molbox™ RFM™ OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE MANUAL
© 1998-2007 DH Instruments, a Fluke Company
Page 96
4.2.1
RS232 INTERFACE
To establish RS232 communications a standard “pin to pin” DB-9F to DB-9M RS232 cable
must be used to connect the host COM port to molbox RFM COM1. The interface settings of
both ports must be the same.
molbox RFM supports an independent RS232 self-test to verify that the molbox RFM
RS232 ports are operating correctly and the interface cable being used is valid. Use this
self-test to troubleshoot if you are having difficulty establishing communications with
molbox RFM COM1 (see Section 3.6.6.3).
4.2.1.1
COM1
The molbox RFM COM1 RS232 interface is located on the rear panel. It is a 9-
pin female DB-9F connector configured as a DCE device. Data is transmitted
out of molbox RFM using pin 2, and is received on pin 3. This allows a standard
pin-to-pin DB-9M to DB-9F RS232 cable to be used to connect to a DTE host.
Handshaking is NOT required or supported.
COM1 RS232 commands must be terminated with at least a single carriage
return character, while line feed characters are ignored. All RS232 responses
from the molbox RFM are terminated with a carriage return character and a line
feed character.
Table 19.
COM1 DB-9F Pin Designation
PIN #
FUNCTION
DESCRIPTION
2
TxD
This pin transmits serial data from the molbox RFM to the host.
3
RxD
This pin accepts serial data from the host computer.
5
Grn
This pin is the common return for the TxD and RxD signals.
IBM PC/XT DB-9F CONNECTIONS
IBM PC/XT DB-9M TO MOLBOX RFM DB9F
CONNECTION
DB-25M
DB-9F
DB-9M
DB-9F
2 3
3
3
3 2
2
2
7 5
5
5
4.2.1.2
COM2
The molbox RFM COM2 RS232 interface is located on the rear panel. It is a 9-
pin male DB-9M connector configured as a DTE device. Data is transmitted out
of the molbox RFM using pin 3 and is received on pin 2. This allows a standard
pin-to-pin DB-9F to DB-9M RS232 cable to be used to connect to a DCE slave.
Handshaking is NOT required or supported.
COM2 can be used to allow the host computer to communicate with another
device (e.g., another molbox or multimeter) through the molbox RFM. This
allows the user to use one host COM port or IEEE-488 port to communicate with
the molbox RFM and an additional RS232 device. Refer to the “#” remote
command for details (see Section 4.3.4.2).