TNP #15 – The Impossible Amplifier

April 1, 2022 No comments

Could I have found the greatest amplifier on April 1st?

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TSP #205 – Keysight FieldFox 50GHz Handheld Microwave Analyzer / RTSA Review & Experiments

March 25, 2022 No comments

In this episode Shahriar reviews the Keysight FieldFox Microwave Analyzer which is capable of both 2-port network analysis as well as spectrum analyzer with real-time capabilities. Keysight’s FieldFox portable analyzers are equipped to handle tough working environments during routine maintenance, in-depth troubleshooting, and anything in between:

https://www.keysight.com/us/en/products/network-analyzers/fieldfox-handheld-rf-microwave-analyzers.html

This review is organized as follows:

00:00 – Introductions.
01:22 – Instrument overview, design, interfaces, built quality.
04:38 – LCD screen, remote interface, GUI usage.
05:04 – S-Parameter personality, calibration, tuner experiment, reflection phase shifter measurements, etc.
15:35 – Power Sensor personality, PA load-pull experiment, reflection power measurements.
21:12 – Spectrum analyzer personality overview, built-in synthesizer, output spectrum quality.
24:42 – mm-Wave transmitter measurement, detecting impairments, spectrum analyzer capabilities.
29:00 – I/Q analyzer personality, RF envelope versus time capabilities.
31:33 – Real-time spectrum analyzer personality, 100% POI performance.
33:23 – PathWave VSA compatibility, mm-wave constellation demodulation example.
36:32 – Noise Figure personality, Friis equation demonstration, NF uncertainty calculator.
46:50 – Concluding remarks.

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TNP #14 – Teardown & Analysis of a Somewhat Dangerous LiPo-Based Mini Spot Welder

March 13, 2022 No comments

In this episode Shahriar takes a look at the a battery-based spot welder which have become fairly popular recently. Due to being mass-produced, some poor corner-cutting schemes can render these devices dangerous. The teardown of a random unit is presented. After improving the safety of the unit, a sample weld is done. The maximum deliverable energy of the unit is also measured.

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TSP #204 – Teardown, Tutorial & Experiments with Active/Passive Microwave Band-Pass Filters (APS104)

March 13, 2022 No comments

In this episode Shahriar repairs an OPTOELECTRONICS APS-104 tunable band-pass filter. The instrument provides continuous tuning from 20MHz to 1GHz with a constant 4-MHz band pass response. Since the repair proves to be fairly easy, the video focuses on comparison between various band-pass filter architectures. This includes microwave cavity filters, PCB-based filters with varactor tuning, YIG filters and frequency-translation filters. A range of measurements highlight the differences and pros/cons of the aforementioned filters. The APS-104 unit is fully reverse engineered and characterized as well.

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TNP #13 – Teardown & Repair of a Keithley 2001 7.5-Digit Multimeter

February 20, 2022 No comments

In this episode Shahriar repairs a Keithley 2001 7.5 Digit multimeter. This is a very high performance unit and worth repairing. However, the early 90’s revision of these units were subject to electrolytic capacitor failure all overt the analog and digital boards. The failed capacitors destroy the nearby traces including the inner layer connections. The teardown of the unit reveals this problem. By using x-ray imaging the missing and damaged traces are identified and meticulously repaired. Several of the power supply diodes were also destroyed. The repaired unit passes all self-tests as well as measured V/I/R in both DC and AC correctly. The unit is compared with measurements reported by a Keithley DMM7510.

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