How to activate Licenses for Anritsu MG3700 Vector Signal Generator ?  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / rf-microwave

author: electronic_guy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 24, 2024, 05:57:40 am
content: Hi,Does anybody know how to activate the licenses for Anritsu MG3700 Vector Signal Generator ? Is there any known way to hack it to make the IQ producer work with it for signal generation ? IQ producer can generate the waveforms but the device won't play it unless it has the license installed. I'm in dire need of LTE, LTE TDD and Fading Licenses. Please take a look any help is appreciated.Thank you.

author: electronic_guy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 25, 2024, 12:02:19 pm
content: Anybody to give some help on this question ?

author: metrologist
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2024, 07:25:02 pm
content: The MG3700A is a product of the Anritsu Corporate MFG plant in Atsugi, Japan. Their security will be quite robust.You might consider contacting your local sales rep and see if you can obtain discounted licenses. The product is obsolete.https://www.anritsu.com/en-us/test-measurement/products/mg3700a

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2024, 04:38:45 am
content: they should do a yearly easter egg hunt where they hide firmware security codes in an area of the woods and allow attendees to find them and do what they please, like release them online, sell them, burn them, etc. I wonder who would show up. My manager had to go to the japanese hospital because he got in a fight with some wasps over a tracking generator.It could actually be worth a flight to japanor make their own game show where you get them as prizes

author: Uky
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2024, 08:10:00 am
content: If the instrument was purchased with the options initially not installed - that is acceptable from the manufacturers point of view.When purchasing such an instrument from a second hand site, the option list must be checked but:I know that Anritsu at least in the past have had the habit of selling instruments where the features were time limitedand that they had to be renewed with annual license fees. This is IMO not acceptable. Such instruments are useless and in reality "dead"when they are resold once they are obsoleted and found at second hand sites or flea markets.In modern times of environmental issues and economy of reuse for reduction of waste,it is appalling to see perfectly hardware working electronic devices having to be scrapped because of a business strategy.Also the fact that after a short period of osolescence, all support (and knowledge) seems to be lost from the manufacturer side.No service manuals (If released at all during the instrument life cycle), no aftermarket service. Zilch.During my employment at a university, I had some influence regarding the purchase of instruments.I strongly advocated that all instruments that was purchased should have perpetual licenses if required for their use.No exeptions allowed. The rule was introduced within the purchasing department and the rule was made permanent.

author: zrq
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2024, 05:42:37 pm
content: Well, you should at least try to get the licenses from the normal and legal channel: ask (and possibly purchase) from Anritsu, in particular in this case it looks like it's more for business need rather than for personal hobby.Rants aside, it seems the generator is running some kind of custom OS. You should try to get a copy of the firmware (which seems to be available from Anritsu after registration) or in the worst case dump from the internal HDD, and do some reverse engineering to see what you can do.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2024, 05:51:56 pm
content: Quote from: Uky on July 27, 2024, 08:10:00 amthats right in university it has a good chance of being used until atomic matter decays in 3*10^43 yearshttps://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_futureI estimate that if this is correct, new radiation based oscilloscopes will be purchased in 10^60 years, and the period between 10^43 and 10^60 will be teaching labless components, with a university income that predominately comes from zero gravity football (played in a arena with a series of iron poles that you can bounce yourself off of). At 10^80 years they will figure out the majority of research conducted between 43-60 is actually useless and incorrect.

author: EggertEnjoyer123
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 27, 2024, 11:06:54 pm
content: I'd ask around on the Anritsu/Wiltron group:https://groups.io/g/anritsu-wiltron/topics

author: AnJu
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2024, 12:29:43 pm
content: Hi,I can activate LTE, LTE TDD and Fading Licenses on your MG3700 generator.For trade now I need CD image with liceses from any Anritsu MG3710A.Best regards,Andrew Judin

author: tmbinc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2024, 08:38:57 pm
content: I can't help directly, and this happened a few years ago so I don't remember all the details, but I reversed the "license encryption" of the MG3700A so I could upload my own files. I've attached the python script I've used.Maybe this helps you in converting the license options to something that is supported on your device.

author: tmbinc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2024, 05:59:55 pm
content: Btw, I'd love a firmware image if someone has one. I've tried asking the Anritsu support, and even though the website at that time claimed free download for product owners, that was a lie: You can only register devices with a "clean history". Buying them via an auction, in their eyes, is not sufficient.So if they consider that buying an instrument second-hand without their blessing invalidates the support contract, that also means I'm not bound by any EULA or whatever, so I can disassemble their firmware. Fine with me.The HDD unfortunately does not store the firmware itself, only the waveform files.

author: Uky
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 05, 2024, 09:35:32 pm
content: You could try groups.ioThere is an Anritsu group there.

author: electronic_guy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2024, 02:30:35 pm
content: Thank you all so much for the support.@AnJu How may I have your support ? Please let me know.@tmbinc I have looked into your python code. My python skills are bit rusty now. Does it convert the IQ producer .wvd file to .wvd without encryption and I can just FTP it to the MG3700 to run it ?I can provide you with firmware image. they still register the products for download support. You just need some company email address or university email address. Or your own domain name might work as well. They just don't accept gmail or anything similar. their product support is bad, I tried to contact them to at least see if I can buy a license, but still got no response. But the download support is still great.

author: electronic_guy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2024, 06:48:04 pm
content: Hello everyone,Anybody who can help with this problem ? Someone who can share me a license file or a way to overcome the problem please.

author: wkb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2025, 11:20:21 am
content: On the MG3700A the licences are not time-limited.Quote from: Uky on July 27, 2024, 08:10:00 am

author: wkb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2025, 11:28:07 am
content: You do not need "their blessing". I had no problems at all when registering my MG3700A which I bought from a fellow ham. He bought it at auction, as part of an estate sale. At some point it was property of Broadcom, per the calibration certificate. Anritsu support were fast and courteous, good experience as far as I am concerned.If you have landed equipment that, for example, has been reported as stolen to Anritsu things might be different, I do not know. If that happened somewhere in the history of the instrument this can be really difficult to get sorted.Quote from: tmbinc on August 04, 2024, 05:59:55 pm