Welcome to the KE5FX GPIB Toolkit!


The KE5FX GPIB Toolkit is a collection of free Windows utilities that will help you make and record research-quality measurements with GPIB-based electronic test equipment.

This is version 1.18 of the Toolkit, released August 24, 2006. The latest release is always available for downloading here.

The GPIB Toolkit is provided with full C++ source code for public- and private-sector, educational and Amateur Radio / hobbyist use. Comments and feedback are always welcome.

John Miles, KE5FX
[email protected]



7470.EXE

7470.EXE is a Win32-based emulator for the HP 7470A plotter. See its User Guide for more information.



PN.EXE

PN.EXE is an automated phase-noise measurement utility for the Tektronix 490P/2750P series, HP 8566, HP 8567, HP 8568, HP 8560A/E, HP 8590, and HP 70000 series spectrum analyzers. See its User Guide for more information.



SSM.EXE

SSM.EXE is a spectrum surveillance monitor application for the Tektronix 490P/2750P series, HP 8566, HP 8567, HP 8568, HP 8569B, and HP 8560/8590/70000-series spectrum analyzers. See its User Guide for more information.


Win32 Console Applications

By default, the following utilities are installed with the rest of the GPIB Toolkit executables in the C:\Program Files\KE5FX\GPIB directory.

PARSE.EXE is a simple command-line utility that allows you to inspect HP-GL files by dumping their instructions to stdout.

QUERY.EXE is a standalone GPIB query utility intended for diagnostic purposes and batch/shortcut files.

TALK.EXE is a standalone GPIB command-transmission utility intended for diagnostic purposes and batch/shortcut files.

5345A.EXE and 5370B.EXE are two example programs that show how to communicate via GPIB with the HP 5345A and HP 5370B frequency counters, respectively.

PRINTHPG.EXE sends a plotter data file (.PLT, .HPG, etc.) to the default DOS printer (PRN device). This printer should be an HP LaserJet or compatible model that supports legacy HP-GL commands. Other printers can be used by 7470.EXE, but the bitmaps printed by 7470.EXE will lack the resolution and fidelity obtainable by sending the plotter file directly to a genuine HP-GL-compatible printer.

If you have a LaserJet and want the best-quality black-and-white output possible, PRINTHPG.EXE is the way to go. Note that even LaserJets don't support some HP-GL features, like UC (User Character) opcodes! If your instrument relies on these, you'll need to use 7470.EXE to render its plots and print them as fixed-resolution bitmaps.


Example HP-GL/2 (.PLT) and Phase Noise Plot (.PNP) Files

The C:\Program Files\KE5FX\GPIB directory also contains two subdirectories, Composite noise baseline plots and Sample HPGL files. These two subdirectories contain a variety of .PNP and .PLT files that can be loaded and displayed by PN.EXE and 7470.EXE, respectively.


Released into the public domain 16-Dec-05 by John Miles, KE5FX.
Please contact [email protected] with feedback and enhancements!

Code compilable with any version of MSVC from VS6 to VS2005.NET, including the free Microsoft Visual Studio Express package
No warranties, expressed or implied, are offered with this program.
Use at your own risk!