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Maintenance | 53
SECTION 5: MAINTENANCE
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
The redundant amplifier assembly is of a completely solid state design. Normal periodic inspection for cleanliness and
mechanical integrity should be made in accordance with standard procedures.
To prevent long and costly downtime of the 1:1 Redundant Line Amplifier System, periodic monitoring of the overall
performance parameters that are most indicative of individual amplifier performance is necessary. A log should be
maintained that provides a permanent record of Line Amplifier performance and compares it to factory provided data. By
doing so, any long term degradation, erratic or abnormal performance can be detected early. The overall Line Amplifier
parameters that are most indicative of individual system component performance is the channel gain, noise figure,
switching functions and power supply voltage.
Any excessive change in Line Amplifier gain or noise figure indicates a malfunction in the performance of the RF signal
components. A failure in switch operation may be due to a faulty switch or switch driver failure.
DC VOLTAGE
The power supply voltages can be monitored through the amplifier system front panel LCD and user interface. If a voltage
is beyond tolerance reset the power supply using the tuning adjustment located on the top of the power supply.
GAIN OF THE REDUNDANT LINE AMPLIFIER ASSEMBLY
The following procedure is to be followed for gain measurements:
Connect the test equipment as shown in Figure 5-1.
Set the sweeper to cover the required input frequency range.
Set the attenuator on the log memory scope to 000 and memorize the input reference.
Connect the 1:1 Redundant Line Amplifier System to the test setup and measure the desired channel.
Record the gain of the Signal Channel.
The gain of the 1:1 Redundant Line Amplifier System should be periodically monitored to reveal deviations which would
indicate a possible malfunction.
Figure 5-1. Test Setup for Gain, Gain Ripple and Frequency Response Measurement
CORRECTIVE MAINTENANCE
If the 1:1 Redundant Line Amplifier System malfunctions during normal use or it the test mentioned in the previous section
reveals excessive discrepancies in amplifier performance, isolation and correction of the malfunction becomes necessary.
While it is difficult to fully anticipate and describe all possible failure modes in a complicated electronic system, this manual
contains sufficient information in the form of theory of operation and diagrams to enable an experienced technician to
isolate and remove the malfunctioning module. In addition, power supply failures can be corrected on the station level.
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PROPER GROUNDING PRECAUTIONS
ARE REQUIRED AT ALL TIMES TO
PREVENT DAMAGE FROM ESD WHILE
HANDLING THIS UNIT
Oscilloscope
or Log Memory
Scope
Detector
Redundant
Amplifier
System
Stepped
Attenuator
Sweep
Generator