1) What's are the key differences between the N5230A and N5230C?
2) What's the latest firmware revision on the N5230A?
3) Does an N5230A with option 245 have a second source? Does Frequency Offset Option 080 require a second source or any other hardware or software options to function?
Thanks
1) the difference is CPU and a HDD that has a windows 7 OS image
2) This page on keysight.com shows the firmware versions that are supported by each of the different model numbers with links to download the firmware.
3) opt 245 is just the configurable testset with extended power range (i.e Mechanical Attenuators). option 246 is option 245 + an internal 2nd source. Option 080 does not require a 2nd source, but we highly recommend option 080 when you have option 246.
just as an FYI, N5230A is obsolete (i.e not supported) and N5230C is discontinued but still under factor support. you can find information about the most current models of PNA-X, PNA, and PNA-L here.
Thanks for the answer above.
One other question is whether I can recover from a hard drive failure on either the A or C version. Can a backup and restore be done on the N5230A and C? Are the hard drives for these VNA's readily available? If a backup and restore is possible, will the license features and options still be functional with a new drive hardware (not sure how the licenses get locked to the machine)?
This is where my recollection gets a little murky, but I believe even in the A models, the HD came partitioned in two with the small partition having a recovery factory image that can be used for recovery. If the HD failure is with the hardware, then your only option might be ordering a new HDD and with the A models being obsolete, I am not sure if you can do that through Keysight (you might have to try and find something on one of the online markets). at any rate, we have information about system recovery on our PNA support page here. Check out the links under "Hard Disk Drives & CPU" section.
As for licenses, we store a copy of all licenses on an EEPROM inside one of the motherboards in the instrument, so even after replacing a hard drive, the system can recover the previous licenses.
Good luck.
1) the difference is CPU and a HDD that has a windows 7 OS image
2) This page on keysight.com shows the firmware versions that are supported by each of the different model numbers with links to download the firmware.
3) opt 245 is just the configurable testset with extended power range (i.e Mechanical Attenuators). option 246 is option 245 + an internal 2nd source. Option 080 does not require a 2nd source, but we highly recommend option 080 when you have option 246.
just as an FYI, N5230A is obsolete (i.e not supported) and N5230C is discontinued but still under factor support. you can find information about the most current models of PNA-X, PNA, and PNA-L here.