BNC 970 Portable Multi-Channel Analyzer (MCA) - Manual (Page 36)

Model 970 Instruction Manual 33
Utility Menu
The first four menu items Start (or Restart) Acquisition, Stop Acquisition, Clear Spectrum, and
Clear Spectrum and Start New Acquisition
are self-explanatory, and their functions are
identical to the four buttons near the upper right of the Chart display.
View Menu
Show New User Hints enables/disables the New User Hints Bar, which displays a sentence
or two briefly describing the function for any display or control the mouse cursor is currently
over. Disabling (i.e., un-checking) this menu item hides the New User Hints Bar, making the
Spectrum Display
slightly larger.
Show Hints enables/disables displays of small pop-up windows containing very brief
description of a control or display when the cursor is over it for longer than one second.
The Show Trace as… menu item opens a sub-menu allowing the Chart trace to be displayed
as a line, as points, as a line with points (the default), bars, or as an area graph.
The next three menu items (Chart Background Color…, Chart Trace Color… and Chart
Labels Color…
allow the referenced display colors to be altered. The Reset to Default Colors
menu item restores the 970 MCS visual settings to the “first use” state. The default colors
were selected to reduce eyestrain, especially on large monitors, but may not be ideal for all
users or purposes (e.g., printing). Use common sense in applying different colors. For
example, if the Chart Background Color is set to be the same as the Chart Trace Color, the
display will appear blank.
Help Menu
The Help menu item opens the SNAP-MCA Help file. (Note: The Help file has not yet been
distributed as of SNAP-MCA version 2.0.2)
The About… function opens a window containing information about SNAP-MCA and the 970
hardware. Version Information… simply displays the version number of SNAP-MCA software.
5.2 MCS Acquisition Controls and Indicators
The four buttons along the top of this section control the acquiring of spectra. From left to right,
these are Start, Stop, Clear, and Clear and Restart. The functions of these buttons are mostly
self-evident and they are identical to the functions described in Section 3.8.