Anritsu has slashed the size of its Passive Intermodulation (PIM) tester, making it battery-powered and portable so that technicians can more easily transport the device.
In a meeting with RCR Wireless News, Anritsu’s product marketing manager Dave Bolan offered a look at the new PIM Master series, which comes in six models to address major frequency ranges. The unit is designed to be carried like a messenger bag and is suited for difficult-to-access sites such as remote radio head installations and indoor DAS installations. The new units are half the weight and just one-quarter of the size of the previous generation, and Bolan said that they are being well-received by carrier customers.
“This is exactly what the network carriers have been asking for,” Bolan said. “They say we need it smaller, we need it lighter, and we need it battery operated, and we think we’re delivering on that.”
Meanwhile, the company also recently added a new analog signal generator for evaluating narrowband radio equipment used in public safety and private commercial networks, particularly the traditional P25 narrowband voice networks for land mobile radios. The product is aimed at the needs of designers and manufacturers of public safety and commercial radio equipment and components, including amplifiers and mixers.
The MG3740A can be configured to produce digital modulations; with that option, it can be used as a test signal source for dual-mode radio equipment supporting both analog and digital communications. Anritsu says the new unit reduces costs due to its set of two, dual RF outputs, which eliminates the need for two signal generators while allowing the production of up to four different signals. Along with testing analog radio characteristics, the unit also tests amplifier distortion and inter-modulation characteristics, and can serve as an RF/LO signal source for evaluations mixer characteristics.
