R&S MXO3/04/05 - Reviews, Bugs & Wanted Features/Improvements Thread

[skander36]

Waveform update rate


It's not quite 4.5 million Wfms/s at peak, but just under 4 million is still very impressive.

You can obtain 4,3 million using 26,15 MHz rectangular wave at 20 ns timebase.

[Martin72]

That's right, I just managed to get a little more out of it (the frequency is a bit higher).

[Daniel Bogdanoff]

Speaking of on its own, there is no “exclusive” display of the FFT, as is customary with Siglent, for example.

Took a quick vid (for posterity) of how to view the spectrum only, as well as how to add the channel back in. You can basically drag/drop any of the channels/math functions/FFTs from the bottom onto the screen either tiled or overlapped. (But you can't overlap frequency domain and time domain in the same window/frame, they have to tile if you want to see both)

https://youtube.com/shorts/Ny--1cISuKs?feature=share

[Martin72]

Bodeplot/FRA

This was one of the features I was most excited about with the MXO3, and I wasn't disappointed.
The Bode plot or FRA function is tucked away under “Apps.”
The menu is divided into several sections, and in addition to standard options such as Table, Marker, Decade/Linear, etc., it also includes settings that are rarely found in other brands.
Magnova offers similar features, whereas Siglent (as of yet) does not.
For example, you can set the resolution bandwidth—which, of course, comes at the expense of plot duration—whether to measure in HD (up to 18-bit), and:
A calibration function... Very good.
You can also choose whether to display the individual measurement points or not (in which case entire lines are drawn)—all in all, a good set of features.
However, the FRA has only one input and one output; Siglent and Magnova offer more in this regard.

At first, I absentmindedly chose the maximum number of points per decade—a very respectable 500 per decade.
But then it easily takes half an hour... Not again.

But even with fewer points, the results were impressive; the notch plot, in particular, looks simply perfect.
Unlike other scope brands, the MXO can be fully operated even while it’s plotting—just like the Magnova. I wish other scopes did that too....
What I don't like is “returning” from FRA mode to normal operation.
It's relatively fast (Siglent is much slower, Magnova much faster), but it doesn't restore the last channel settings before plotting, so you have to set them yourself again, which is a bit annoying.

Otherwise, I really like the FRA/Bode function; I think it’s one of the best I know, right up there with those from Magnova and Siglent.

Martin

[Martin72]

Rest of the pics...

[Martin72]

Decoderfunctions, here: I²C Bus

Since I’ve already dug out the Batronix demo board for Bodeplot (my new home office still looks a bit of a mess after the move), I might as well quickly test the MXO’s decoder functions—in this case, I²C—and perhaps try out some of the others that the demo board offers.
What can I say, it certainly looks professional, judging by what I could see on the menu.
It also features a clean, clear display of the decoding data with no glitches, plenty of configuration options, and a “Zoom Coupling” function....Well, at least as far as I²C decoding goes, this feature has won me over.
As I said, maybe I’ll take a closer look at it; I want to test as much of the scope as possible before I (presumably) have to send it back next week.

[KungFuJosh]

Can you undock/move the menus, or are they always stuck in the same area when open?

[Martin72]

XY Mode

One last time for today—tomorrow is a holiday here, so I’ll definitely be able to carve out some time for further testing.
XY Mode....
Nothing out of the ordinary this time, so the setup is very straightforward, but:
- No fixed assignment of X and Y channels; they can be freely selected.
- Up to 4 (!) XY traces simultaneously (makes sense with 8 channels)
I think that’s very good; others could take a cue from this.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll manage to get the scope to play a little “music”....

Oh, and if you've reset it to default like I did, the lights are really bright again.
The scope was glowing like a Christmas tree earlier....
At least that way, you can work at night with the lights off in the room.

[Daniel Bogdanoff]

Can you undock/move the menus, or are they always stuck in the same area when open?

You can undock & move them

[Daniel Bogdanoff]

Oh, and if you've reset it to default like I did, the lights are really bright again.
The scope was glowing like a Christmas tree earlier....
At least that way, you can work at night with the lights off in the room.

The default setting for them will be turned down in future (or most recent?) firmware releases. I and a couple other folks also gave that feedback.

[Martin72]

Can you undock/move the menus, or are they always stuck in the same area when open?

You can undock & move them

Yepp, simply press the menu area a little bit longer and then move...

[KungFuJosh]

That's awesome. Are there any other options for the UI color scheme/theme?

[Martin72]

Will check it "tomorrow", there are so many options in the menus.....

[skander36]

That's awesome. Are there any other options for the UI color scheme/theme?

No color scheme/theme but you can set any color you wish for all category and signal sources.

...
Oh, and if you've reset it to default like I did, the lights are really bright again.
The scope was glowing like a Christmas tree earlier....
At least that way, you can work at night with the lights off in the room.

"Christmas tree" appear only when you play included demos. You can save so called "Saveset" which you can recall and if you tick "Toolbar,color and diagram settings" you will have lights level restored.

[Bernd_2]

Oh, and if you've reset it to default like I did, the lights are really bright again.
The scope was glowing like a Christmas tree earlier....
At least that way, you can work at night with the lights off in the room.

Section 5.6.1 of the manual describes how to save your own configuration as a preset file, which can then be activated by pressing the green "Preset" button.

This also allows you to preset the LED brightness of the knobs and buttons.

But many other presets are possible as well, such as one that’s very important to me: 50 ohms off, to avoid potentially blowing up the front end days later if I forget to switch it back to 1 MOhm.

And for me, too, the manual is your friend.

Many thanks to R&S for releasing an updated manual within a few days of every new firmware update.

And in general, I can say that, compared to other manufacturers, the R&S manuals are very detailed and helpful for me.

Best Regards
Bernd

[core]

Thanks, Martin, for sharing the information.

If you can, please check how memory deep works. The information in the datasheet is a bit ambiguous.
Is the memory shared across all channels or is it per channel?

From the datasheet:

- Standard : 125 Mpoints
- R&S®MXO38-B105 : 500 Mpoints with 8 active channels (single capture), 500 Mpoints with 4 active channels (run continuous)
The maximum available memory depth depends on the bit depth of the acquired data and, therefore, on the settings of the acquisition system, such as
decimation mode, waveform arithmetic or high definition mode

[skander36]

...
Section 5.6.1 of the manual describes how to save your own configuration as a preset file, which can then be activated by pressing the green "Preset" button.

This also allows you to preset the LED brightness of the knobs and buttons.

..

Unfortunately the preset function does not restore the LED brightness after a Demo is played when they remain as a "Christmas tree".
If the preset function will include a memory for LED's will be the best option because there is a physical button and a shortcut for it on screen(top bar).

[Martin72]

skander, Bernd, thank you both.
It's not really an issue for me either; in this case, this is enough for me:

The default setting for them will be turned down in future (or most recent?) firmware releases.

Or rather, it would be enough—I don't actually own the scope.

[tooki]

Can you undock/move the menus, or are they always stuck in the same area when open?

And as I mentioned earlier, you can also pinch/zoom the window to change its size.

[Martin72]

XY Mode: Scope “Music”

It looks much better in person; this was filmed with a smartphone.
Very smooth display, even though I certainly haven't optimized everything.
Very good.
Settings:
200 mV/div., 1 ms/s, 2 Mpts max, 18-bit HD acquisition.

[KungFuJosh]

XY Mode: Scope “Music”

It looks much better in person; this was filmed with a smartphone.
Very smooth display, even though I certainly haven't optimized everything.
Very good.
Settings:
200 mV/div., 1 ms/s, 2 Mpts max, 18-bit HD acquisition.

That's exceptional performance! Very nice. I imagine it gets even better if you tweak/optimize the setup.

[Martin72]

Yeah, that was pretty impressive.

Two things about that:
Of course, it’s possible that I didn’t look closely enough in the menus (during my tests, I try to consult the manuals as little as possible to ensure intuitive operation), but....
XY:
The color for that seems to be fixed, no matter how you change the channel colors—it would be nice to have a color selection option for XY.
Grid:
It has a lot of customization options, but I couldn't find a way to dim the grid.
HD-Mode:
18 bits is really impressive (+6 bits on top of the actual resolution), but if that’s the only settings menu, I find the setup a bit cumbersome.
With other scopes, I’m used to selecting the additional bits, and then the maximum bandwidth is displayed.
Here, it seems like you have to set the bandwidth, and then it shows how many additional bits you have.
I find that odd.
I kept reducing the bandwidth in the menu until it showed 18 bits... Is this really the only way to do it, or should I have just read the manual this time?

[KungFuJosh]

Is this really the only way to do it, or should I have just read the manual this time?

Never RTFM! We don't want to deprive Rob of his favorite advice. 

[skander36]

...
XY:
The color for that seems to be fixed, no matter how you change the channel colors—it would be nice to have a color selection option for XY.
...

The XY colors can be changed as any other types of traces.
I showed above where it changes. (Menu-Appearance-Colors).

[Martin72]

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow.
But why can't you change it directly in the XY menu? I find this way more cumbersome.