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HW V4 / © 2005 – 2013 Aaronia AG, DE-54597 Strickscheid

 

 

6

 

Manual Spectran V4 

Introduction 

 
 

1. 

Introduction 

 
Dear customer, 
 
By  purchasing  this  Spectran  high-frequency  measurement  device  you  acquired  a 
professional piece of equipment which allows measurement of high-frequency fields. 
 
The measuring instrument has been constructed according to the current state of the art and 
fulfills the requirements of the applicable European and national guidelines. 
 
Please  note:  For  measurement  of  low  frequency  fields  (high-voltage  lines,  traction  power, 
various  household  appliances  etc.)  you  need  additional  one  of  the  NF  series  Spectran 
models.  
 
 

1.1. 

Liability 

 
This document was compiled with great care and checked for accuracy. 
 
But nevertheless mistakes cannot be excluded. We do not take over any liability. We cannot 
guarantee the completeness, the correctness and the accuracy of information. 
 
We  reserve  ourselves  the  right  to  change  our  products,  specifications  and  documentations 
without  any  notice.  We  have  no  obligation  for  revision  of  documents  and  manuals  we 
delivered in the past.  
 

1.2. 

Warranty 

 
Despite  the  greatest  care  in  development  and  production  of  this  device  and  the  software 
MCS for free; Aaronia AG takes only liabilities for certain purposes, if this has been assured 
in  writing.  No  warranty  can  be  assumed  for  the  performance  and  flawlessness  of  the 
software for all usage conditions and cases and for the results produced when utilized by the 
user. No additional guarantees or assurances are made regarding marketability, freedom of 
defect  of  title,  integration  or  usability  for  certain  purposes  unless  they  are  required  in 
accordance with the law and cannot be limited. Justified guarantee claims are limited to the 
right  of  require  rectification  or  replacement  delivery.  Regarding  infringements,  violations  of 
patents,  rights  of  ownership  or  the  freedom  from  interference  by  third  parties,  Aaronia  AG 
cannot warrant or guarantee that it is free of error. 

 

 

Summary of Contents for Spectran V4

Page 1: ...al Spectran V4 Please read the following manual carefully before using your measurement device This manual contains important information on how to properly operate this unit 1 3 Aaronia AG www aaroni...

Page 2: ...ower supply 12 4 OVERVIEW FRONT PANEL 13 4 1 Operating Equipment 13 4 2 Numeric block hotkeys 14 4 3 LC Display 15 4 4 The display shows 16 5 FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION 17 5 1 Technical data 17 5 2 Main m...

Page 3: ...BV Preamplifier 33 5 3 23 GSMbst select GSM Burst Type 34 5 3 24 GSMdst GSM Slot Distance 34 5 3 25 Calib in preparation currently not usable 34 5 3 26 Bright Set display brightness 34 5 3 27 Logger s...

Page 4: ...ther units 63 9 8 Correct settings for manual input measurement 63 9 9 Measurement of satellite TV 64 9 10 Measurement with a direct cable connection 64 10 SPECTRUM ANALYSIS BASICS 65 10 1 What is a f...

Page 5: ...omination 77 Table 6 Power amplification factor and corresponding value in dB 77 12 2 Frequency tables 78 Table 7 Cell phone frequencies and providers 78 Table 8 German GSM900 frequencies and provider...

Page 6: ...reserve ourselves the right to change our products specifications and documentations without any notice We have no obligation for revision of documents and manuals we delivered in the past 1 2 Warran...

Page 7: ...ver expose the device to water Never use it outdoors while it is raining Otherwise the sensitive electronics could be damaged Avoid to high temperatures Do not leave the device on a heating in direct...

Page 8: ...ent antenna c SMA cable 1m d Aaronia handle miniature tripod e Battery charger power supply with 4 adapters f SMA tool g SMA adapter h Aaronia 1300mAh Power battery already fitted i Aluminum carrycase...

Page 9: ...ument s input with excessively strong signals which could permanently damage the highly sensitive circuitry The maximum allowable peak power at the input of the Spectran V4 is with activated PreAmplif...

Page 10: ...ion Another function as volume control if the demodulator activated As a precaution before connecting anything to the audio output you should turn this volume control all the way down to zero to avoid...

Page 11: ...k that can be connected to any device which offers an audio input e g PHONO CD LINE IN MIC etc Depending on the kind of input you may need an appropriate adapter cable which you can purchase from any...

Page 12: ...apter see accessories list you can also operate Spectran devices in a car If you wish to operate Spectran via the power supply so please note that the power supply s circuitry will cause additional in...

Page 13: ...lculation mode Right Left key select Exposure limits or W m display In Audio mode Right Left key Increase decrease center frequency by one RBW Up Down key Increase decrease RBW bandwidth Dot button In...

Page 14: ...433 434 8 MHz 3 LTE800 780 862 MHz 4 ISM868 868 870 MHz 5 GSM900 921 2 959 6 MHz cell towers no cellphones 6 GSM18k 1800 1880 MHz cell towers no cellphones 7 UMTS 2110 2170 MHz cell towers no cellphon...

Page 15: ...scheid 15 Manual Spectran V4 Overview front panel 4 3 LC Display 1 2 3 4 8 5 6 7 1 Batterie display 2 Bargraph 50 segments scala 3 Status field 4 Detector display 5 main display 6 Marker block 1 2 3 7...

Page 16: ...Hold Modus activated Info display Shows the selected preset frequency range Using the keys 0 9 further presets UMTS DECT etc are available Display Mode status field Shows the current operation mode P...

Page 17: ...le Time 10mS 10mS 5mS Filter bandwidth RBW 3kHz bis 50 MHz 1kHz bis 50MHz 200Hz only with option 002 bis 50 MHz Units of measurment dBm dB V V m A m W m dB V m W cm etc via PC software dBm dB V V m A...

Page 18: ...or the currently selected menu entry the current setting is being displayed in clear text on the large info field at the top In our example it is the currently set center frequency 940 This way there...

Page 19: ...see following description is preserved Thus you can quickly evaluate different frequency ranges with identical SPAN and without tedious re adjustment of start stop frequencies 5 3 2 Span frequency ra...

Page 20: ...ange which gets sweeped is derived Tip Please note that a large frequency range will badly squeeze the display horizontally in the X axis and thus significantly reduces measurement accuracy Individual...

Page 21: ...her signals However this gain in accuracy has its downside in the far longer sweep times 5 3 5 VBW video filter VBW Full VBW 100KHz The video filter is intended for visual smoothing of the signal The...

Page 22: ...time setting the more precise the measurement at the cost of being more time consuming A Sw Time 20mS will activate the UNCALL sign 5 3 7 Reflev referenz level The reference level sets the position of...

Page 23: ...ll signal sources The vertical bars of the individual signals are virtually being squeezed from top to bottom to fit all signals into the display Range Dynamics On the other hand when Range is set to...

Page 24: ...uator is configured 5 3 10 PreAmp internal pre amplifier option 020 The optional internal extremely low noise PreAmp amplifies the applied signal by approx 15dB significantly enhancing the sensitivity...

Page 25: ...odulation takes place around the center frequency bandwidth is controlled by the RBW setting This allows custom monitoring of individual small frequency ranges However note that the filter is slightly...

Page 26: ...bug tracer option 015 The AudInd feature allows quick audio aided location of signal sources especially bugs or wiretaps In this mode a tone is being emitted whose strength and duration is proportiona...

Page 27: ...r frequency hopping DECT to determine the crest factor or signal peak In MinMax mode signals are displayed with a hatched fill if the signal s corresponding graphic is wide enough to accommodate for t...

Page 28: ...sweeps A very handy feature for suppressing casual interference or to smooth out the noise floor in order to achieve improved display of very weak signals Simply leave this mode on for say 24 hours an...

Page 29: ...ludes the power density in W m including Autorange as well In effect this mode provides readings in three units at the same time if you also count in the Bargraph in dBm You can also use this feature...

Page 30: ...ssible values are 1 2 or 3 5 3 17 MarkLvl set starting level for markers The MrkLvl setting determines the minimum signal level which will trigger the creation of markers exposure limit calculation an...

Page 31: ...ent options are available Freq When set to Freq frequency the frequencies of the individual markers are displayed in a bigger size while the amplitudes signal levels in dBm are indicated in a smaller...

Page 32: ...encies of up to 10GHz 12GHz Detection sensitivity in this mode is around 50dBm preamp on depending on frequency The maximum allowable signal level is approximately 10dBm Further information can be fou...

Page 33: ...additional setting labeled 20dB to account for the optional external 20dB attenuator When using the attenuator this setting is mandatory for receiving correct field strength and power density measurem...

Page 34: ...isplay SYNC Shows S at the decoder display NonDec Shows at the decoder display Col 0 Col 7 Colorcode 0 7 Shows 0 7 at the decoder display 5 3 24 GSMdst GSM Slot Distance With GSMdst you can change the...

Page 35: ...e memory status field changes to RECORD the logger is now armed Press the menu key again to commence recording During the recording the number of log events left is displayed briefly in the pixel disp...

Page 36: ...sferring large amounts of data from Spectran to the PC can take some time the dBm values are transferred with an accuracy of two decimal places Please note that the internal 64K memory can quickly be...

Page 37: ...o Spectran s program memory SETUP s see below are also stored as programs Each program has its own specific program number This menu option allows you to recall and execute a particular program by its...

Page 38: ...o configure a multitude of further options for each program among these a program description of up to 6 characters which will then be displayed in the info display just like e g GSM900 on hot key 5 B...

Page 39: ...re is particularly useful for cleaning up a messed up configuration Attention Please make sure that no RF source disturbs this measurement Don t connect any antenna USB cable or power charger Only sta...

Page 40: ...istance is felt slightly tighten the plug by using the SMA tool Again don t use an excessive force Never trigger the over torque protection The SMA tool has an over torque protection and starts slippi...

Page 41: ...sive force As soon as you notice a resistance slightly tighten the connection using the SMA tool Again do not apply excessive force Do not trigger the over torque protection Screw by hand the SMA adap...

Page 42: ...obtrusive or concealed measurements Simply attach the OmniLOG antenna to the Spectran s SMA socket Do not apply excessive force when you screw the antenna into position As soon as a significant amount...

Page 43: ...u entry Activate the menu entry by pressing the Enter key or clicking the jog dial You are now being shown a list of antennas Using the up down arrow keys or the jog dial choose the connected antenna...

Page 44: ...on All settings regarding antennas and cables are stored permanently even after switching the unit off Hence each time you use the unit you should make sure that the connected antenna and cable really...

Page 45: ...come contaminated again just due to a trivial mains cable To avoid this shielded rooms must be equipped with so called mains filters Especially however the utilization of usual power cables for data t...

Page 46: ...lf the center frequency If a correspondingly stronger signal is found there the previously measured one would be a harmonic With the current firmware Spectran already attenuates harmonics by approxima...

Page 47: ...in Auto attenuator mode the sample time must be set to at least 100mS as otherwise intermittent erroneous level readings can occur specifically in the lower frequency ranges The delay can be avoided a...

Page 48: ...is assumed in practice The reason behind this are further factors which can influence measurement inaccuracy Some of them are temperature dependence repeatability antenna errors modulation dependence...

Page 49: ...the Jog dial the cursor can be positioned freely on the display The readout on the large main display as well as the exposure limit display and demodulation now correspond only to the current cursor p...

Page 50: ...M900 cell towers The Status display should now show GSM900 Now you only need to choose the correct operation mode 8 4 Operation mode Spectrum analysis Now press the Enter key until the Display Mode st...

Page 51: ...ion The Mode status field displays Hold As you have probably noticed the display constantly changes This is completely normal as the signal strength of the high frequency radiation also constantly cha...

Page 52: ...es on its highest level When measuring a whole room this may well take a few minutes The value displayed now is the highest signal level that could be detected in the entire room Mostly you will be ab...

Page 53: ...r of zeros without the Autorange function The practical Hold feature is also available in this mode for keeping the display smoother You can even display a percentage relative to an exposure limit As...

Page 54: ...pectran also uses the non visible fractions of the main display value to calculate the figures related to exposure limits TIP You can download new and or updated exposure limits which are constantly u...

Page 55: ...he dot key To change to PM please activate this feature by using the menu and select Demod Volume can be adjusted with the volume contro on the left In contrast to simple broadband detectors Spectran...

Page 56: ...ng or crackling noise with many interruptions and morse like pulsing This is the so called control channel which is always active and beeps exactly at 1733 33Hz When one or more cell phones are active...

Page 57: ...entire frequency range of the detector To take advantage of this sett the SwTime to 1mS using the menu By utilizing a high end state of the art Silicon Germanium SiGe technology detector chip we even...

Page 58: ...ul measurement Still the intended application for the broadband option is operation as a power meter Its high temperature stability guarantees highly reproducible results The instrument s input impeda...

Page 59: ...all check the UMTS frequency list in chapter 12 table 10 UMTS uses frequencies between 1 900 1 and 2 200 0MHz As we only want to measure the cell tower and not the cell phone we only need the so call...

Page 60: ...utomatically Press the enter key once again A list of various filter bandwidths is displayed next Choose the 1MHz filter by using the up down arrow keys Confirm the new setting by again pressing the e...

Page 61: ...ximums using the panning approach 9 2 Turbo Sweep for small frequency ranges Spectran automatically switches to a special Turbo sweep mode when certain conditions are met In this mode the second and a...

Page 62: ...able at any time using the corresponding key It s even easier with our free PC analysis software MCS Here you can even attach info texts To recall the factory settings select Factor under the Setup me...

Page 63: ...om model making to 5GHz WLAN are available at a mouse click Further information like channel number provider etc is displayed as well You can use the File manager in MCS to simply copy these parameter...

Page 64: ...xistent risk of excess input levels particularly when utilizing high gain satellite dishes you should additionally add our optional 20dB attenuator by simply attaching it to the DC blocker 9 10 Measur...

Page 65: ...ion has its own frequency range for exclusive use By assigning a separate frequency range for each application conflicts between different Road users can be avoided so that e g a cell phone cannot be...

Page 66: ...at lane 1 you see nothing OK let s go on with lane 2 nothing either Now lane 3 OK there is some traffic going at 18 km h Continuing with lane 4 Nothing etc Until you have reached the last lane What ha...

Page 67: ...MHz Also the signal strength of every frequency range is exactly stored Like this we also learn what signal strength was present on which frequency range Real world examples Let s assume that we want...

Page 68: ...r bandwidth 2 320 2 450 130MHz usw We can now see all information concerning these three signal sources In practice this will look similar on the spectran display In this example we also have 3 main s...

Page 69: ...ange from 0 6GHz there are 3 main signal sources b The frequency and signal strength of all 3 sources is exactly known So we have acquired a quick overview of what is active in this frequency range As...

Page 70: ...n dB milliwatts dBm or dB microvolts dB V 11 2 Field strength V m A m and power density W m If you don t feed signals directly and instead perform measurements using an antenna you will mostly want to...

Page 71: ...m 0 001 mW cm or 10 W cm 0 1 W m 0 01 mW cm as so on Table 2 Less frequently values in dBm m and dBW m can be found Conversion is similarly simple 1 W cm 10dBm m 20 dBW m or 10 W cm 20 dBm m 10 dBW m...

Page 72: ...g formula applies 377 And the magnetic field H can be calculated like this 377 11 4 Calculating the wavelength in m To calculate the wavelength from the frequency use the following formula Here c corr...

Page 73: ...e up range i e the minimum distance to the transmitter in which a realistic and sensible measurement can be achieved Example For a 900MHz cell phone the wavelength is 0 33 m Hence the close up range i...

Page 74: ...0 000 000 45 0 000 000 22 0 000 001 3 0 000 000 33 0 000 000 18 60 0 000 000 045 0 000 000 022 0 000 000 13 0 000 000 033 0 000 000 018 We assumed the following center frequencies f here GSM900 f 900...

Page 75: ...comparatively exact field strength measurement by simply using the Lambda X column This column presents a weighted average of all possible frequencies between 900MHz and 2 4GHz still giving you an ac...

Page 76: ...m to V m and A m 0 000 1 W cm 0 019 4 V m 0 000 051 5 A m 0 001 W cm 0 061 4 V m 0 000 162 A m 0 01 W cm 0 194 V m 0 000 515 A m 0 1 W cm 0 614 V m 0 001 62 A m 1 W cm 1 94 V m 0 005 15 A m 10 W cm 6...

Page 77: ...z 3 kHz 1 000 km 100 km VF 3 kHz 30 kHz 100 km 10 km VLF 30 kHz 300 kHz 10 km 1 km LF 300 kHz 3 MHz 1 km 100 m MF 3 MHz 30 MHz 100 m 10 m HF 30 MHz 300 MHz 10 m 1 m VHF 300 MHz 3 GHz 1 m 10 cm UHF 3 G...

Page 78: ...nse expires 1 1 2007 10mW EIRP DECT Base station always transmits even when not handling calls 250mW EIRP DECT2 New generation of cordless phones DECT successor 25mW EIRP More extensive lists on www a...

Page 79: ...providers Start Stop frequency abbreviation provider 1 710 0 1 725 0 GSM18K UL Milit r 1 725 2 1 730 0 GSM18K UL T Mobile 1 730 2 1 752 4 GSM18K UL O 2 1 752 8 1 758 0 GSM18K UL Vodafone 1 758 2 1 78...

Page 80: ...2 120 2 UMTS DL Vodafone 2 120 2 2 130 1 UMTS DL Group 3G 2 130 1 2 140 0 UMTS DL e plus 2 140 0 2 149 9 UMTS DL MobilCom 2 149 9 2 159 8 UMTS DL O2 2 159 8 2 169 7 UMTS DL T Mobile D Alle Frequenzang...

Page 81: ...hese limits are recorded in the Verordnung ber elektromagnetische Felder 26 BlmSchV and are mostly derived from the international recommendations As an approval for the compliance with these exposure...

Page 82: ...35 MHz or approx 42 V m For E Net GSM1800 base stations this means that the electrical field strength needs to stay below 1 375 1800 MHz or approx 58 V m The respective allowed absolute maximums are a...

Page 83: ...pendent For example a cellphone has a totally different device exposure limit than a TV broadcast station Here the allowed limits can easily vary by a factor of millions Still all device exposure limi...

Page 84: ...limit calculation 13 External DC input 11 First measurement 50 First operational steps 40 fLow fHigh 19 20 FM 13 17 54 Freq 31 frequency modulation 54 GSM 17 26 34 GSM900 14 GSMbst 34 GSMdst 34 Hardwa...

Page 85: ...13 Aaronia AG DE 54597 Strickscheid 85 Manual Spectran V4 Index Start frequency 59 Sweep 13 22 47 61 62 SwTime 22 63 Technical data 17 Tetra 14 Tips 61 UMTS 14 Unit 29 USB Connector 10 wavelength 72 7...

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