The Test and Measurement Page

The Test & Measurement Page

by Adam Farson VA7OJ/AB4OJ

How true this is! Nonetheless, my shack and lab are in separate rooms.

The Basics:

Every amateur radio station should be provided with the following minimal test equipment:

A frequency-measuring instrument accurate to within 10 Hz.
An RF power meter capable of measuring forward and reflected power, or power and VSWR.
An accurate digital multimeter (with a high-voltage probe for safe measurement of voltages above 500V).
Assorted RF jumper cables (PL-259, BNC, N, SMA in various combinations.)
A well-regulated bench power supply (13.8V/25A minimum).

For the advanced Ham:

For more sophisticated station adjustment (SSB audio, modulation envelope, tones in digital modes etc.), we should add:

An oscilloscope with a minimum 3 dB bandwidth of 50 - 100 MHz.
An audio signal generator (or tone-generator software) covering 50 Hz - 100 kHz.
A good-quality frequency counter with a minimum frequency range of 100 MHz, preferably with a 1 GHz C-channel.
A handheld antenna analyser.
A grid-dip oscillator.

Now we're getting serious:

Radio amateurs who are interested in aligning and repairing their own (or their friends') radio gear may wish to go a few steps further:

A good-quality RF signal generator covering 400 kHz to 500 MHz, with a built-in attenuator.
An FM communications service monitor.
An RF spectrum analyser with an upper frequency limit of at least 100 MHz (for HF) or 1 GHz (for HF/VHF/UHF and up), with a minimum resolution bandwidth of 100 Hz.
A tracking generator for use with the spectrum analyser, or alternatively a vector network analyser (VNA).
An RF millivoltmeter or microwattmeter (100 kHz - 1 GHz, -50 to +30 dBm).
A number of good-quality fixed RF attenuators.
A good RF step attenuator.
A variable-voltage bench power supply (0 - 20V, 25A).
A vector network analyser (free-standing or PC-based).

For those interested in radio performance evaluation:

We have already accumulated a pretty good little RF lab here. For radio performance testing, we can add:

A second high-quality RF signal generator and a hybrid combiner, for 2-signal receiver testing.
An audio 2-tone generator, or equivalent tone-generator software.
An RF noise generator.
A precision 10 MHz frequency standard with low phase noise, to clock other instruments using a 10 MHz reference (e.g. counters, signal generators).
A pulse generator, for AGC and noise-blanker testing.
Baseband spectrum-analysis software, for filter response measurements etc.
An audio distortion analyser, distortion meter or SINAD meter.

Won't I go broke buying all this kit?

Not necessarily! As the old saying goes. "it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good." Perhaps the greatest boon which the dot-com bust and the telecom implosion conferred on the amateur radio community (at least on those of us whose livelihood was not affected by these events) is the availability of top-quality test instruments on the second-hand and surplus market. At many hamfests, one will see such legendary makes as HP/Agilent, Tektronix, Fluke, Boonton, Millivac, Philips, Systron-Donner and even Rohde & Schwarz, sometimes at pennies on the dollar.

The Test & Measurement Page

by Adam Farson VA7OJ/AB4OJ

The Basics:

For the advanced Ham:

Now we're getting serious:

For those interested in radio performance evaluation:

Won't I go broke buying all this kit?

Next, we will get into some specifics...

Educational Documents:

Manuals for sale:

Links:

Under Construction