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Q: I’m a little unsure about updating the software
and firmware in my AA-200. Can you walk me through this?
A: Sure. First of all, create a folder for the zipped
files you will be downloading. This folder can be anywhere as the automatic
installation process later on will put the files where they should be.
Next, go to
www.rigexpert.com and click on “RigExpert AA-200” (left side of the
screen). Then click on “Downloads” (again, left side of the screen). There
will be two zipped files that you are interested in. The first is the zip
file under “Installation disk contents for RigExpert AA-200/AA-500 Antenna
Analyzers”. The second will be the latest firmware zip file update under
“Firmware Updates” and “AA-200”. Check that the firmware version (last
three digits on the zip file) is later than the firmware version already
installed on your AA-200. The firmware version displays momentarily on
power-up. There is no need to download the latest firmware version if it is
already installed in your AA-200. Now, click on the “Installation Disk” zip
file and tell it to save this in your new zip-file folder. If your firmware
is not the latest, click on the latest firmware and also save this to the
new zip-file folder.
Now double-click on the Installation Disk zip-file and
tell it to extract-all. Then double click on the installation program. The
program will create a new folder for you and install the software. At the
end of this process, you will be asked to connect your AA-200 to your
computer via the supplied USB cable and all necessary drivers will be
installed. That’s all there is to it. The latest software is now available
in the new “RigExpert AA-200 Antenna Analyzer” folder.
To update your firmware, connect your AA-200 to your
computer via the supplied USB cable. First, you need to determine the
virtual COM port that the computer will use to talk to your AA-200. Do this
by double-clicking the ListRE program in the “RigExpert AA-200 Antenna
Analyzer” folder. Note the COM port number. Now go back to your zip-file
folder and double-click on the new firmware file, and tell it to
extract-all. Double-click on the installation program. This will open a
DOS window with some simple instructions. Basically, you are told to
turn-off your AA-200, and then turn it on while simultaneously holding down
the 7-, 5-, and 3-keys. You’ll get a blank screen on the AA-200 when you do
this. Now enter the COM port number into the DOS instruction screen and
press ENTER on your computer keyboard. The firmware will update. You’ll
see a series of characters go across the screen, and you’ll also hear a
series of beeps during this process. The computer will tell you when the
process is finished.
Q: The manual states that the AA-200 can be used as
a signal source for receiver testing. Can you give me more details?
A: We have measured the output level of the AA-200
across its full range and it holds its output level at +10dBm (0.707Vrms or
2Vp-p) almost perfectly. And the displayed frequency is extremely stable
and very accurate. While the output level is too hot for most receiver
testing, it is a good level for testing insertion loss of filters,
transformers, etc using the AA-200 with an oscilloscope. For receiver
testing, we’d recommend using a combination of fixed attenuators along with
a good step-attenuator to get the level down to a reasonable level. S9 is
50uVrms, or -73dBm. Therefore, you need to pad the output 83 dB for an S9
signal. Another 50dB or so is needed if you want to measure typical
receiver thresholds.
Q: Can you give me
step-by-step instructions to save a SWR graph and then later paste it into
a WORD document?
A: This is not
difficult. When you have displayed an SWR graph, select “6” on the keypad
to save the graph into memory. As part of this, you will define a title
for your graph using the up/down arrow keys for letters and punctuation,
and the number keys for numbers. As an example, if you want to save a
graph of 160 meter SWR, you may wish it to be titled SWR160. The “S”,
“W”, and “R” are selected using the up/down arrow keys, and the “160” is
selected using the number keys.
To recall and paste these
graphs into a WORD document, connect your AA-200/500 to your computer USB
port and turn on the analyzer. Exit the PC mode, and select the SCAN SWR
mode (4-key). Next select LOAD (the 9-key) and load the desired graph
from memory. Now open up your RigExpert folder on your computer and
double click LCD2Clip. This will automatically put the graph into your
clipboard, and so now all you need to do is a paste the graph into your
document.
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