[time-nuts] Cannot Command RFTGm-II-Rb / RFTGm-II-XO

[Patrick Murphy]

I have recently acquired a used Lucent RFTGm-II-Rb and XO. The set came
assembled with cables and frame, so I am pretty sure everything is hooked
together correctly. I have powered both units, and after a few hours I have
the green "Online" light lit on the REF-0 (Rb) and the yellow "Standby"
light lit on the REF-1 (XO). I am watching serial traffic via two
RS422<->USB adapters. After switching a couple of wires around, I am seeing
TCODE data from both units on the RX side at the PC. I have a clean 15MHz
waveform and 2 ugly 10MHz waveforms from the Rb, and PPS from both units.
All seems well so far.

I'd like to hook them up to two instances of Lady Heather and see what is
going on. The problem is that I cannot interrupt the TCODE stream to put
the device into SCPI mode. I have tried commands like ":ptim:tcod:cont 0"
(also "ptim:tcod:cont 0", without the leading ":") and variants of
":SYST:STAT?". Both modules just ignore them.

I have a bootable Linux partition. I guess I can load up WINE and try the
somewhat dated "RFTG.EXE". That seems a little extreme, especially if I
need to repeat that every time I need to restart the RFTGs.

Any suggestions what I should try next before I go the Linux route? Surely
there is some command or secret handshake I am just missing.

Thanks!

-Patrick Murphy