Installation and
Quick Start Instructions
for
Matrix CATV Equipment Control Program
Version 4.3
(ASX-16, AFS-12, R-75/76, et al)
for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95
******************************************************************
© Copyright 1995 - 1998 Matrix Test Equipment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This information is intended to provide guidance and useful tips in the installation and operation of the Matrix Test Equipment CATV Equipment Control (ASX16) software. It is not a comprehensive document on the detailed aspects of the software. Specific help on the operation of the ASX16 control programs may be obtained by selecting the HELP menu and then the CONTENTS item or by pressing the F1 function key and using the mouse to navigate through the descriptions of the functions.
Matrix Test Equipment, Inc.
200 Wood Avenue
Middlesex, New Jersey 08846
Phone: (732) 469-9510
Fax: (732) 469-0418
Our World Wide Web address is: www.matrixtest.com
E-Mail for Software Technical Support: software_support@matrixtest.com
==========================
1.6.2 National Instruments NI-488.2:
1.6.3 Hewlett-Packard HPIB board:
1.6.3.2 HP 82340B Interface and SICL Libraries
1.6.4 IOtech Micro 488/P Serial Module:
1.7 Supported Measurement Instruments
1.8 Customizing the USER.INI File
2.1 Startup and Hardware Simulation
2.2.1.1 Multiple Module Control
2.2.2 ASX16 Setup and initialization
2.2.3.1 Notes on Base Leveling the ASX16 Generators
2.2.3.2 Notes on Frequency Trim Calibration of the ASX16 Generators
2.2.4 Notes on Setting Carriers to Flat or Tilt patterns
2.2.5 Selecting Filters From the CATV Control Program
2.3.1 Description of What Happens When a Plan is Selected
2.3.3 Automatic Execution of ASX Commands on Plan Selection
2.3.3.1 Wild Card Character to select all channels in a Plan
2.4 Automatic Distortion Measurements
To successfully install and use all the software included in this package, you will need a hard disk with at least 2 megabytes (MB) of free disk space. The setup program will not install the software unless this minimum configuration is available.
To successfully operate this software you will need at least 8 MB of RAM (16 MB preferred). The setup program will not install the software unless this minimum memory configuration is available.
1.1.3 PC Platform and Windows Operating System Version
This software requires Windows 3.1 or later on an IBM 486 or higher compatible PC. It will run on Windows 95 in the 16 bit mode.
The PC's video must have a resolution of at least 640 X 480 and 16 colors to run properly. Screen colors will look better and more solid at color resolution settings greater than 256 colors(> 8 bits).
The ASX16 Control software will work with the CEC PC<>488, National Instruments NI-488.2, Hewlett Packard HP 82335B and HP SICL I/O for HP 82340 and HP82341 Series HPIB Interfaces, or Iotech Micro 488/P Serial IEEE 488, NB488 parallel, and GP488 IEEE488 interfaces.
1.2 Saving and Restoring Your Data Files
If this is the first installation of the Manual Control Panel Program on your computer, skip ahead to the Installation Procedures section.
If you have previously installed and used the Manual Control Panel Program, you have probably created one or more Control Panel Program data files. These files will NOT be overwritten when the new version is installed in the same directory as your previous version, but you may wish to make copies anyway for safety.
Before installing the new version of the program, copy your data files to an empty formatted floppy diskette. To do this, type the following instructions (these instructions assume your Manual Control Panel Program is installed in the C:\ASX16 directory, and that you will be saving your data to drive A:). You may also want to copy these files to a new directory to which you will be installing an upgraded version of the CATV Control software. In that case, substitute the name of the directory the upgrade is to be installed in, for "A:" below.
C:
CD \ASX16
COPY USER.INI A:
COPY *.BLV A:
COPY *.CFG A:
COPY *.LVL A:
COPY *.FRQ A:
COPY *.TOF A:
If you do not have a Model ASX-16B or ASX-16C, you may eliminate the ".BLV" and ".FRQ" lines.
In the event you need to restore your data files, from the floppy diskette, type the following instructions.
C:
CD \Name of directory where software is or is to be installed
COPY A:*.* or COPY A:filename.xxx
where filename is a specific filename and xxx is a
file type suffix for one of the data file types listed above that
you would like to restore.
The Matrix CATV Equipment Control software set ("The Control Program") is provided on floppy diskettes, usually in the 3.5-inch format. Insert diskette number 1 in your A: or B: drive. The instructions given here assume that you will be using the A: drive. Modify the instructions if you use another drive.
| The SETUP.EXE program attempts to load into your computer, every file your computer needs to run the Matrix CATV Equipment Control Program. If the executable program to be installed is NOT newer than the one already installed, it does not overwrite it. It does not overwrite any existing configuration files that you have created for calibration of the equipment. The SETUP.EXE program will not damage any of the critical files in your computer. Special drivers for IEEE interface boards should be installed separately. Note that at any time you wish to abort the installation, just click CANCEL. |
1) Start Windows, for Windows 3.1: use the pull-down "File" option from the Program Manager, and select "Run." Alternatively, you can hold down the "Alt" key, then press the "F", then the "R" key. If you are using Windows 95: click on "START" in the lower left of the "Desktop" window, then click on Run.In the appropriate box on the screen, type the following to run the installation program: A:\SETUP.EXE . Click on the "OK" button. Windows will now run the SETUP.EXE program which is contained on the floppy diskette.
2) A Welcome screen will appear describing the version that will be installed. Click "Next" to proceed with the installation. If you wish to abort the installation click "Cancel".
3) The setup program will ask you for the name of the directory into which it should place the files. It will suggest: C:\CATVxx, where xx is a 2 digit number representing the version number, under which to install the ASX16 executable file, all of its initialization and calibration data files and the diagnostic programs. It is recommended to use the suggested directory in order to easily identify the software version you are using. If you are upgrading the software and already have created configuration and calibration files, it will be necessary to manually copy these files to the directory that you have installed the new software. (See Section 1.2 Saving and Restoring your Data Files). If you select the directory of your old version, you will not have to copy these files, but you will have to re-install your old program to revert back to your previous version. To select a different directory to install the software, click on the browse button and either select a directory from the list or type in the path to a folder in which to install the software.
| The setup program will look for these files, and if the executable file on your hard drive, is the same or a later version, it will not overwrite it. If you wish to install an older version over an existing program, or restore the current version, then delete the program executable file ASX16.exe before installing the software. The setup procedure will NOT overwrite the configuration or calibration data files, mentioned in the first section, if they already exist. |
| To install new data files, (i.e. the .CFG, .BLV, .LVL, etc. files described in an earlier section) any existing ones must first be removed from the ASX16 directory. Note: installation disks shipped with a Matrix generator will contain the configuration, and calibration data files for that generator. Disks distributed for demonstration purposes will contain a sample set of files. |
Click "Next" to proceed with the installation. If you wish to abort the installation click "Cancel.
4) You will see a menu to select an IEEE interface (See Fig. 2). This will provide the setup program with information to automatically set up your USER.INI file with the correct interface configuration, and to create a windows icon to the manual diagnostic software, if selected and available, for the communications interface you will be using . The default is the Capital Equipment Corp. interface. Select one of the GPIB interfaces supported by the software. If your interface does not appear here, then you may not be able to control the Matrix equipment with this software. If you don’t know which interface you will be using, or if you are only installing for demonstration purposes, select "Don't Know".
Fig. 2
Click "Next" to proceed with the installation. If you wish to abort the installation click "Cancel".
5) At the Select Components dialog you have the following installation: Install CATV Equipment Control, and Install Manual Diagnostics Programs. If you accept the default with both options checked a full installation will occur, with the CATV Control program, initialization and sample calibration data files, only if they do not already exist, the on-line documentation files, and manual diagnostic programs all being installed. To install only one of the components, check the box next to the one to be installed.
Click "Next" to proceed with the installation or "Cancel" to abort the installation.
6) You will be prompted for the window group name. You may accept the default: "Matrix Software", or select or enter a different windows group under which to store the program icons. (If you are upgrading from a previous version of the ASX16 software, you will find the program icons in this new group. If you wish to have the icons created in your old group name, then replace the default with the name of your current group.)
Click "Next" to proceed with the installation or "Cancel" to abort the installation.
After the files from diskette 1 are installed you will be prompted to "Insert disk number two." Insert this disk and then click OK.
7) When the "The installation completed" message window appears, click Finish to complete the installation.
The initialization file for the ASX16 program is USER.INI. This file contains all of the profile information modifiable through the Setup menu choice from the main panel of the ASX16 program. It is possible to view and change this file via a standard text editor, but care must be used to preserve its format. See paragraph 1.8 for more information on doing this. It is highly recommended that a backup copy be made of the USER.INI file if you plan to make any changes this way. If this file is corrupted, the ASX16 program will not startup properly.
You can archive a number of versions of the USER.INI file by renaming the USER.INI file as CONFn.CFG where n is the next higher number of any other files with this name pattern and modifying the first line of the file with a text editor to identify the data file. By using this naming convention it will appear on the list of available setup files in the Setup Panel.
1.4.2 Configuration and Calibration Data Files
The special files used by the ASX16 program to hold calibration and setup data are:
BASLn.BLV - Base level calibration data files.
FREQn.FRQ - Frequency trim calibration data for each module.
FREQn.FRP - Frequencies read from a frequency measuring device - along with the target randomized values and deviation of resulting measured frequency from the designated channel frequency.
CONFn.CFG - Alternate USER.INI setup files
LEVLn.LVL - The Carrier leveling data for flat or tilt patterns. Ver. 4.2 also includes the attenuator setting at which the level data were saved.
AFSn.CFG - AFS Filter Frequency assignments
TOFFn.TOF - Contains "turn off" status of selected carriers to turn off in Distortion Test Setup panel, where n is an integer to distinguish between different file versions.
SCRIPT.INI - Defines the data columns to be displayed in the Distortion Test screen - See Distortion Measurement Script Control section.
FOLDERS/DIRECTORIES (Created as necessary)
SCRIPT - Contains the user created spectrum analyzer script files to be run by the Distortion Measurement Control Program function.
RESULTS - The folder where distortion measurement results are stored when SAVE is selected.
LEVEL - Contains data files from the Module Linearity Test functions.
1.4.3 Other files installed during setup
During installation of the ASX16 software various .OCX (Visual Basic Extension) and library files will be loaded to the Windows System directory if they are newer than those found. The WIN488.DLL (Capital Equipment Corp. GPIB interface library) is installed if it does not exist already on your hard disk, and Capital Equipment interface is selected during installation. The GPIB files usually come with the communication board, and you should use the software that comes with the hardware to ensure compatibility.
After the SETUP.EXE program is finished, your Windows screen will contain a Matrix Software program group. Double click the Matrix CATV Equipment Control program icon, marked with a small version of the program's Main Screen, to run the program to control the Matrix equipment. There will be an icon called ReadASX which when double clicked will present installation and operational notes -- the same information in this document. Another icon, CATV HELP when double clicked will display help in using the CATV Equipment Control program. If installed, the Manual Diag Prog (Interface) icon (where Interface is one of the selected IEEE interface boards) when double clicked will run the manual diagnostics program from DOS. In addition, a DIAG HELP icon can be double clicked to provide help in selecting and running the diagnostic program in DOS. For Windows 95, the software may be run by selecting the START/PROGRAMS/MATRIX SOFTWARE menu item and then position the mouse over the CATV Equipment Control Program entry and click.
Each of the four available IEEE-488 interfaces has some peculiar characteristics which can cause "The Control Program" to malfunction. In general, once you get an interface to work properly, it will continue to work without any problems. The problems to watch for are:
Although this is the most reliable and trouble-free of the interfaces, you must follow the installation instructions (which come with the board) to set its DIP switches correctly. An improper setting can create address conflicts which interfere with other plug-in boards in your computer.
1.6.2 National Instruments NI-488.2:
Before you use this board, follow the installation instructions that come with the National Instruments board. We have received reports that the NI board does not work well with some of the older HPIB equipment, which were designed by Hewlett-Packard before the IEEE-488 standard was established. Because of potential interrupt request conflicts, the NI board seems to work, in a "fully-stuffed" computer, only if the NI board's interrupt request setting is: "NOT USED."
You may select the National Instruments interface from the System Setup panel when using the NI PCMCIA GPIB card for laptops.
1.6.3 Hewlett-Packard HPIB boards:
Before you use this board, you should check the DIP switch settings to be sure there are no hardware conflicts. After setting the switches, you must modify your computer's CONFIG.SYS file, as explained in the HP manual. For many users, this involves adding the following line to the CONFIG.SYS file:
DEVICE=C:\DOS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS X=DC00-DFFF
This board is not recommended on Pentiums or on very fast 486 PCs as it is unable to fully keep up with their speed. If the board does not come up in system controller mode, then it is an indication that their is a timing problem. However, there is an HP utility that can be run to make it come up in system controller mode. The HP 82335B will partially work on these faster computers, but it will work erratically, and is not recommended if any automatic leveling is planned to be done.
1.6.3.2 HP 82340B Interface and SICL Libraries
After installing the HP SICL software drivers, you must configure the board parameters. Follow the directions from the manufacturer to invoke the configuration utility. You MUST select "hpib7" as the logical name for the board. The GPIB address must not conflict with any other device on the bus. You should also be careful with the IRQ and Base Address settings so that they do not conflict with any other peripherals in your PC. The Base Address setting must also be consistent with the switch settings on your GPIB board.
1.6.4 IOtech Micro 488/P Serial Module:
This module is designed to operate with very low power, and does not contain its own power source. It "steals" its power from the data lines of the computer's serial interface. Because of this, the IOtech module has a very limited drive capability. You should use the shortest possible serial and IEEE-488 cables, and you should have no more than three peripherals on the IEEE-488 bus. Before attempting to use the IOtech module with "The Control Program," you must set up the serial port using the Windows "Control Panel" "Ports" "Settings" "Advanced..." to set up the "Base I/O Port Address" and "Interrupt Request Line" which match your computer's hardware. You cannot use the same serial port for the IOtech module as you use for your computer's "mouse." Make sure that the interrupt request line of your serial interface does not conflict with the interrupts used by other plug-in cards.
Be advised that once communications has failed between the computer's serial port and the Micro 488/P, there is no way for software recovery of the Micro 488/P. The only known way to recover is to unplug the Micro 488/P from the computer's serial port for a few seconds, allowing the circuitry inside the Micro 488/P to power-down. Because of this, the Micro 488/P cannot use the Manual Control Panel Program to control a Model AR-12, R-76, or R-76 unless an ASX-16 or ASX-16B is present on the IEEE-488 bus.
WINDOWS 95 NOTE: When using Windows 95 make sure that the COM port is configured with FIFO buffering enabled, if the PC is capable of this, to prevent port over-run.
1.6.5 IOtech Micro 488 serial interface handling fixed
In version 2.3 of the CATV Equipment Control (ASX16 Control Panel) program, buffer control was enhanced for improved performance of the IO Tech serial IEEE bus controller interface
It has been discovered when using this interface device with HP 8590A spectrum analyzers that the Micro 488 bus controller hangs up causing program timeouts. This was attempted to be fixed in version 2.5, but assurance cannot be made of it working properly due to the unpredictable, and erratic nature of this problem.
1.6.6 IOtech IEEE 488 interfaces added
The NB488 is designed to attach to the parallel port of laptop computers and offers improved throughput versus the serial bus controller. The proper windows IEEE interface driver files must be installed and configured and the default device named "wave" must be present in the configuration. The 4-bit parallel interface configuration may have to be specified for the NB488 parallel interface bus controller. The IN and OUT termination characters should be set to CRLF which is the default. The Matrix software will dynamically establish the necessary driver configuration for the different devices it uses such as ASX16, spectrum analyzer, etc.
If the CATV program terminates abnormally, the IOtech software drivers may be left in memory and you may see a message: "Cannot set address for ASX...". To resolve this, either look for the task "Driver 488" and terminate it before starting the CATV program, or if already started, exit the CATV program normally and then restart it after correcting the bus communication problem.
1.7 Supported Measurement Instruments
The following instruments can be used for automated generator calibration and carrier leveling.
HP 8560E series, includes HP 8590A, 8591C, 8591E, 8593E
HP 8568B, includes HP 8566B (note select group type HP 8568BL if using the 75 ohm (left side) input or select HP 8568BR if using the 50 ohm (right side) input)
HP 70000, all analyzers in that series with ROM version 7.04 or greater. (select input channel 1 for 75 ohm input or input channel 2 for 50 ohm input)
Rohde & Schwarz FSE family of spectrum analyzers
HP 436A (Tested with sensor model 8481A)
HP 437B, includes HP 438A (Tested with sensor model 8481A), HP EPM-441A
Gigatronics GIGA8540 series, includes Gigatronics 8541B, 8541C single sensor (Sensor model 80320A)
HP 5316B
HP 53181A
HP 70000 is really a spectrum analyzer but can be selected for measuring frequency by the frequency calibration program
1.8 Customizing the USER.INI File
The installation process places several files in the selected directory. One of these is the "USER.INI" file, which determines how "The Control Program" will operate with your equipment. For major changes, you will probably want to customize the USER.INI file using a word processor program or similar text-editing software. For minor changes, you can use the System Setup mode of "The Control Program" to customize the USER.INI file. To activate this mode, click on System Setup on the menu at the top of the main screen. When the System Setup screen is displayed, select the Channel Setup tab to change channel assignment parameters. Use the Help file for full instructions. To activate the Help file, click the mouse on any box you want to learn about, or use the tab key to highlight a command button without causing the action to take place, then press the "F1" key.
Instructions are provided in a later section for using a word processor to customize the USER.INI file.
1.8.1 Setup automatically invoked on initialization
The System Setup panel is displayed if an invalid device name (IEEE interface, spectrum analyzer, power meter, or frequency counter), or an invalid COM port is detected during initialization. If you are not sure of the valid code values to enter for the Interface=, SAGroup=, or FCGroup= parameters below, you may leave the string to the right of the "=" blank and "The Control Program" Setup screen will appear during the initialization step when you run the Matrix CATV Equipment Control program. The Setup screen will permit you to select a valid code from the list, and when you click on Return, it will complete the program initialization. Defaults will be selected for all invalid or missing parameters if a selection is not made. The IEEE interface defaults to VIRTUAL mode after which all subsequent operations will be simulated..
The Setup screen will also be invoked at startup when the number of modules defined in the USER.INI file does not agree with the specified number of expected modules. In this event, a message will first display indicating the number of modules that were counted did not agree with the expected count, and the count was changed to agree with the counted number of modules.
1.8.2 Using a Word Processor to Change the USER.INI File
A simple USER.INI file is shown here for an ASX-16B with five channels. The USER.INI file for your generator (ASX-16 series) will be nearly identical.
The USER.INI file is shown here in two columns. The left-hand column does not appear in a real USER.INI file, and is shown here for reference purposes only. Also for reference purposes only, those lines and characters which should not be altered are indicated in bold print.
For the current software version, a general purpose text file editor such as NotePad, WordPad, or Dos Edit may be easier for inserting or deleting channel entries in the middle of the frequency plan list in the USER.INI. For all other items, it is preferable to use the program controlled Setup screen to ensure proper selections of the configuration data.
1 USER.INI
2 [IEEE-488]
3 Interface=CEC
4 Port=COM1
5 [PowerDevice]
6 PDevice=Spectrum Analyzer
7 PIeeeAddress=18
7A SAIeeeAddress=18 (Spectrum Analyzer GPIB Address – added in DTS-C V1.1 and CATV Equipment V2.6 control software)
7B PMIeeeAddress=13 (Power Meter GPIB Address – added in DTS-C V1.1 and CATV Equipment V2.6 control software)
8 SAGroup=HP8560E
8A SAInChan=1 (Only in CATV program version 2.5 and later)
9 PMGroup=HP436A
9A PMimped = 50 (Power Meter impedance added in V3.1)
10 [FreqDevice]
11 FIeeeAddress=20
12 FCGroup=HP5316B
12A FCInChan=1 (Only in CATV program version 2.5 and later)
12B FRQInCmd=GFIN (CATV V4.2 and later)
12C FRQOutCmd=GFOUT (CATV V4.2 and later)
13 [ASX-16]
14 ASXIeeeAddress=24
15 ASXMaxChan=5
16 1 =55.25[=65] 2nd "=" optional - used to map Dist. Anal chan to ASX chan - V4.0
17 2 =61.25[=] Note: [, and ] are not typed, only used to indicate optional field
18 3 =67.25[=81]
19 4 =77.25[=] When no channel specified after "=", then assume Dist Analyzer chan maps to ASX chan
20 5 =83.25 When "=" omitted, chan is skipped in Dist. Anal. Program - V4.0
21 ASXMaxdBmV=48
22 ASXFreqtol=10
23 ASXRFRes=1
24 ASXModulation=15750
25 ASXMod1KHz=False
26 SafeStart=1
27 [Multi Plan] (Added in V3.0 for specifying multiple frequency plans)
28 Combine1=conf1.cfg=basl0.blv=A (ASX command scripting capability added in V3.1)
28A Plan1=conf2.cfg=basl1.blv=AA=QOFF;P0;A15;C*=levl2.lvl (ASX command script - V3.1; Level File V4.2)
28B Plan2=conf3.cfg=basl2.blv=AB=P*;A20;FH*,550;C42 (ASX command script - V3.1)
28C (Standard Gen1)=conf4.cfg=NOBLV=A=M* (ASX command capability - V3.1)
29 [Processing]
Line 1 is the name of the file.
Line 2 marks the beginning of the interface data.
Line 3 identifies the type of interface. The supported interfaces options for line 3 are:
CEC Capital Equipment Corp PC<>488
NI National Instruments NI-488.2
HP Hewlett-Packard 82335B HPIB
HPSICL HP Standard Instrument Control Library - HP82340 series
IOT IOtech Micro 488/P
NB488 IOtech NB488
GP488 Iotech GP488
VIRTUAL Virtual mode where generator operations are simulated
NOTE: If VIRTUAL is specified the software will not look for a generator but will simulate some of the operations of one.
Line 4 identifies the serial interface port to be used if the IOT serial interface is selected. For all other interfaces, the default is "COM1". The options are:
COM1 COM2
COM3 COM4
Line 5 marks the beginning of the power measuring device's data.
Line 6 indicates the type of device to be used for making RF power measurements. The options are:
Spectrum Analyzer
Power Meter
Line 7 indicates the IEEE-488 address of the specified device from line 6. If your system does not have a device for measuring RF power, use the default data, as shown in this example.
Line 7A specifies the IEEE-488 address for the Spectrum Analyzer. This entry is created if a USER.INI was created by an older program version, by using the value from line 7 if the device type described in line 6 is a Spectrum Analyzer.
Line 7B specifies the IEEE-488 address for the Power Meter. This entry is created if a USER.INI was created by an older program version, by using the value from line 7 if the device type described in line 6 is a Power Meter.
Lines 8 and 9 specify the Group Type for the Spectrum Analyzer and Power Meter, respectively. Information about Group Types is provided on the System Setup screen and in section 1.7.2 of this document.
Line 8A specifies the input channel for the spectrum analyzer if applicable.
Line 9A indicates power meter impedance – 50 ohm directs program to use + 47 to convert dbm to dbmv and 75 uses + 48.6 to convert to dbmv. This value is set to 75 only if the 75 ohm box is checked in the Setup screen
Line 10 marks the beginning of the frequency measuring device's data.
Line 11 indicates the IEEE-488 address of the frequency counter. If your system does not have a frequency counter, use the default data, as shown in this example.
Line 12 specifies the Group Type for the Frequency Counter. Information about Group Types is provided on the System Setup screen and in section 1.7.2 of this document.
Line 12A specifies input channel for frequency device if applicable.
Lines 12B - 12C Specifies the command to issue to insert or remove frequency counter from RF path.
Line 13 identifies the type of ASX-16 to be controlled. The options are:
[ASX-16]
[ASX-16B]
Line 14 indicates the IEEE-488 address of the ASX-16. If your system has more than one ASX-16 or ASX-16B (and, therefore, more than one ASX-16 IEEE-488 address) on its IEEE-488 bus, each ASX-16 will require a different USER.INI file.
Line 15 indicates the number of channels (generator modules) in the device specified in lines 13 and 14.
Line 16 indicates the data for the first channel (module) in the generator. The data to the left of the "=" provides the channel designation. In most ASX-16 and ASX-16B generators, the channels are identified as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, et cetera. In some models, the channels have custom designations, such as 160, 161, 162, 163, 2, 3, et cetera. Consult the table of frequencies channel designations which came with your ASX-16 or ASX-16B. The data to the right of the "=" indicates the nominal operating frequency of the channel. Some units are provided with special frequencies, such as 121.2495 MHz. If you have an ASX-16B channel with a special frequency, you should enter the accurate frequency.
The data to the right of the optional second "=" specifies the channel of the distortion analyzer that maps to the generator channel. If the second "=" is not present, then if the distortion analysis program is run in automatic mode, these channels will be ignored. Lines 16 and 18 cause module 1 and 3 to map to analyzer channel 65 and 81 respectively. Lines 17 and 19 in the example, map the distortion analyzer channels 2 and 4 to the same channels (2 and 4) as the generator. Line 20 (channel 5) is skipped in the automatic distortion analysis program because it does not have a second "=".
Line 17 through line 20 (in this example) contain the data for the remaining channels. The number of lines with channel data should equal the data entered in line 15.
(The lines indicated as lines 21 to 29 in this example will be placed at the end of the USER.INI file, right after the last line of data for the channels.)
Line 21 indicates the maximum RF output power available from a generator module. This level represents the most power obtainable from a module with 0 dB in the RF attenuator and with the module set for its highest operating level. This value is not critical, and is used for reference purposes, only.
Line 22 indicates the desired frequency tolerance (in parts per million) to be used for the frequency trim calibration, for the model ASX-16B only, for those units equipped with a frequency counter. For all other units, use the default value as shown in this example.
Line 23 indicates the resolution of the RF attenuator. In most units, the RF attenuator moves in 1 dB steps. For those units with a 0.5 dB option, this value will allow access to that feature. The available options are: 1, 0.5
Line 24 indicates the frequency (in hertz) of the modulation frequency available in the ASX-16 or ASX-16B. Most units are equipped with 15.750 KHz, as shown here.
Line 25 indicates, for the Model ASX-16B portion of a Model DTS, whether the 1 KHz modulation option has been installed. The options are:
True, False
Line 26 indicates whether to leave the modules on or to turn them off, when starting the program. When SafeStart=1 the modules will be left on, but when SafeStart=0 they will be turned off on startup.
Line 27 defines the section for multiple frequency plan parameters. The presence of the [Multi Plan] group and at least one plan description enables the Load Frequency Plan control box to be displayed on the Main Panel. Up to 16 frequency plan entries may be entered.
Lines 28-28C describes the frequency plans. The format is:
Plan Description=Configuration File=Base Level Data File=Attenuator Control Command for plan group=ASX Generator Command String=Level Data File
Definition of the components of the plan entries:
Plan Description - the description (up to 13 characters that must NOT contains an "=") that will display in the Load Frequency Plan Control located on the lower right portion of the CATV Equipment Control Program Main Screen. If the first 7 characters of the Plan Description contain the characters "COMBINE", then the split bands will be combined, otherwise the SPLIT command to separate the carriers by frequency bands will be issued. In the examples on lines 27 - 28C, the plan descriptions are: Combine1, Plan1, Plan2, and (Standard Gen1). If your generator does not have the SPLIT/COMBINE feature, enclose the Plan Descriptions in
"( )" for proper operation.Configuration File - is the name of a file under the \ASX16 directory that contains the module identifier numbers and the frequencies for the specified plan. It contains the same information as the USER.INI file and is typically named CONFn.CFG where n is a sequential integer. In the examples on lines 27 - 28C, the configuration files are: conf1.cfg, conf2.cfg, conf3.cfg, and conf4.cfg. Note: conf0.cfg cannot be used and the software will not accept plans with conf0.
Base Level Calibration Data - a file that contains the base level steps to base level the generator. If no base level file is to be loaded then NOBLV must be entered. In the examples, the base level file entries are: basl0.blv, basl1.blv, basl2.blv, and NOBLV. Note that for the (Standard Gen1) plan no base level files will be loaded and no COMBINE or SPLIT commands will be issued.
Attenuator Control Command - the Matrix command to control the RF Attenuators for a frequency band. This command depends on the specific generator. In the examples, the attenuator commands that will be used for the listed plans are: A, AA, AB and A respectively.
ASX Generator Command String- a string of valid ASX16 or ASX16B commands separated by ";". These commands are executed automatically when the corresponding plan is loaded. The pseudo wild card character "*" can be used to specify all modules in a plan for commands that require a module number. In the example, Line 28A will cause all the carriers in the generator to be turned off, the attenuator to be set to 15 and all carriers in Plan1 to be turned on. Line 28B turns off modules specified in Plan 2, sets the attenuator to 20, sets the power level for all modules in Plan 2 to 550 steps, and turns on channel 42 in CW. Line 28C will put all channels in the (standard Gen1) plan into the modulation state.
Level Data File - a file that contains the carrier level step and attenuator settings to set the levels of all modules in the frequency plan automatically when the plan is selected. An entry of NOLEV, instead of the file name, will leave the levels unchanged. In line 28A in the example (Plan1),the levl2.lvl file will be loaded when Plan1 is selected.
Line 29 indicates that all the USER.INI data has been read, and that "The Program" should now begin processing the data.
