Yes. If you are testing the line with the antenna attached, there is a good chance that the Site Master could be damaged by ESD. This happens because ESD gets onto the center conductor through the antenna's elements. It is safe to test with a load or short because there is no path for the ESD to get onto the center conductor.
An integrator failure is typically caused by excessive RF power to the input of the Sitemaster. Different Sitemaster models have different damage levels that they can tolerate and newer models have improved immunity to overpower conditions. See the appropriate user manual for the damage level for your particular unit. One common way this overpower condition can be caused is by a high powered interfering carrier when testing with the antenna attached at a co-locate site. If the power level of the interference is too high it could cause damage to the Site Master. To find out if damage has occurred, disconnect the Site Master from the coax under test and if the integrator failure still occurs then there may be damage to the unit. To prevent this type of situation, check the power level on the antenna first using a power meter or power monitor (Options 29 or 5) to see if any power is present on the antenna before sweeping it.
This is a problem with the database operations. It is caused when more than 2 lines of information have been added into the Plot Description field even if the extra lines are blank. To fix this, select the Record then select Edit. Place the cursor at the end of the 2nd line of the Plot Description field. Left-click and hold down the mouse button and scroll down. The cursor will now be below the 2nd line. Press the Delete key on the keyboard to remove the extra lines. The cursor should now be at the end of the 2nd line. Either select another record or select Done. To prevent this from happening on the initial entry of Plot Descriptions, try to remember not to press the Enter key when done with the 2nd line entry.
This is caused by opening a plot that has been saved by a higher version of the Site Master software, i.e. you can not open a plot that has been saved by v6.41in v6.31 or lower. The person trying to view the plot must upgrade their version of the software. NOTE: if, after opening the plot and seeing the problem, the user saves the plot it will corrupt it and will exhibit the same problem even when opened in the original version of software. Just opening the plot will not corrupt it.
1. You can use Site Master to verify your adapters. The User's Guides of all of our Site Masters have a procedure for Return Loss Measurements. 2. When you measure the return loss of your adapter after an Open Short Load (OSL) calibration, please pay attention to the frequency range of the termination (load) used. For example, 7/16 load works to 8 GHz, SM/PL works to 4 GHz, 28N50-2 works to 18 GHz. 3. Adding another adapter between the adapter under test and the load will degrade the measurement of the return loss of the adapter under test. Plus if one adapter is really bad, you won't know which one is the culprit. 4. Perform the OSL calibration at the Site Master test port. The OSL calibration needs to be performed at the same place you will be connecting the adapter to be tested. Then attach an appropriate load. You are now measuring the return loss of the adapter. 5. Ultimately you have to have known good terminations and a known good Site Master to be able to perform these measurements. If you have more than one unknown, then it becomes very difficult to tell where the problem is. Anritsu offers calibration services for Site Master and also for the loads as well as some of the adapters. If you still are having problems, please consider sending your equipment in for calibration.
The following limitation exists for most commonly used USB to Serial Adapters: The baud rate only goes from 9600 - 38400 kbs.
The "Battery Charging" indicator on the back panel will be lit when the battery is charging.
Dynamic attenuation cannot compensate for the "zero beat" that exists in all spectrum analyzers. Increase the starting frequency such that the zero beat is no longer visible.
The SiteMaster can be used immediately without any warm up time, however the temperature inside the box will rise quite fast in the first 5 minutes of operation and then much slower after that. If you don't want to wait, you can calibrate and make measurements immediately. However you may need to recalibrate as the box warms up, the SiteMaster will warn the operator if the temperature change requires another calibration.
Not usually. The cable used is very critical in making accurate, repeatable measurements. The cable must be 'phase stable'. Many are, including all that are sold with the Site Master. This type phase and loss of this type of cable does not change much as it is flexed and therefore produces consistent measurements when used with your Site Master.
ACPR stands for Adjacent Channel Power Ratio. This is a Spectrum Analyzer measurement. It is a measure of the amount of adjacent channel power that leaks to within the channel of interest. The Users Guide provides extended information on these functions.
It is normal for the display contrast to change with temperature. Use the contrast adjust to compensate.
More than likely, there is a large signal outside of your measurement span causing the pre-amp to saturate. The pre-amp is a broadband amplifier, with no tuning or filtering before its input. This is why we recommend the pre-filters in the optional accessories.
Software Tools provides several methods of exporting a graph for use in other applications. The Copy and Paste method will work for all MS Windows compatible programs. In addition, the File, Export function can save your Graph in a Windows Meta File format .WMF or to Text. The text file contains the data behind the graph for import into any spreadsheet.
A return loss measurement is like using a SWR meter, it is a quick pass/fail type of measurement. DTF is used to identify where a problem occurs, your knowledge of the installation will indicate the type of problem. For example, a large spike in the middle of a main feed line indicates a problem. In some areas of the USA, cables make excellent target practice and bullet holes are common. A large spike typically indicates an open or short of some type. Somewhere in the middle, a crushed cable, ignoring the antenna. One thing, on long cable runs, you can use either VSWR or RL in DTF. For short cable runs, like jumpers, VSWR sometimes makes it easier to interpret the display.
The reference level offset should always be equal to whatever loss or gain is added externally. If you add an attenuator, the RL offset should be negative. If you add gain, the RL offset should be positive. In this case, the RL offset = -30
Attenuation, RBW and VBW can all be automatically coupled or manually coupled. When automatically coupled, the attenuation changes as the reference level is changed, the RBW changes as the span is changed and the VBW changes as the RBW is changed. When they are manually coupled they can be changed independently. The "*" after the parameter indicates that it is manually coupled.
The Site Master goes into a power saving mode after 10 minutes of inactivity. Just press the RUN/HOLD button and the unit will begin sweeping again.
There is no way to retrieve the traces once you have deleted them. It's always a good practice to download the traces from the Site Master to a laptop before leaving the site.
The Code Loader program allows you to keep the installed firmware version of your Site Master current to the current version being shipped. In other words if you had for example, 6 units and they all had different versions, as seen when you turn the box on, then you could make them all current with the latest version.
