[time-nuts] HP5335A GPIB questions.

[Luke Mester]

I recently bought a HP5335A counter and have some questions about operating
the instrument with GPIB.

 I expect that a lot of time nuts are using this instrument and may be able
to help. Please excuse me if this is a stupid question. This is my first
GPIB instrument.

After each GPIB command that I send I've found that I then need to send an
RE (reset) command. If I Don't send RE the instrument takes no readings and
has a blank display. For example I send FN9 to select period and  get no
readings until RE is sent. Is this normal?

I'm currently talking to it with a USB to GPIB adapter and a terminal
program.

Since I had no idea if the GPIB interface was functional I didn't want to
buy an expensive GPIB adapter. I build the cheapest GPIB adapter that I
could find on the internet. It's possible that this is causing problems.

It emulates a Prologix adapter. Here is a link if you're interested.
HTTP://http://www.dalton.ax/gpib/
I've found that this adapter does not properly report the serial control
line status. Because of this, Timelab won't detect the GPIB adapter.

You can get Timelab to work if you choose the "Acquire from counter in talk
only mode" option.







-- 
Luke Mester
http://mesterhome.com/