Spectrum Analyzer - Rigol DSA815

[KD0RC]

Apart from "no loss of installed options", any noticable improvements? I think I'd rather hear it from the people here than the randomized Chinglish release notes.

I checked out the usual things that I do with it (antenna and feedline characteristics, Ham Radio transmitter performance) and did not notice anything.  My less than demanding use of the gear would not lead me to notice much...   I did try my trick for checking frequency calibration by looking at WWV directly, and the last calibration that I did a month or so ago is still there and I seem to be within a Hz or so of dead on. 

So far for me, all is well.

[Tom D]

My update to this 00.01.09 version of the firmware didn't work. After updating, then powering off and powering up again, the analyzer hangs at the Rigol Device Initializing screen with the Auto and TG buttons illuminated and going no further, even after 30 minutes. I tried downloading the file several times in case I had a corrupted download. Three separate attempts to update the firmware with this file have all failed with the aforementioned hanging up at initialization.

Each time I've had to revert back to firmware version 00.01.08 by booting off the USB stick by pressing the Preset button after powering the unit up, just to make the unit operational again.

The details of my unit are as follows:

Model: DSA815
Serial Number: DSA8A14360XXXX
Version of Main Board: 00.04
Version of Radio Frequency Board FPGA: 00.05
Version of Digital Board FPGA: 00.04
Version of Firmware: 00.01.08
Version of Boot: 00.01.02

[eurofox]

My update was successful, all options valid  .

eurofox

[Zucca]

I´m sorry for you Tom D, did you hack the options in the FW 1.08?

[Tom D]

Zucca,

I installed the options when it had the original firmware, which I believe was version 00.01.05 when I bought it.

Tom 

[Tom D]

9a4wy,

Yes, I have re-flashed it back to v00.01.08 by booting off the USB stick. Everything seems to be working fine with this firmware version and all of the options are still active.

Tom

[Tom D]

So...you wrote inside DSA again FW 01.08...you don't need every time boot it from USB, right??

K

That's correct, I was able to restore firmware version 00.01.08 by booting from USB and writing this file to the analyzer.

Tom

[tkline98]

Tom D,

The release note says "Compatible hardware version V05" and it looks like you have V04.   

"Version of Main Board: 00.04"

[georges80]

Tom D,

The release note says "Compatible hardware version V05" and it looks like you have V04.   

"Version of Main Board: 00.04"

My main board version is 00.04 and my digital board fpga is 00.04 and the firmware update to 1.09 worked perfectly first attempt. Mine was bought new earlier this year. My radio freq board fpga version is 00.05 (maybe they are referring to that).

cheers,
george.

[Tom D]

Thank you for your responses. I've had no luck at all trying to update this machine to v00.01.09. I initially read the "Compatible hardware version V05" in the release document thinking that the "M" for "Modification" may have been a modification to accommodate a possible later board revision in addition to previous versions of the Main Board.

I'm wondering whether I may have a faulty cell in the flash chip in the analyzer, as the new firmware file is slightly larger than the previous version. Other than that, I'm at a loss as to explain why mine won't work. I've tried four different USB sticks ranging from 4 to 16 GB, experiencing the same hang-up at boot with v00.01.09, yet all of the USB sticks will work with firmware v00.01.08, whether I boot from them to install this firmware, or re-install v00.01.08 via the operating system of the analyzer. It looks like I'm stuck with version 00.01.08.

Tom

[georges80]

So I just asked a couple of guys at work to 'human' translate the first line of the 1.09 changelog and it states that a change has been made to prevent hacking. Thus it appears that this version (if the unit already hasn't been riglol'ed) may likely be a scheme to prevent riglol generated licenses being installed.

Presumably new units that ship with 1.09 may be riglol 'proof' - will have to see what happens with new shipped units with the new firmware hit the street... Presumably a downgrade to 1.08 would allow for riglol to work and then upgrade back to 1.09.

Anyhow, just a possible scenario for future owners/purchasers to be aware of.

cheers,
george.

[Orange]

So I just asked a couple of guys at work to 'human' translate the first line of the 1.09 changelog and it states that a change has been made to prevent hacking. Thus it appears that this version (if the unit already hasn't been riglol'ed) may likely be a scheme to prevent riglol generated licenses being installed.

Presumably new units that ship with 1.09 may be riglol 'proof' - will have to see what happens with new shipped units with the new firmware hit the street... Presumably a downgrade to 1.08 would allow for riglol to work and then upgrade back to 1.09.

Anyhow, just a possible scenario for future owners/purchasers to be aware of.

cheers,
george.

It is very well possible that also a new boot loader is put on the new units that prevent loading FW 1.08 (or older versions).
It is already impossible to load the 1.08 firmware to a 1.09 machine using the described method of the STORAGE button.
Using the PRESET button at start-up to load the 1.08  is still possible with the 1.02 boot loader.

So if you want to have a fully loaded analyser you need to be quick. I personally like the 10Hz RBW option. And would have paid for this, if it was not hackable....
Unfortunate, the 10Hz RBW is not offered by RIGOL

[Boatanchor]

And suddenly Rigol discovered that sales of their once popular entry model SA plummeted almost overnight 

[navzptc]

Does anyone know how to uninstall installed options from this unit??

Looks like mine may have to go back for repair - States it has lost the TG configuration on start up so want to get it back to standard!!

Any help much appreciated especially if anyone knows how to cure this!

[Alexeev]

Hello,

at the first sorry if this is not the appropriate place to place my question.

 My problem is I need to send to a trace a specific curve which I make in the PC. I want to place a limits for EMC, but I dislike the option which has the 815, because you lost a lot of screen when you use the P/F test, so I want to use the Trace 2 for example as freeze, to have this limit always in the full screen. It is possible to send a specific trace to the 815 using some software? I have tried to use the Ultra Spectrum, but it is not possible to do it.

Thanks in advance!

Regards

[ted572]

See the new Rigol DSA800 Series 3.2GHz and 7.5GHz Spectrum Analyzers here:
http://www.rigolna.com/products/spectrum-analyzers/dsa800/

[videobruce]

It's doubtful that many, if any here will consider a 4x to 6x price increase. 

[Pinkus]

Has anybody found a solution to enhance/remove the trial period of Ultra Spectrum?
I have not tried it yet, but I read in an older post, that just running it with a set-date-back-tool such as RunAsDate will not work.
I would like to use the waterfall function as it is helpful to get better a view on a frequency area over a longer time period.
Does anybody have an idea how to get the waterfall view on data without paying $260 for the software?

Thanks for your help!!

[Pinkus]

Thank you 
I will try.

[Orange]

http://peter.dreisiebner.at/rigol-bildschirmkopie-lan/
http://peter.dreisiebner.at/rigol-bildschirmkopie-lan/screenshots.htm

:-)

Nice application, clean and portable, no need to load drivers if you want to use it via LAN. Also the direct SCPI command modus is handy.

As a suggestion I would like to see that the program can also save in JPEG format.....

[videobruce]

Now how about a script to run that key on a regular basis (every 14 days)?
I know it can be done on startup (or shutdown), but that is overkill.

[Pinkus]

Now how about a script to run that key on a regular basis (every 14 days)?
I know it can be done on startup (or shutdown), but that is overkill.

just use the scheduler which comes with Windows (taskschd.msc).

[videobruce]

Never use it.
Can't a startup script be written to only act after a certain number of days that isn't another process running?

[mrflibble]

Disclaimer up front: could be useful, could be shit. Never used it, probably never will.

I just googled for a windoze alternative to anacron, and this one looks reasonable: http://www.nncron.ru/

Plonk in your favorite batch script to tweak your registry entries and you're good to go. Or not. 

[Pinkus]

@PeDre
Hello Peter - I have spotted that the waterfall modus is not implemented in latest download - is it possible to make the older download available again that had this waterfall modus for the DSA series ?
Thank you !
gazelle

+1
Ahhh, I was almost certain that waterfall was in Peters software, but as I never used it before I thought my
memory failed me when I could not find it anymore.