Console Commands

Beyond the NanoVNA-Saver graphical interface, you can control the NanoVNA-F V3 directly through its serial console. This is useful for scripting automated measurements, debugging, or accessing low-level device functions.

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Setting Up a Serial Connection

1. Connect the NanoVNA-F V3 to your PC via USB Type-C and power it on.

2. Open a serial terminal. Common options:

   • Windows: PuTTY, Tera Term
   • Linux: minicom, screen, picocom
   • macOS: screen, minicom

3. Configure the connection:

   • Port: The COM port or device path for the NanoVNA-F V3 (e.g., COM3 on Windows, /dev/ttyACM0 on Linux)
   • Baud rate: 115200 (the device is adaptive, but 115200 is the standard setting)
   • Data bits: 8
   • Stop bits: 1
   • Parity: None
   • Flow control: None

4. Press Enter to get a command prompt. Type help to verify the connection is working.

Linux quick-connect example:

screen /dev/ttyACM0 115200

picocom /dev/ttyACM0 -b 115200

Note

The baud rate is adaptive — the device auto-detects the rate used by your terminal. Using 115200 is recommended as it provides reliable high-speed transfer.

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Command Syntax

Commands are plain ASCII text, terminated by a carriage return (CR, ASCII 013). Most terminals send CR when you press Enter.

command {required_parameter} [optional_parameter]

• Curly braces { } indicate required parameters
• Square brackets [ ] indicate optional parameters
• Space characters between tokens are ignored
• Commands are case-sensitive (most are lowercase, but SN, LCD_ID are uppercase)

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Most Useful Commands

Here are the commands you will reach for most often. For the full list of all 28 commands with detailed parameter tables, see the Console Command Reference.

Device Information

Command	What It Returns
version	Firmware version string
info	Hardware revision, firmware, build info
SN	Unique 16-bit serial number

Sweep Control

Command	Example	Description
sweep	sweep 100000000 500000000 201	Set sweep: 100 MHz to 500 MHz, 201 points
sweep start 50000000		Change only the start frequency to 50 MHz
pause		Freeze the sweep
resume		Continue sweeping

Data Retrieval

Command	Example	Description
frequencies		List all sweep point frequencies
data 0		Get S11 complex data (real + imaginary)
data 1		Get S21 complex data
scan 1000000 6000000000 101 7		Sweep 1 MHz to 6 GHz, 101 points, output all data

Calibration

Command	Description
cal	Show current calibration status
cal open	Perform open calibration step
cal short	Perform short calibration step
cal load	Perform load calibration step
cal thru	Perform through calibration step
cal done	Compute calibration coefficients
save 0	Save to slot 0
recall 0	Recall from slot 0

Trace and Marker Control

trace 0 logmag              # Set trace 0 to log magnitude
trace 0 scale 10             # Set 10 dB per division
marker 1 on                  # Enable marker 1
marker 1 200                 # Move marker 1 to sweep point 200

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Scripting Example

You can pipe commands to the device from a shell script for automated measurements. Here is a minimal Python example:

import serial
import time

ser = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyACM0', 115200, timeout=2)
time.sleep(0.5)

# Set sweep range
ser.write(b'sweep 430000000 440000000 201\r')
time.sleep(0.1)

# Wait for sweep to complete
time.sleep(3)

# Read S11 data
ser.write(b'data 0\r')
time.sleep(0.5)
response = ser.read(ser.in_waiting).decode('ascii')
print(response)

ser.close()

Tip

When scripting, add short delays between commands to allow the device to process each one. Reading back the response before sending the next command is also good practice.

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Tips

• One connection at a time. If NanoVNA-Saver is connected, close it before opening a serial terminal, and vice versa.
• The reset command drops USB. After sending reset, you must reconnect your terminal session.
• Use cal reset before recalibrating via console. This clears the previous calibration state.
• Save your work. Console-issued calibrations are volatile until you run save [slot].