Communication With The System - Agilent Technologies 8560E User Manual

Agilent technologies 8560 e-series and ec-series spectrum analyzers

Table of Contents

Communication with the System

This section develops some fundamental techniques for controlling the

spectrum analyzer and obtaining reliable measurement results. The

spectrum analyzer is remotely controlled with commands that

correspond to front-panel softkey functions.

It is important to understand how messages are communicated to the

spectrum analyzer; therefore, enter and output statements and

command syntax discussed in this chapter should be understood before

proceeding. HP BASIC is used for all examples in this manual.

Executing Remote Commands

The computer communicates with the spectrum analyzer system on the

General Purpose Interface Bus (GPIB), using HP BASIC OUTPUT and

ENTER statements.

An OUTPUT statement tells the computer to send a message to the

spectrum analyzer. For example, executing the statement below sets

the center frequency to 300 MHz and the frequency span to 1 MHz.