Spectral Analysis in 6.0.10

jom · Post by **jom** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:57 am

OK, I could be wrong here but wasn't 6.0.10 supposed to have a fix for the Spectral Analysis window? I still can't see the noise floor nor can I zoom into the harmonics. I can't zoom out either...the x axis seems set for some reason.

The floor of the spectrum is always "cuts off" and it seemed in earlier versions (at least the demo I downloaded some time ago) had where you could see the floor and the noise below it...kind of like a real spectrum analyzer works. But since I bought the 5203 (and the software) I can't seem to really see the spectrum and the x and y axis don't seem to manually adjustable. Why is this?

jom

PS: I was just using the demo mode today on 6.0.10 since I didn't have the scope hooked up.

jom · Post by **jom** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:05 pm

No answer to the above question? Anyone?

Also, I'm curious: Is there supposed to be a .pdf file of the user guide? I noticed there is one that corresponds to the PS5500.en.chm but not one for the psw.en.chm. It would make it a lot easier to print if you did.

Thanks

jom

PeterF · Post by **PeterF** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:18 pm

Hi Jom,
Here is the link for the pdf of the user guide:-
http://www.picotech.com/document/pdf/psw6-en.pdf

I don't know about any fix but you can certainly zoom in and out in the Spectral View using the normal zoom + & - icons in the toolbar.
PeterF.

jom · Post by **jom** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:05 pm

Thanks for the link.

About the Spec view: I was told in another thread that the "floor" of the spec view was set given the data. When I inquired that I though you should be able to manipulated the vertical axis manually so you can see the noise "floor' I was told it might be something they fix in a later upgrade. To me, I feel the spec view if too contrained with this automatic kind of setting....it's more useful if you can zoom out to see the whole floor.

Thanks again.

jom

jom · Post by **jom** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:55 pm

Since I'm not getting an answer to this I thought I'd show a picture of a Spectrum view that I'm referring to. See this page under "Spectrum Analyser":

http://www.picotech.com/picoscope-oscil ... tware.html

Why is it I can't have a view like that (with the noise floor) on my 5203 software?

Thanks

jom

markB · Post by **markB** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 12:55 pm

Hello Jom

I've looked into this this morning and I've increased the dynamic range of the spectrum view for the PS5000 series. You should now be able to see your noise floor and harmonics.

We expext to be releasing 6.0.11 in the next week or two so you can look forward to the update then.

Many thanks

Mark

jom · Post by **jom** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 3:34 pm

Hello Mark

Thanks for the reply.

I was wondering if you had implemented a way to manually ADJUST the y-axis of the spectrum view similar to that of the regular time-domain view. I would be nice to able to have control such as zoom-in and zoom-out or whatever.

Thanks

jom

jom · Post by **jom** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 3:51 pm

OK, if manually adjusting the axis is out of the question then I'd point out that often when using the scope it doesn't seem to give maximum use to the time domain y-axis so that a good range can been seen on the spectrum.

For example, when I have a two-tone measurement I need to see it will depend on what the scope automatically sets in the time domain y-axis that will determine whether I can the low IMD tones. If there is a way to adjust the y-axis so that the spectrum can get advantage of the whole dynamic range of the internal ADC it would improve the range that can be seen on the spectrum.

Thanks

jom

markB · Post by **markB** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:02 am

Thanks for the input, Jom.

We do intend to improve the spectrum view in the future. We do understand the limitations of simply fft'ing the the scope data and will be looking at ways in which PicoScope 6 can improve.

I'll pass on your comments to the team.