Author Topic: Spectrum Analyzer - Rigol DSA815 (Read 622936 times)

Tom D · « **Reply #400 on:** January 03, 2015, 12:27:58 pm »

A couple of days ago, out of curiosity, and feeling somewhat adventurous after imbibing copious amounts of amber liquid seeing in the New Year (yeah-yeah... I know - alcohol and test equipment don't mix), I decided to try and update (or more correctly, downgrade) my machine back to firmware v1.09 from v1.12. Firmware v1.09 was the firmware I was having trouble updating to from v1.08, months ago. There was no way back then that I could get v1.09 to run, I tried everything; multiple USB sticks of various sizes formatted with FAT, FAT32, many, many times - the machine just refused to boot after updating; it would hang with the TG and Auto buttons illluminated, but would not go any further. My unit has bootloader v1.02.

I initially considered sending my analyzer back for a warranty repair thinking there may have been a problem with it, but then decided against that and chose to stick with firmware version v1.08 until a newer firmware became available, which is the current v1.12.

Surprisingly, downgrading from v1.12, I was able to install v1.09 via the operating system of the analyzer (the Rigol update procedure) and it booted up without any problem at all; there was no hangup at boot with the TG and Auto buttons being illuminated, like there was when I was updating from v1.08 to v1.09, or updating to v1.09 from any one of the earlier firmware revisions I have (v1.06, v1.07, and v1.08). Whatever was preventing v1.09 from being installed properly was cleared after updating to v1.12.

The tracking generator only goes down to -20dbm on my unit with FW v1.09, (as it always had with all the previous versions of firmware including the original v1.05) unlike the -30dbm some others on the forum can have with v1.09. I suspect there's an anomaly or bug in the v1.09 firmware that affects certain hardware combinations allowing dropping of the TG output level to -30dbm on some machines, which is probably why Rigol addressed that in firmware v1.12. Anyway, I have again updated to the latest FW 1.12 without any problem. The "Version of Digital Board FPGA" was updated to 00.05 with firmware v1.12, whereas it became 00.04 when I downgraded to FW v1.09.

Tom

KD0RC · « **Reply #401 on:** January 03, 2015, 02:48:43 pm »

Quote from: Howardlong on January 03, 2015, 11:11:05 am

Just to add, the TG default power level on the unit in question is -20dBm, I have to wind it down to -30dBm.

So Howard, do you think it might be related to the key used when hacking the SA? The DSA 832 and DSA 875 allow the value to go down to ~~-30 and~~ -40 dBm ~~respectively~~, so it is likely available to the DSA 815 if we just knew how to hack it.

Len

EDIT: Both the 832 and 875 go down to -40dBm

Howardlong · « **Reply #402 on:** January 03, 2015, 04:53:54 pm »

Quote from: KD0RC on January 03, 2015, 02:48:43 pm

Quote from: Howardlong on January 03, 2015, 11:11:05 am
Just to add, the TG default power level on the unit in question is -20dBm, I have to wind it down to -30dBm.
So Howard, do you think it might be related to the key used when hacking the SA? The DSA 832 and DSA 875 allow the value to go down to ~~-30 and~~ -40 dBm ~~respectively~~, so it is likely available to the DSA 815 if we just knew how to hack it.

Len

EDIT: Both the 832 and 875 go down to -40dBm

The unit I'm familiar with is recent, and was shipped with a bootloader and firmware which doesn't work with the keys currently generated by Riglol etc.

Firetank · « **Reply #403 on:** January 03, 2015, 07:52:46 pm »

Hi all, this is my first post on the forum, recently i bought the DSA815 TG and it was installed with the Firmware 00.01.09 and this evening i have successful updated the latest firmware 00.01.12

Does anyone happen to update to this version and do you know what was added or fixed please.

Thanks

radiogeek97 · « **Reply #404 on:** January 04, 2015, 05:37:05 am »

tom d

what boot-loader version does your machine have ?

Tom D · « **Reply #405 on:** January 04, 2015, 07:25:40 am »

Quote from: radiogeek97 on January 04, 2015, 05:37:05 am

tom d

what boot-loader version does your machine have ?

Mine is an earlier machine with v1.02.

Quote from: Firetank on January 03, 2015, 07:52:46 pm

Does anyone happen to update to this version and do you know what was added or fixed please.

If you go back a page, Pinkus has listed the features/fixes in Reply #398.

Tom

Firetank · « **Reply #406 on:** January 04, 2015, 10:33:49 am »

Hi Tom D, many thanks for your prompt reply and also your help regarding the early post by pinkus which i missed as i said i am a newbie.

Looks like they made some good changes, i have bought the dsa815 just 10 days ago so i am still learning.

Here please find attached two pics of the shipped version and now with the latest firmware and you can notice what was changed.

Kind Regards

Ray

Tom D · « **Reply #407 on:** January 04, 2015, 10:58:12 am »

Hello, Ray, welcome to the EEVblog forum. I see that your "Version of Main Board" is 00.08, which makes me wonder if the hardware in these newer DSA 815 units is shared with the DSA 832.

Tom

Firetank · « **Reply #408 on:** January 04, 2015, 11:14:28 am »

Hello Tom D, well i dont know if this could be possible, although it always could be with some sort of software related ....

I am waiting to receive also the VB1020 VSWR kit which i ordered 2 days ago. It should be a great add on for my shack workshop.

I want to thank all contributors to this great informative forum, as i am finding a lot of useful information.

kado · « **Reply #409 on:** January 04, 2015, 11:56:38 am »

Hi,

please could anybody post a download-link for the new firmware?

thanks Karsten

Firetank · « **Reply #410 on:** January 04, 2015, 12:28:33 pm »

This is the latest Firmware upgrade ( Firmware 00.01.12) for the 815 tg, however i am no responsible for any damage cause with this upgrade for your unit.

I am saying this cause not all 815's board versions might take this update.

This update firmware was sent to me by Regol for my latest version of 815.

My main board version is 00.08

Hope this helps

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t5wprax8wmyuyr3/DSA815(DSP)update_00.01.12.00.02.zip?dl=0

kado · « **Reply #411 on:** January 04, 2015, 12:35:12 pm »

Hi Ray

thanks very much. I will give it a try.

My Boardversion is 00.04 with SN is DSA8A1616..... which tell that it is build in 16.th week of 2014!
There is a remarkable jump to 00.08 in the last past month of 2014.

Karsten

Firetank · « **Reply #412 on:** January 04, 2015, 01:49:43 pm »

Welcome Karsten, i hope it will work well, please keep us posted

Howardlong · « **Reply #413 on:** January 04, 2015, 02:34:19 pm »

Good that I can move backwards and forwards between 1.09 and 1.12 if necessary.

The re-writing of the FRAM time parameter appears to still work under 1.12, but I don't know about the other option of simply enabling the WP pin. ( https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/sniffing-the-rigol's-internal-i2c-bus/msg572507/#msg572507 )

As expected the TG minimum is -20dBm under 1.12, but if I regress back to 1.09 I can still choose -30dBm on the example hardware I have here.

KD0RC · « **Reply #414 on:** January 04, 2015, 04:09:39 pm »

Quote from: Howardlong on January 04, 2015, 02:34:19 pm

Good that I can move backwards and forwards between 1.09 and 1.12 if necessary.

The re-writing of the FRAM time parameter appears to still work under 1.12, but I don't know about the other option of simply enabling the WP pin. ( https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/sniffing-the-rigol's-internal-i2c-bus/msg572507/#msg572507 )

As expected the TG minimum is -20dBm under 1.12, but if I regress back to 1.09 I can still choose -30dBm on the example hardware I have here.

It would be interesting to compare the two load images to figure out which memory location controls the TG level. Then it could be re-written with the old value (and would then probably need a checksum re-calc...). This might even be a way to hack it to -40dBm like the 832 and 875 units. It would be really cool to get it to be a DSA 832! I wonder if it is the same board and components...

kado · « **Reply #415 on:** January 04, 2015, 05:54:16 pm »

Ray, for information

update 1.12 with your downloadlink is working well. Altough there seems to be a significant change in the mainboards between rev 00.04 to 00.07 and the newest 00.08:

my noisefloor (full span, conds same as posted from Howardlong) is only by -50 dB !!!

Are there any other guys with a new DSA815 (board rev. 07 or 08) who can tell us the same low noise level?

Karsten

Firetank · « **Reply #416 on:** January 04, 2015, 08:20:11 pm »

Karsten, i am glad you succeeded and its working well....

jc101 · « **Reply #417 on:** January 05, 2015, 05:02:52 pm »

Quote from: kado on January 04, 2015, 05:54:16 pm

Ray, for information

update 1.12 with your downloadlink is working well. Altough there seems to be a significant change in the mainboards between rev 00.04 to 00.07 and the newest 00.08:

my noisefloor (full span, conds same as posted from Howardlong) is only by -50 dB !!!

Are there any other guys with a new DSA815 (board rev. 07 or 08) who can tell us the same low noise level?

Karsten

I have recently bought a DSA815-TG, main board is v00.07, on FW 1.09 the TG will go down to -30dB, the noise floor looks pretty good too.

Firetank · « **Reply #418 on:** January 08, 2015, 08:09:15 pm »

Hi Gents, this evening i just received the VB1020 kit and the full software key.

I will post some updates later how i find it to work

Just updated the licence key .....

nkw · « **Reply #419 on:** January 09, 2015, 01:01:22 am »

Quote from: Firetank on January 08, 2015, 08:09:15 pm

Hi Gents, this evening i just received the VB1020 kit and the full software key.

I will post some updates later how i find it to work

Just updated the licence key .....

My DSA815-TG came with 1.09 and the 1.04 bootloader. The tracking generator will go down to -30dBm, and my noise floor looks just like Howardlong's.

I'm interested to hear about the VB1020. It has been sitting in my cart at tequipment, but I can't bring myself to pull the trigger when the price is so steep and I could probably just buy the minicircuits directional coupler + short the WP pin on the FRAM to keep the demo options.

hpux735 · « **Reply #420 on:** January 09, 2015, 01:11:10 am »

I've been really happy with my minicircuits directional coupler. Just saying.

also, the math for swr and return loss is trivial.

Solder_Junkie · « **Reply #421 on:** January 09, 2015, 10:26:35 am »

Quote from: nkw on January 09, 2015, 01:01:22 am

I'm interested to hear about the VB1020. It has been sitting in my cart at tequipment, but I can't bring myself to pull the trigger when the price is so steep and I could probably just buy the minicircuits directional coupler + short the WP pin on the FRAM to keep the demo options.

I made one of the VK3DIP return loss bridges, he has several variations that go up to around 3 GHz. The cost is peanuts. Mine is good to 1 GHz and usable to 1.5, I used type 43 binocular cores and RG110 coax. The cores were £2 for 5... I certainly wouldn't shell out for the Rigol RLB kit.

radiogeek97 · « **Reply #422 on:** January 09, 2015, 01:12:08 pm »

Solder
Would you mind posting some inks to where you purchased the parts? I mainly am concerned with the housing and the beads /cores
Thanks in advance

DRT · « **Reply #423 on:** January 09, 2015, 01:20:44 pm »

Quote from: hpux735 on January 09, 2015, 01:11:10 am

I've been really happy with my minicircuits directional coupler. Just saying. also, the math for swr and return loss is trivial.

I too have been very happy with the Minicircuits ZFDC-20-5+. I've also become accustomed to working with Return Loss in preference to VSWR and not using the VSWR menu at all.

Solder_Junkie · « **Reply #424 on:** January 09, 2015, 01:28:51 pm »

The article mine is based on is:
http://www.yagicad.com/Projects/ARRLB.htm
The housing is a Hammond diecast box type 1590A, external size 93mm long by 39mm wide, 31mm high (inc lid). They are listed by several sellers on eBay.

The binocular cores are Amidon type BN43-202, for better UHF performance BN61-202 could be used. My interest is mainly HF, for which the 43 type is ideal.

The '43 cores are listed on eBay, both types are available from the G QRP Club (members only).


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Author Topic: Spectrum Analyzer - Rigol DSA815 (Read 622936 times)

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