good sw Smith V4.1
<bvernoux> will do a full comparison with my cal kit used on both HP 8753D & xaVNA ;)
<bvernoux> to be fair play I will do it in range of xaVNA
<bvernoux> 40MHz to 3GHz
<bvernoux> for ultra nice cal kit I recommend Kirkby Calibration Kit up to 7Ghz
<bvernoux> it is a bit expensive about 600Euros but it comes with all type of SMA connectors fully charaterized for all major VNA and up to 7GHz
<bvernoux> with a SMA torque it is nice to reproduce measurement
<azonenberg> yeah i need a sma torque wrench at some point
<azonenberg> i only have an 8 in-lb one which is a bit much for most SMAs
<bvernoux> recommended one is 4 in-lb for SMA
<bvernoux> a must have which is less expensive than others ;)
<bvernoux> 0.45 Nm is the important value for SMA
<bvernoux> some are often double which is too much
<bvernoux> also here
<bvernoux> 125USD
<azonenberg> Looks good, a bit expensive but not unreasonable for precision equipment
<azonenberg> Will probably get it later on
<bvernoux> it is the cheapest I have found and mine was bought with Kirkby Cal Kit
<bvernoux> my main issue in my lab is temperature ;)
<bvernoux> more than 38°C which is not good for anything ;)
<azonenberg> Right now my lab is uncontrolled
<azonenberg> but it adjoins the climate controlled house
<azonenberg> I will be putting a heat pump in very soon
<bvernoux> me too but in september to have my lab at 25°C ;) and my house too ;)
<bvernoux> also there is a very good bid on ebay for a 40GSPS scope ;)
<azonenberg> This is for the lab only, the house is a separate hvac zone
<bvernoux> but I think the price will explode so far it is about 700USD ;)
<bvernoux> for a 30KUSD scope
<azonenberg> Reserve price is probably like 15k
<bvernoux> Tektronix DPO7254 Digital Phosphor Oscilloscope 2.5GHz, 40Gs/s ;)
<bvernoux> will be amazing for 2KUSD ;)
<bvernoux> but I think it will go up to 6KUSD or more
<bvernoux> so far it is 609USD
<bvernoux> with WinXP Pro ;)
<bvernoux> what is not fun is price of 2GHz Probe ;)
<tnt> azonenberg: btw freesample is a really annoying name to google :p
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<monochroma> tnt: heh that's a good point
<azonenberg> re 2 GHz probe - that's why i'm building one :p
<futarisIRCcloud> Dave & Chris talked about the VNAs a little in the last Amp Hour: