SARK 110, User Manual

Page 1: ...ative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3 0 Unported License Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 SARK SARK SARK SARK 110 110 110 110 Vector Impedance Antenna Analyzer User s Manual Revision 1 2 6 Updated to Firmware Version 0 8 6 12 ...

Page 2: ...THE FREQUENCY 9 4 5 CHANGING THE SPAN 10 4 6 FREQUENCY PRESETS 10 4 7 USING MARKERS 11 4 8 CHANGING THE VERTICAL AXIS PARAMETER 14 4 9 SAVING AND RECALLING MEASUREMENTS 14 4 10 TAKING SCREENSHOTS 19 4 11 CHANGING THE OPERATING MODE 20 4 12 CHANGING THE SETTINGS 20 5 SCALAR CHART MODE 32 6 SMITH CHART MODE 34 7 SINGLE FREQUENCY MODE 36 8 CABLE TEST MODE TDR 39 9 FIELD MODE 42 10 MULTI BAND MODE 44 ...

Page 3: ...MISSION LINE 61 15 SPECIFICATIONS 64 16 PRECAUTIONS 67 17 REGULATORY WARNING 67 18 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 68 APPENDIX A THEORY OF OPERATION 69 APPENDIX B FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS 71 APPENDIX C UPGRADING THE FIRMWARE 73 APPENDIX D OSL CALIBRATION 74 APPENDIX E FREQUENCY CALIBRATION 79 APPENDIX F DETECTOR CALIBRATION 80 APPENDIX G FREQUENCY PRESETS FILE 84 APPENDIX H SCALE PRESETS 85 APPENDIX I CUSTOM CABLE ...

Page 4: ...ibration procedure for higher measurement accuracy Also the analyzer implements a transmission line addition or subtraction feature in order to make antenna measurements while discounting the effect of the feed line The user interface based on a color display has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use The graphical impedance displays provide a quick view of the antenna impedance characteris...

Page 5: ... Control Good accuracy over a broad range of impedances Resolves the sign of the impedance Manual and automatic positioning tracking markers Internal 2MB USB disk for the storage of measurements screenshots configuration and firmware upgrade Exports data in ZPLOTS compatible format for further analysis on a PC SARK Plots client software for Windows Lifetime free firmware upgrades Open to community...

Page 6: ...ter for communication and internal battery charging using a compatible mini USB cable not included The unit charges the internal battery when connected to USB The internal battery charger automatically manages the charge cycle and stops the process when the battery is fully charged The complete charge cycle takes around 3 5 hours Slide the Power Switch button located on the right side to the ON po...

Page 7: ... SARK 110 Screen layouts that show specifics for each operating mode are provided in corresponding sections of this manual 1 Diagram 11 Markers information 2 Traces 12 Detailed measurements 3 Markers 13 Frequency and span settings 4 Vertical axis labeling 14 Transmission Line length setting 5 Horizontal axis labeling 15 Reference impedance setting 6 Main menu 16 Loaded data file name 7 Highlighted...

Page 8: ...ion keys on the SARK 110 Navigator A Navigator A is used to navigate within the main menu left side of the screen The active option is highlighted with a green background color Navigator B Navigator B is used for changing the value of the highlighted option in the main menu for Freq Span Marker1 Marker2 LeftY and RightY and to navigate within the popup submenus Run Hold The Run Hold button is used...

Page 9: ... modes i Use Navigator A to highlight Freq in the main menu on the left side of the display Press the Select button to display the popup dialog associated with Freq Then use Navigator B to change the frequency The frequency will change according to the current frequency multiplier that is highlighted in reverse video Use Navigator A to change the frequency multiplier position if needed Press the S...

Page 10: ... span selection Press any other button to cancel the operation The screenshot below is of the span edit dialog showing the span frequency multiplier positioned over digit 7 frequency increments of 1 MHz ii Use Navigator A to highlight Span in the main menu on the left side of the display Then use Navigator B to change the span The span will change according to the current span frequency multiplier...

Page 11: ...measurement diagram The markers information window in blue background shows the frequency or distance in cable test mode and the two values that correspond to the plotted values at each of the markers Use Navigator A to highlight either Marker1 or Marker2 in the main menu Press the Select button to activate the Marker popup submenu Available options are Enable for activating or deactivating the ma...

Page 12: ... up measurements The following tracking modes are available Peak Min p Peak Max P Absolute Min m Absolute Max M Value Cross Any X Value Cross Up Value Cross Down v The automatic positioning of markers is activated in the Tracking sub option Select the tracking mode from any of the modes above and then the applicable parameter to track In addition a detection value must be specified for the Cross d...

Page 13: ...move to the different detection points except for the Max and Min tracking modes where logically there is only a single detection point The tracking mode for each marker is shown in the markers information window This information is displayed in red if either the data is not available or if the tracking condition cannot be resolved otherwise it is displayed in green The screenshot below shows Mark...

Page 14: ...ration The screenshot below shows the available parameters for the vertical axis ii Use Navigator B when either the LeftY or RightY option is highlighted Options are selected sequentially 4 9 Saving and Recalling Measurements The SARK 110 has the capability to store measurements to the internal disk and recall them either to review the data later in the analyzer screen or to download the data from...

Page 15: ...o change the character value and Navigator A to change the character position highlighted in inverse video Press the Select button to validate the selection Press any other button to cancel the operation Load Data File To retrieve the stored data select the Load Data File submenu option A second popup submenu is displayed with a list of available files Use Navigator B to highlight the desired file...

Page 16: ...tmaps from the File menu to review the captured screenshots Use Navigator B to select the different bitmaps Press the Select button to finalize the operation Delete File Use the Delete file option to delete a single file on the device disk When selecting the Delete File option a popup submenu will be displayed with the list of available files Use Navigator B to highlight the desired file Press the...

Page 17: ... permits a higher number of frequency points to increase the frequency resolution to be specified and uses the higher accuracy settings during the sweep scan this means a double sampling rate and an average of four measurements per single frequency point In addition this function enables a user programmable timeout for the automatic start of measurements to be specified This function is similar to...

Page 18: ...8 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 Enter the file name Enter the number of frequency points Minimum value is 258 and maximum value is 10000 Specify an optional delay for the automatic start of the measurements self timer function When a Delay is specified a countdown will commence ...

Page 19: ...g Screenshots Press the Save Screen button to capture the current screen Then enter the file name By default the file name has the format sark_xxx bmp where xxx is an automatically assigned number To change the file name use Navigator B to change the character value and Navigator A to change the character position highlighted in inverse video Press the Select button to validate the selection Press...

Page 20: ...ight the desired submenu mode option Press the Select button to validate the selection Press any other button to cancel the operation 4 12 Changing the Settings Use Navigator A to highlight Setup in the main menu Press the Select button to activate the Setup popup submenu see the screenshot below Use Navigator B to highlight the desired submenu setup option Press the Select button to validate the ...

Page 21: ...peat the process to flip the screen back Setup Calibration The calibration features are accessible through the Calibration submenu Setup Calibration OSL Calibration See Appendix D Setup Calibration Frequency Calibration See Appendix E Setup Detector Calibration See Appendix F Setup Calibration OSL Profile Select See Appendix D Setup Run Mode The Run Mode setup menu option allows setting Continuous...

Page 22: ...etion Press the Run Hold button to start a new sweep Notice that in the stop condition the power consumption is reduced so using single shot mode helps to increase the battery autonomy Setup Scale The SARK 110 provides three pre defined scale values Normal High and Low as well as automatic scaling This setting defines the maximum and minimum values for each parameter on the Y axis see Appendix H T...

Page 23: ...tup Z0 This setup permits the reference characteristic impedance to be changed The value can be selected from a set of predetermined values or it can be user specified selecting the Custom option Setup Automatic Power Off This setup permits the automatic power off delay to be selected from a set of predefined times ...

Page 24: ...and transmission line operations require the proper setting of the cable type This setup permits the selection of cable parameters from a set of predetermined values for the most popular coaxial cables Additionally the user can specify three custom cable settings see Appendix I Setup VSWR Circle This setup enables the value of the constant impedance circle in the Smith Chart to be changed The circ...

Page 25: ...10 User s Manual Rev 1 2 6 October 3rd 2015 25 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 Setup Color Theme This setup permits a choice of two color themes Black or White The screenshots below shows graphs with color themes set to White and Black ...

Page 26: ...A4FRB 2011 2015 Setup Plot Thickness This setup allows a choice of thickness of the diagram s traces from two options Thick and Thin This option is unavailable in the Field Mode graph where traces are always set to thick The screenshots below show graphs with plot thicknesses set to Thick and Thin ...

Page 27: ...moving average calculation for each measurement point of the unweighted mean of the previous measurement points The measurement speed is not affected but there could be a loss of accuracy The magnitude of the peak or valley of a rapidly changing parameter may be affected Check the results with and without the filter if there is any doubt Setup Sampling This setup permits a choice of the number of ...

Page 28: ...t to Normal fast option but the sweep speed is faster because the number of measurement points is reduced by half Setup Buzzer This setup enables control of the analyzer s sounds Select Enabled to enable all the sounds Select Disable Key Click to deactivate the feedback click sound when pressing the buttons or the navigation keys Alert and error sounds will continue to be enabled Select Disable Al...

Page 29: ...al Rev 1 2 6 October 3rd 2015 29 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 Setup Units This setup allows configuration of distance units either in meters or feet Setup Reset to Factory Defaults This setup permits resetting the analyzer to its default settings ...

Page 30: ...y other button if only a reset to factory defaults is required It is recommended that the disk contents are backed up to a PC as most of the files will be lost during the format Only the Detector Calibration file detcalib dat and the file associated with the selected OSL Calibration profile are preserved Setup About The About screen displays copyright information firmware release number disk size ...

Page 31: ...SARK SARK SARK SARK 110 110 110 110 User s Manual Rev 1 2 6 October 3rd 2015 31 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 ...

Page 32: ...Run Hold status 8 Markers information 17 USB Battery status 9 Detailed measurements The Scalar Chart mode provides functionality for impedance measurements of antennas transmission lines and RF circuits The analyzer performs reflection measurements within a user specified frequency range defined by the frequency and the span The two user selectable fundamental parameters are displayed as a Cartesi...

Page 33: ...n the Setup menu is set to Continuous The sweep can be stopped at any time by pressing the Run Hold button If the Run Mode in the Setup menu is set to Single Shot the sweep automatically stops on completion of a single pass Press the Run Hold button to start a new sweep The results of the measurements are kept in internal memory and plotted on the display to permit user analysis The measurements c...

Page 34: ... Main menu 15 Calibration status 7 Highlighted menu option 16 Run Hold status 8 Markers information 17 USB Battery status 9 Detailed measurements The Smith Chart mode is equivalent to the Scalar Chart mode but in this case the complex reflection measurements for the user specified frequency range are displayed in a Smith Chart diagram Use Navigator A to highlight Mode in the main menu Press the Se...

Page 35: ...ssing the Run Hold button If the Run Mode in the Setup menu is set to Single Shot the sweep automatically stops on completion Press the Run Hold button to start a new sweep The impedance measurement data and marker positions are preserved when changing to the Scalar Chart mode and vice versa For example markers can be set at the zero reactance points of the plot where the plot crosses the X axis i...

Page 36: ... complex form 14 Reference impedance setting 6 Parallel circuit equivalent 15 Calibration status 7 Parallel resistance and equivalent inductance or capacitance values 16 Run Hold status 8 Highlighted menu option 17 USB Battery status 9 Main menu The Single Frequency mode provides impedance measurements at a single frequency All the measured fundamental parameters at the selected frequency are show...

Page 37: ... paused by pressing the Run Hold button The measurements can be resumed at any time by pressing the same button again This mode offers optional VSWR audio feedback When activated by the menu option Audio the analyzer produces beeps of different duration as an indication of VSWR The audio is produced only for VSWR values between 1 0 and 10 0 and the beep duration is shorter for lower values There i...

Page 38: ...6 October 3rd 2015 38 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 Another supported presentation mode is Matching Networks In this mode the analyzer calculates automatically the L C values in four matching networks Select Disp Matching Networks for this presentation mode ...

Page 39: ...atus 8 Markers information 17 Run Hold status 9 Detailed measurements 18 USB Battery status Cable Test or Time Domain Reflectometer TDR mode is intended to identify potential coaxial cable faults that could disrupt signal transmission Unlike native TDR test equipment the method of measurement in the SARK 110 is based on the theory of Frequency Domain Reflectometry FDR The analyzer makes swept refl...

Page 40: ...s are obtained from the selected cable in the Setup Cable Type menu option As in the other modes the measurements can be performed continuously or in single shot mode and controlled by the Run Hold button but in this case it takes some seconds for the results to show on the display due to the time it takes to make a full frequency sweep The distance from the start of the cable to any discontinuity...

Page 41: ...SARK SARK SARK SARK 110 110 110 110 User s Manual Rev 1 2 6 October 3rd 2015 41 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 Figures below illustrate the responses of known discontinuities ...

Page 42: ...and minimum values 13 Calibration status 6 Highlighted menu option 14 Run Hold status 7 Main menu 15 USB Battery status 8 Frequency and span settings Field Mode is equivalent to the Scalar Chart mode but with a more visible presentation aimed at operation in the field especially if combined with the White color theme Frequency and magnitude of maximum and minimum points in the trace are shown at t...

Page 43: ...t Mode in the main menu Press the Select button to activate the Mode popup submenu and use Navigator B to highlight Field submenu mode option Finally press the Select button to enter into Field mode Operation is similar to the scalar chart mode with some limitations such as only one trace is plotted and the markers feature is not available ...

Page 44: ... USB Battery status 7 Detailed measurements at centre frequency of selected band The Multiband mode is a unique feature of the SARK 110 to display the plot of an impedance parameter in four scalar charts simultaneously This feature is ideal for tuning multiband antennas Additionally it can be used to display different views of the same band as a kind of zoom feature Use Navigator A to highlight Mo...

Page 45: ...navailability of markers there is only a single trace and load and save data file operations are not available The main menu Band option permits selecting the active band The selected band is highlighted in the frequency axis of the band graph Frequency and span settings are applied to the selected band The detailed measurements at the top of the screen correspond to the selected band as well ...

Page 46: ...ator B to highlight Signal Generator submenu mode option Finally press the Select button to enter into Signal Generator mode The screenshot below shows the signal generator screen in continuous frequency operation mode The screen includes the programmed frequency in Hertz and the output power level expressed both in dBm and volts Frequency can be changed as usual see chapter 4 4 For changing the o...

Page 47: ...n In the Hold state the level graph and power level indicators change to red Signal generation can be resumed at any time by pressing the Run Hold button again In frequency sweep mode the signal frequency will sweep between two user defined frequencies To change the sweep parameters use Navigator A to highlight Sweep in the main menu and press the Select button to validate the different sweep para...

Page 48: ...e Signal generator stops after a single sweep o Count Signal generator stops when number of sweeps reach count Count Function o Linear Linear frequency increase or decrease o Log Logarithmic frequency increase or decrease o Bi Linear Start Stop Stop Start sweep Linear o Bi Log Start Stop Stop Start sweep Log Start Frequency o Start Hertz Stop Frequency o Stop Hertz Number of points Number of steps...

Page 49: ...en as seen in the screenshot below Another useful output power level value for receiver testing is 107dBm which is 1uV into 50 ohms and equates to S1 on an S meter This power level is not available in the SARK 110 but a 34dB attenuator could be made to give 107dBm with a pi network of two 52 ohm resistors as shunt in and out and a 1 2k 52 ohm series resistor ...

Page 50: ...ed to install a dedicated driver since the communication is implemented using the standard USB HID interface Use Navigator A to highlight Mode in the main menu Press the Select button to activate the Mode popup submenu and use Navigator B to highlight Computer Control submenu mode option Finally press the Select button to enter into Computer Control mode The analyzer establishes the USB link when ...

Page 51: ...EA4FRB 2011 2015 The command interface specification is open for anyone wishing to develop client software Source code examples of the communication interface are available for different operating systems This information is available at the following link http www sark110 com commands interface ...

Page 52: ...n specify up to three custom cable types The selection of the cable is available in the menu Setup Cable Type see the screenshot below The transmission line length has to be entered into the TL Len menu option within the Main menu Use negative quantities for Subtract operations transpose to load and positive quantities for Add operations transpose to input The pop up edit dialog is activated by pr...

Page 53: ...t be unterminated at the far end Set the SARK 110 to Smith Chart mode and select Preset Full HF The Smith Chart will show a spiral from infinite impedance and going towards the centre When setting negative length values this spiral will be progressively unrolled and transposed to the infinite impedance point when the exact length will be set Then if a load is connected at the cable far end the pre...

Page 54: ...SARK SARK SARK SARK 110 110 110 110 User s Manual Rev 1 2 6 October 3rd 2015 54 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 ...

Page 55: ...the test port extension cable being employed Please refer to Appendix D on how to carry out the steps for OSL calibration The measurement results can be saved in a file in tabular format or as a screenshot The Circuit Models function is only available in the Single Frequency Mode Select Mode Single Frequency to change to the Single Frequency mode Then select CModel in the main menu and the desired...

Page 56: ...ds the results are shown on the screen A screenshot can be captured by selecting The figure below describes the measured parameters The internal procedure performed by the analyzer is as follows the analyzer measures the impedance at 1 MHz and at the desired operating frequency e g 13 56 MHz Then it searches for the antenna s self resonant frequency and measures the impedance at that point The fol...

Page 57: ... Equivalent resistance at the self resonant frequency The antenna capacitance is calculated with the following equation 2 2 1 Fra La Ca π The series equivalent resistance of the antenna at the operating frequency Fop 13 56 MHz is calculated with the following equation Rp La Fop Rs Ra 2 2 π The quality factor is calculated using the following equation Ra La Fop Qa π 2 14 2 Capacitor This function d...

Page 58: ...me seconds the results are shown on the screen A screenshot can be captured by selecting The figure below describes the measured parameters The internal procedure performed by the analyzer is as follows the analyzer measures the impedance at 1 MHz and at the desired operating frequency Then it searches for the self resonant frequency and measures the impedance at this point The following parameter...

Page 59: ... 2 2 1 Fra Ca La π The quality factor is calculated using the following equation 2 1 Ra Ca Fop Qa π 14 3 Quartz Crystal This function determines the equivalent circuit model of quartz crystals Detailed usage of this function is described in the Application Note available at http www sark110 com application notes equivalent circuit determination of quartz crystals The measurement procedure is as fo...

Page 60: ...mpedance changes from pure capacitive phase value close to 90º to pure inductive phase value close to 90º The resonant frequencies are then obtained from the frequency points where the measured phase value is close to zero After determining the series and parallel resonant frequencies the series resistance Rs at the series resonant frequency is measured Then the parallel capacitance Co is measured...

Page 61: ...asure different parameters having to do with transmission lines namely The line s characteristic impedance Z0 The true velocity factor The matched line loss in terms of dB over the total line length and in dB 100m The measurement procedure is as follows Select the file name and press or select when the results are not to be saved in a file Enter the start frequency Enter the stop frequency ...

Page 62: ...ircuit Press the appropriate button to continue or to exit After some seconds the results are shown on the screen A screenshot can be captured by selecting Note Try to keep the electrical length of the line exactly the same between the open and short termination conditions Ideally you would terminate the line with the same standard loads that were used to do the Open Short Load OSL calibration Z0 ...

Page 63: ... 2015 Zsc Zoc Z 0 The calculation of the Velocity Factor VF and matched loss is more convoluted and will not be explained here The relevant information is that the VF is provided at the upper frequency and the matched loss is provided at the maximum frequency and the arithmetic mean for all frequency points ...

Page 64: ...WR dynamic range 100 1 maximum Impedance reading in open circuit 60000 1 MHz Measurement limits Z 100K R 100K X 100K Rho 0 98 C 100 nF L 100 mH 180 ϴ 180 Measured Parameters Complex impedance series and parallel and reflection coefficient in rectangular and polar form VSWR return loss reflection power percentage quality factor equivalent capacitance equivalent inductance Operating Modes Scalar Cha...

Page 65: ...SWR Audio feedback Circuit models and automatic LC matching network calculator Cable Test Mode Maximum length about 250 m Displays step and impulse responses Field Mode Graphical plot of one user selected parameter in a scalar chart with enhanced legibility Display max and min values Multi band Mode Display rectangular charts for four bands simultaneously Signal Generator Mode Frequency range 1 kH...

Page 66: ...400 calibration points Frequency calibration Measurement Architecture Single conversion superheterodyne Two independent measurement channels for simultaneous voltage and current measurement for precise phase measurement Two synchronized 12 bit analog to digital converters Processor 72 MHz STM32 MCU with 256kB Flash and 48kB SRAM Power 3 7V 1000mAh Internal Lithium Polymer battery USB for operation...

Page 67: ...ntenna 4 This product emits a low power RF signal during its active measurement mode When connected to an antenna system this radiation may cause interference to nearby communication systems Connect only for as long is necessary 17 Regulatory Warning This equipment is intended for use by radio amateurs in a laboratory environment only The product generates and radiates radio frequency energy and h...

Page 68: ...eloped using the DesignSpark PCB tool Product information is available at www designspark com pcb The analyzer firmware has been developed using the Lite edition of the Atollic TrueSTUDIO for STM32 Product information is available at www atollic com FAT File System was provided by the ChaN FatFs module The STM32 firmware and USB library are provided by STMicroelectronics Many thanks to Dan Maguire...

Page 69: ...just 1 kHz above it which is the value of the intermediate frequency The DDS has an internal oscillator driven by an external 24 MHz crystal and is able to multiply this clock internally by a user configurable factor of 4 to 20 so the maximum internal clock frequency is 480 MHz In general the DDS can be configured to generate a frequency of up to one third of the clock frequency but in this design...

Page 70: ... before digitizing Identical mixer and amplifier circuits are used for both the voltage and current sensing paths Any small differences in the gain and phase shift of these two signal paths are taken care of by the calibration process The core of the analyzer is an STM32F103 microcontroller from STMicroelectronics This microcontroller incorporates the high performance ARM Cortex M3 32 bit core ope...

Page 71: ...ase angle of the ratio of the amplitude of the voltage to the amplitude of the current expressed in degrees VSWR Voltage Standing Wave Ratio It is a measure of how efficiently radio frequency power is transmitted from a power source through a transmission line and into a load for example from a power amplifier through a transmission line and into an antenna RL Return Losses S11 dB Return loss is t...

Page 72: ...RhoI a Ph tan Ref Pwr Percentage of Reflected Power 100 2 Rho RPwr Q Quality Factor It is defined as the ratio of the energy stored in a component to the energy dissipated by the component R X Q Cs Series Capacitance Equivalent series capacitance at the measurement frequency Ls Series Inductance Equivalent series inductance at the measurement frequency Cp Parallel Capacitance Equivalent parallel c...

Page 73: ...ed to produce an update file in the format SARK110 VAA APP x y z dfu Where x y z is the incremental version number 1 Connect the SARK 110 to the PC with a USB cable 2 Copy the firmware file e g SARK110 VAA APP x y z dfu to the SARK s USB disk 3 Power off the SARK 110 and power it on again while simultaneously holding down the Run Hold button 4 The Device Firmware Upgrade screen prompts you to inst...

Page 74: ...ce impedance please refer to Setup Z0 in the chapter 4 12 The place where these loads are connected during the calibration is called the Reference Plane The analyzer performs a series of measurements with these loads calculating error coefficients that are stored in a file that is automatically loaded each time the analyzer is run These error coefficients are used to correct the measured values Th...

Page 75: ...r 3rd 2015 75 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 After selecting the calibration profile the profile characteristics are shown in a popup dialog Once the calibration profile has been selected choose Setup Calibration OSL Calibration to start the OSL calibration procedure ...

Page 76: ...ibration procedure is as follows Enter the start frequency default is the lower frequency limit Enter the stop frequency default is the upper frequency limit Connect the open load Load status is indicated by the color of the Rh indicator Green denotes load good status Press the appropriate button to continue or to exit ...

Page 77: ...hort circuit load Load status is indicated by the color of the Rh indicator Green denotes load good status Press the appropriate button to continue or to exit The calibration progress will be shown in the display bar Connect the reference load Load status is indicated by the color of the Rh indicator Green denotes load good status Press the appropriate button to continue or to exit ...

Page 78: ...0 110 110 User s Manual Rev 1 2 6 October 3rd 2015 78 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 The calibration progress will be shown in the display bar Press the appropriate button to apply the new calibration settings or to cancel them ...

Page 79: ...adjust the frequency while measuring it with an accurate frequency counter or alternatively zero beat it against WWV Use Navigator B to change the frequency The frequency will change according to the current frequency multiplier that is highlighted in reverse video Use Navigator A to change the frequency multiplier position if needed When an exact 10 MHz output is obtained press the Select button ...

Page 80: ...eteness This procedure comprises a calibration phase and an optional detector test phase to check the detector circuits For Detector calibration the Short load is connected directly at the Test port see the figure below For the optional detector test phase the following loads are required 50 100 and 200 ohm Before performing this operation it is strongly recommended that the file containing the fa...

Page 81: ...ent detector indicators Green denotes a load good status Press the appropriate button to continue or to exit The calibration progress will be shown in the display bar The calibration is completed The calibration coefficients are shown at the bottom of the screen for information Press the appropiate button to apply the new calibration settings or to cancel them Press the appropiate button to go to ...

Page 82: ... indicated by the color of the voltage and current detector indicators Green denotes a load good status Press the appropriate button to continue or to exit Connect the 100 ohm load Load status is indicated by the color of the voltage and current detector indicators Green denotes a load good status Press the appropriate button to continue or to exit Connect the 200 ohm load Load status is indicated...

Page 83: ...SARK SARK SARK SARK 110 110 110 110 User s Manual Rev 1 2 6 October 3rd 2015 83 Melchor Varela EA4FRB 2011 2015 Press the appropiate button to repeat the test or to exit ...

Page 84: ... setting the frequency o def_mul_span default multiplier for setting the span o marker1_freq default marker 1 frequency specified in MHz o marker2_freq default marker 2 frequency specified in MHz Example 600M 500 KHz 0 1 0 9 3 4 0 2 0 5 160M 1 8 MHz 1 3 2 3 4 5 1 8 2 0 80M 3 6 MHz 1 6 5 6 5 6 3 5 3 8 60M 5 3 MHz 3 3 7 3 5 6 5 2 5 5 40M 7 1 MHz 5 1 9 1 5 6 7 0 7 2 30M 10 1 MHz 8 1 12 1 5 6 10 1 10 ...

Page 85: ...Linear Cp 10000 10000 Linear Lp 100 100 Linear High Min Max Scale Rs 10 5000 Log Xs 2500 2500 Linear Rp 10 5000 Log Xp 2500 2500 Linear Zs 10 5000 Log Zs 100 100 Linear VSWR 1 00 100 00 Log RL 60 0 Log CL 0 30 Log Rho 0 1 0 Linear Rho 190 190 Linear Rp 0 100 Linear Q 0 50 Linear Cs 100000 100000 Linear Ls 1000 1000 Linear Cp 100000 100000 Linear Lp 1000 1000 Linear Low Min Max Scale Rs 0 250 Linea...

Page 86: ...Normal scal_def txt Scale High scal_hig txt Scale Low scal_low txt Scale Auto scal_aut txt The files must contain an entry for each parameter with the following syntax min max log Y N Note that logarithmic scales do not accept negative ranges Example file name scal_def txt 10 1000 Y Rs 500 500 N Xs 10 1000 Y Rp 500 500 N Xp 10 1000 Y Zs 100 100 N Zs 1 00 25 00 Y VSWR 40 0 N RL 0 20 N CL 0 1 0 N Rh...

Page 87: ...ust be custcab txt and the format for each cable entry in the file is as follows legend Z0 VF K0 K1 K2 Where o legend string to be display in the preset menu max length 20 o Z0 characteristic impedance o VF velocity factor o K0 DC resistance dB 100ft o K1 coefficient for conductor loss dB 100ft o K2 coefficient for dielectric loss dB 100ft Example Test cable 1 50 0 68 0 063897 0 192292 0 000051 Te...