[Test-Equipment] GPIB scrips for HP 8657B? WAD: Signal Generator Wanted

[Dennis Wade]

All,

           First I want to thank all that contributed to the sig gen wanted
post I made earlier.  Those replies helped me sort out the offers I was
getting, and ultimately I was able to find a semi-local seller offering an
HP8657B for a reasonable price.  He was close enough that I could go and
check it out for an hour, and take it home.  Thank you all.

            I'm interested in the possibility of creating a sweep script
for the 8657B using the GPIB interface.  I know very little so far, but
what i've read seems encouraging and I've looked at the various GPIB
toolkits.  Way overkill for what I'm interested in, but it would seem to me
if its feasible someone would have done it...and I haven't found any
examples yet.  I've done some programming (not GPIB) in a previous ife

             So a couple of specific questions:

                  1.  GPIB cards/boxes.  I see that there are HP GPIB cards
on the E-place for quite reasonable prices, while the National Inst. and
Prologix stuff are much less reasonable.  What do I need?  PCI, USB, RS232?
 I have read Phil's web page on the topic.

                   2.  Ideally what I'd want is a GUI that would let me
enter the start freq, end freq and amplitude and maybe number of
repetitions...that's pretty much it.  Seems like a simple idea, but is this
something an 8657B can even do reasonably?  I'm thinking of settling time
each time it has to change frequency and how that might limit a sweep
function.

        Oh and in case anyone is wondering...a sweep function wasn't on the
list for a generator, I'm just interested in using GPIB to get one if it
can be done without a lot of fuss.

          Dennis

-- 
"If they trust you, it is an extraordinary privilege, and you simply can't
abuse it."
      - A. Alan Post  1914-2011.  California Legislative Analyst 1949-1977.

-------------------------
Dennis L. Wade
KG6ZI
Carmichael, CA