Friday, September 17, 2021

PC software for the RF-Power 8000 Power meter

PC software for the RF-Power 8000 Power meter


 This meter is available from Giga Technology

  • You can download  from passion-radio LINK 
  • Instruction manual for the unit passion-radio LINK

 

Install the driver

The RF8000 communicates over a USB-to-serial port, that your PC might not immediately find the right driver for. 
In that case, you'll find a "serial" device marked with a "?" in the device manager.
The driver is provided with the software package (see above). 
As I don't like drivers that come with a setup routine, I recommend to use the "rightclick/update driver" function of the device manager.
Just point it to the "drivers_usb_CH340" folder and windows will find and install the driver.
At that point you should see another serial port in the device manager
 

 

Register MSCOMM32.OCX

Depending on other installations on your PC, starting the RF8000 software with the uninventive name of "english.exe" might result in an error message. In that case, MSCOMM32.OCX needs to be registered on your system.
To register the OCX, open an "elevated shell" (right click the start button and choose "Windows Powershell (Administrator)")
There type (with the path pointing to your rg_8000 directory):
 .\regsvr32.exe C:\Users\admin\Desktop\RFPower8000\rf_8000\MSCOMM32.OCX
 
 

 

Configure the software

The program "english.exe" needs to be configured for both the COM-Port and the Baud Rage. It defaults to COM1 and 4800. While with some luck, your COM-Port might be "1", the baud rate ist not correct. Also: in "Model selection" choose "RF-Power8000"
Here are the correct settings:
  • Model selection RF-Power8000 (F3)
  • Port number: set that to what your device manager shows as Com Port. In my case COM6
  • Baud Rate: 9600
After that, I have to press the center button to start the meter.
 
 
 

 
 
 
To set the frequency and the attenuation value hit the "spanner and screwdriver" button.
An RC enthusiast has written his own software for the RF-Power8000

Here is an screen shot of his application
 

 
 This meter is available from Giga Technology