Signal Conditioning Measurement Operations & Settings
Agilent 8163A/B, 8164A/B & 8166A/B Mainframes, Fifth Edition 165
Compatibility of the 81560A/1A/6A/7A modular attenuator family to the 8156A attenuator
The 81560A/1A/6A/7A modular attenuator family is inte nded to be SCPI
compatible with the 8156A attenuator but, because the modular attenuator
family is part of a platform concept, the re are some compatibility
limitations. This section describes the differences between the SCPI
syntax and the command semantic and h ow to deal with them.

Slot Numbers

INPUT and OUPUT SCPI commands (page 106-114) are used to access the
functionality of the 8156A Attenuator. The 816xA/B ma inframes are able
to host a number of modules, so a slot ide ntifier is needed. This slot
identifier was not required by the 8156A attenuator. Simply substitute
INPutn for INPut, and OUTPutn for OUTPut, where n is the slot number of
your attenuator module.

Example1: Setting the attenuation

8156A:INP:ATT 10 dB
8156x:INP2:ATT 10 dB
(when the attenuator is hosted in Slot 2)

Example2: Setting the output power

8156A:OUTP:POW 10 dBm
8156x:OUTP2:POW 10 dBm
(when the attenuator is hosted in Slot 2)
If you forget to enter the slot number, one of the following e rror messages
is placed in the SCPI error queue:
-303,"Module sl ot empty or slot / channel inv alid"
-301,"Module doesn't support this command (StatCmdUnknown)"
TIP: Query the SCPI error queue using SYST:ERR?
The page numbers in brackets refer to pages in the Agilent Technologies
8156A Attenuator Operating and Programming Guide, Second Edition, May
2000 with part number 08156-91011:E0500.
NOTE