HyperTerminal quick guide for the Quarknet/WALTA/CROP DAQ card

How to start and configure HyperTerminal (Windows PC users only)

If you haven't configured HyperTerminal yet, then:

• Click the START button (on lower left screen corner):
• then select Programs (Win 95, 98, NT, 2000) or All Programs (Win Me, XP),
• select Accessories,
• select Communications,
• Windows 95, 98: click on HyperTerminal folder icon ,
  then start Hypertrm.exe (double-click).
• Windows NT, 2000, Me, XP: click on the HyperTerminal symbol .
• A window titled "New Connection - HyperTerminal" appears, and within that window appears another window "Connection Description".

  In the "Name" field enter: daq Select an icon in the "Icon" field, e.g. the last icon Click "OK" button.

• Another window "Connect To" appears.

  In the "Connect using" field select "Direct to Com1" (Win 9x, ...) or "COM1" (Win Me, XP) [Note: If your PC or laptop does not have a built-in serial port (usually COM1), but you use a serial-to-USB adapter instead, then please select the appropriate COM port number from the list.] Click "OK" button.

• Next, the "COM1 Properties" or "Port Settings" window appears.

  Select the following configuration: Bits per second: 38400 Data bits: 8 Parity: None Stop bits: 1 Flow control: None Click "OK" button

• In the menu bar, click on "File", then "save" to save the configuration.
  
• Now HyperTerminal is ready to communicate with the DAQ card.

If you have previously configured HyperTerminal for the DAQ card:

• Click the START button (on lower left screen corner):
• then select Programs (Win 95, 98, NT, 2000) or All Programs (Win Me, XP),
• select Accessories,
• select Communications,
• Click on HyperTerminal folder icon then double-click on the "daq.ht" icon .
• Tip: For quicker start you can copy the daq.ht icon to your desktop. Then you only need to double-click on daq.ht icon in the future.
• Now HyperTerminal is ready to communicate with the DAQ card.

Taking DAQ data with HyperTerminal

In the following, commands to type look like this:
>typecommand
But you should not type the ">" part.

Turn card on, if it is not already on.         (you should see something like this on the terminal; if not, hit the Enter key on your keybord; then a ">" should appear).

If you turned it on just now, wait for 10 minutes to let the GPS unit find the satellites (1 minute) and to let the HV supply stabilize (10 minutes).

If you have not yet created a special directory on your disk to save WALTA data files, do so now.

To verify GPS is stabilized, you can the card to show basic GPS information
>DG                         (you should see something like this on the terminal)

***** START BASIC SEQUENCE HERE *****

Disable the counter
>CD

Under the HyperTerminal menu "Transfer" choose "Capture Text".

A small window will open and ask you for the file name. Click the "Browse" button to select the directory where you want to store data files.
Give it a name like this:   myschool_yyyymmdd_nnn.txt

• myschool   is your school's name
  • all letters lowercase
  • Teachers, please define a standard format for the name: for example "issaquah", "liberty", "roosevelt". Do NOT use "liberty" one day and "libertyhs" the next day.
• yyyymmdd   is today's date (i.e., date when the file was started).
• The last three digits   nnn   are a sequence number for today's date. Start with nnn=000, and count up (000, 001, 002, ...) if you start more than one file on a particular date.
  • For example on April 7, 2004, I would name the day's first data file   uwphys_20040407_000.txt .
  • If I close it and start a new file an hour later, I would name the second one uwphys_20040407_001.txt .
  • But when I come back the next morning to start another file I would name it   uwphys_20040408_000.txt .

Ask card to spit out the basic GPS information (even if you already did this to check if ready: this time, it goes on the saved data file)
>DG

Set the coincidence level to "twofold" (thats what the "1" means).
>WC 00 1F

Set the gate width to 3600 ns (150 x 24 ns; decimal 150 = hex 96)
>WC 02 96
>WC 03 00

Set the time delay to 1200 ns (50 x 24 ns; decimal 50 = hex 32)
>WT 01 00
>WT 02 32

Take the barometer reading
>BA

Take the temperature reading
>TH

Reset (zero) all the card's counters and scalars.
>WC 06 FF

Enable the card
>CE

Take a scaler reading
>DS

Now wait five minutes. The time need not be very precise, wristwatch time is good enough. (We will automate this eventually). Then take another scaler reading
>DS

Now let it run by itself.
When the file size reaches about 10 MB (about 24 hr later), you should stop this run and start another one. You can check file size by opening the WALTA data directory in Windows Explorer, clicking the "View" menu and select "refresh".

Before you stop the run, save the scaler information again:
>DS

Now wait five minutes.
Then take another scaler reading
>DS

Go to "Transfer" on the HyperTerminal menu again, then "Capture text" then choose "Stop".

Go back to "***** START BASIC SEQUENCE HERE *****" and repeat with a new filename.

Sending files to UW

1. Check the data filename for correctness, and retype it if needed. (standard names must be used, in the format   myschool_yyyymmdd_nnn.txt).
2. Use WinZip or a similar program to compress the file. It will reduce the file size by a factor of 5 to 8. (Name the zipfile in the standard format too: myschool_YYYYMMDD.zip)
3. Back up the file on your own computer: burn the zip file onto a CD, for example.
4. Open your web browser to   http://depts.washington.edu/walta/upload/   to upload new data.
5. Use the login name and password we provided to you on the upload page.
6. Use the online tool to find and upload the zip file you've generated.