Manual - 8500A Series Peak Power Meter - Giga-tronics

Series 8500A Peak Power Meters
Plot Output Mode
In this mode the PPM sends HPGL plotter commands to plot a pulse on a compatible plotter. The PPM
command PLOT initiates the capturing of a pulse and relevant information that will be plotted when the
PPM enters TACS. The procedure to plot a graph over the GPIB consists of the following steps:
1. Prepare the PPM by entering the Graph Mode and obtaining the desired pulse profile to be
plotted as shown in the PPM’s display window. Also select which sub-mode you want because
the data shown on the plot is different for each sub-mode. For example, selecting the Marker
sub-mode will cause the marker values to be shown at the bottom of the plot.
2. Send the PLOT command to the PPM.
3. Listen-address the plotter.
4. Talk-address the PPM.
5. Release ATN, putting the PPM in TACS.
The PPM will terminate the plot with a carriage return followed by a line feed sent with EOI. If
necessary, the plot can be aborted by the untalking of the PPM during transmission of the plot.
Whenever the PLOT command is sent to the PPM while it is in the Graph Mode, the PPM will plot a
graph of the selected Cursor, Pulse, or Marker sub-mode. See Figures 2-8, 2-10 and 2-9 for typical plots
of Graph sub-mode pulse profiles.
The following commands are used when it is desired to have any serial or code numbers appear on a
hardcopy plot.
PLPNxxxxxx......
(x = string of 12 or less characters
Plot part number, ASCII string)
PLCNxxxxxx......
(x = string of 12 or less characters
Plot code number, ASCII string)
Any printable character is allowed, including spaces, except that all leading spaces prior to the first
non-space character are stripped off, and not included in the number of characters in the string. The
string must be terminated by a semicolon which is not printed. Therefore, no semicolons can be
contained within a label string.
Sample Program:
10 ! THIS PROGRAM DEMONSTRATES
20 ! HOW TO MAKE THE PPM OUTPUT
30 ! A PULSE PROFILE DISPLAYED
40 ! IN THE GRAPH MODE TO A
50 ! DIGITAL PLOTTER.
60 !
70 ! C$ AND P$ ARE STRINGS
80 ! THAT CAN BE SENT SO THAT A
90 ! CODE NUMBER & PART NUMBER
100 ! ARE PRINTED ON THE PLOT BY
110 ! THE PPM.
120 !
130 C$=ABCDEFGHIJKL
140 P$=123456789012
150
160 ! AFTER ENTRY INTO THE GRAPH
170 ! MODE, THE FOLLOWING
3-8 Manual No. 20790, Rev C, November 1998
Superceded by Revision D, March 2009