3030

Directional Watt Meter

Operators Manual

Edition Notice !

This publication applies to:

COMM-connect A/S type 3030 Directional Watt Meter

Hardware release “1“

Software release 02.00.07

Copyright©2013-14

All rights reserved to:

COMM-connect A/S,

Sigerslevostervej 11,

DK-3600 Frederikssund, Denmark.

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Table of Contents

General Safety 4

General Information 4

Description 4

Operation modes 4

Battery and Charging 5

Warranty 5

Options 6

Connections 6

Operating 7

Front Panel 7

Power On/Off 8

Menu Button 8

Arrow Buttons 8

Normal Mode 9

RMS Mode 9

Peak Mode 10

P-Hold (Peak Hold) Mode 10

Contrast 10

Power OFF time 10

Auto/Fixed Frequency 10

RTL (Return Loss) setting 11

Backlight 11

Sensitivity 11

Making Measurements 12

Accessories 13

Specifications 14

Conversion Tables 15

Abbreviations 15

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General Safety:

The 3030 Directional Watt Meter should only be used for its intended pur-pose and never be connected to cables carrying hazardous voltages.

When handling NiMh batteries great care should be observed preventing polarity reversal and short circuit as the batteries may explode or catch fire.

General Information.

Description:

The 3030 Directional Watt Meter is a versatile transmitter power analyzer

covering all major communication bands from 30MHz to 500MHz*. The

3030 Directional Watt Meter will measurement forward and reflected power

in the range from 1 Watt up to 100 Watts. The 3030 has a low resolution

frequency counter to show the operating frequency and for calibration table

look up. The 3030 Directional Watt Meter will calculate VSWR. The detec-

tion system will capture short transmitter pulses (20mS) and show frequency

in MHz. For longer transmitter periods the counter will show the frequency in

kHz. The 3030 Directional Watt Meter has peak and hold function to capture

power and frequency. Simple Menu navigation to change instrument set-

tings. The 3030 Directional Watt Meter instrument is small, handy and light

weight battery operated with more than 4 hours of continuous operation on

the internal rechargeable NiMh low self-discharge cells. The usage of low

self-discharge cells brings several advantages, as the unit will retain its

charge for more than a year, and will sustain over 1000 charge cycles

Operation modes:

The 3030 Directional Watt Meter is as default operated like a conventional

thru line watt meter with the addition of SWR calculation and frequency

counting.

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Battery and Charging:

The 3030 Directional Watt Meter is powered by 3 NiMh Low Self-discharge

AAA cells giving the instrument >4 hours of continuous operation when fully

charged.

The charging is done by USB from a PC or from a supplied charger via the

supplied USB cable. Charging current is approximately 250mA and full

charge is reached after 9 Hours of charging. The Charge indicator is always

lit when connected to your PC or the charger. The charging is a constant

current charge and can be left connect without damage to the battery cells. If

for any reason the batteries are replaced please replace with the same type

& rating.

In the event that the instrument has run out of battery, when arriving at a

customer site, please charge the unit for approx. 5 mins and leave the

charger connected, before commencing measurement.

The instrument can be use stand alone with alkaline AAA cells but NEVER

connect to USB or charger with alkaline cells!!

Warranty:

The 3030 Directional Watt Meter has a 1 year total warranty covering parts and labor as long as the instrument has been used according to the instruc-tions in this manual, and has not been subject to any abuse. Warranty will cover the return shipment after repair.

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Charge Indicator

Options :

Accessory Kit, this kit contains a Soft carrying bag, adaptors from the “N”

female on the instrument into “BNC” female, “TNC” Female, Mini “UHF”,

“FME” male and a 5Volt USB regulated Cigarette Lighter Charger.

Peli case Kit, with a strong box for holding adaptors, charger, a 5Volt USB

regulated Cigarette Lighter Charger, cables and manual etc. The adaptor

set is a high quality 4 set of adaptors from N female to connectors of your

choice. See page 13.

Connections:

Two female “N” type connectors for the connection to the Transmitter on the INPUT side and to the antenna cable or other Load on the LOAD side of the instrument.

USB B PC Charger only (No PC connection)

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Test Connectors

Graphic Display

Icon Line

Keys

Charge indicator

Battery USB PC Signal No Signal

Icons

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The Front Panel

Power ON/OFF

Backlight On/Off

Power On/Off

Pressing the ON/OFF button firmly will switch on the instrument.

A welcome screen will appear like this:

The instrument will run for the duration of the auto power off period or until

ON/OFF is pressed firmly again.

Menu:

This button will display Menu :

Arrow buttons:

Use the arrow up and down buttons to select the menu line:

Compilation date

Product name

Software Version

Serial number

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Menus continued:

Press Menu again to change setting!

Use Arrow buttons to change setting! And press ENTER to confirm change

and press ENTER again to return to measurement screen.

Measurement Modes:

In Normal mode the instrument will display Power and SWR when threshold

level is exceeded. The signal Icon will be lit. When the transmit signal disap-

pear so will the Power and SWR.

In RMS Mode the instrument will display Power and SWR When threshold

level is exceeded. The signal Icon will be lit. When the transmit signal disap-

pear the Power and SWR and Frequency will hold the reading and the hold

counter will run showing time from last signal was present. The No Signal

Icon is lit.

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Menus continued:

The PEAK mode will find the maximum power level and decay the reading

slowly.

The P-Hold(Peak Hold) mode will find the maximum power level and hold

the reading.

The CONTRAST function can be used to adjust the LCD contrast.

The OFF TIME function is where the auto power off time limit is set. (Default

is 5 minutes)

AUTO FREQ can be used to enable or disable the frequency counter. If the

Signal is not stable or too weak the FIXED frequency option can be used.

The FREQUENCY must be set to the nearest 10MHz frequency with the

arrow buttons in FIXED frequency mode to have the correct calibration.

This is an example of fixed frequency option with and with out signal:

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Menus continued.

RTL:

Switches between displaying SWR and Return Loss as the 3rd measurement line.

Backlight:

The Backlight can be toggled on and off by the UP Arrow (see page 7)

All the menu setting can be combined in any configuration.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Sensitivity of The 3030 Directional Watt Meter:

There are two conditions that must be met in order for the instrument to give a

reliable measurement. The counter must be stable enough to measure in MHz

resolution for the calibration table lookup to work. The next condition to be met is

the Forward Power level must be large enough to give a reliable SWR calculation.

In the figure below is a typical sensitivity plotted during automatic calibration of the

instrument.

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Making Measurements General Setup: The 3030 Directional Watt Meter is a directional coupler in line Watt meter. The 3030 Directional Watt Meter is to be inserted between a Transmitter (Input) and an Antenna (Load) and will measure the transmitted power, the reflected power and calculate the Standing Wave Ratio. To make a calibrated measurement the frequency of the transmitter is counted and displayed on screen.

Connecting Transmitter and Antenna:

Observe the outmost care when connecting antennas via cables , as these

cables can be connected to transmitters and /or power sources! Make sure

the transmitter is turned off! Make sure you have chosen the antenna you

intend to test!!

Connection to high power transmitters 150+Watts and/or other sources can

destroy the instrument or cause hazardous electrical conditions.

When connecting to the “N” female connectors on the instrument make sure

you are using either “N” male antenna cable connectors or an appropriate

adaptor.

Please observe that the use of adapters and cable connections of poor

quality may influence the SWR and give higher readings than the actual

antenna SWR. Once the antenna an transmitter has been connected to the

instrument you switch on The 3030 Directional Watt Meter on and select

your choice in the menu. By observing the screen you can see transmitted

power, reflected power, the calculated SWR and the measured frequency.

Antennas are usually designed to have a SWR below a given value within

the band for which it is designed. As an example a TETRA 390MHz antenna

could have the following specifications: Range 380 - 400 MHz at SWR less

than 2.0:1 typical 1.5:1.

General hints

Always refer to antenna and transmitter manufacturers specification! Anten-

nas may have more than one resonance frequency! If the SWR value is

high or fluctuating the Antenna Cable may be broken or shorted!

Keep connectors clean and tight!

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Optional accessories Kit: Automobile cigarette lighter regulated 5Volt USB charger. With lighter jack and USB plug. Coaxial adapters to fit “N” at the Test ports: 2 pcs. N male / FME male 2 pcs. N male / BNC female 2 pcs. N male / TNC female 2 pcs. N male / miniUHF female Soft canvas case ( order code: 3030_ACC ) : Hard Rugged and Watertight strong box ( order code: 3030_FULL ) :

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Specifications:

Model Type: 3030, Directional Watt Meter

Application: Measurement of Power and SWR in a

50 Ω transmission line

Power Frequency range 30 – 500 MHz

Option: 30 - 1000 MHz

Counter Frequency range 30 to 1000 MHz, depending on option

Counter accuracy ±100 ppm (±50 kHz @ 500 MHz)

Measurement range Power 1 W to 100 W

Measurement range VSWR 1.0:1 < SWR < 9.9:1

Measurement Dynamic range > 24 dB (VSWR 1.15:1) @ 500 mW Forward and

above

Impedance Nom. 50 Ω

Directivity > 30 dB (30 - 500 MHz)

Mainline VSWR < 1.06:1 (30 - 500 MHz)

Tolerance on SWR reading 30-500 MHz ± 5% @ 1 W level

Operating temperature range +10° C-> + 40° C

Storage temperature range -30° C -> + 50° C

Connectors “N”-female RF Input and Load

USB B type for charge only.

Power supply 3 NiMH type AAA 1.2V 1 Ah rechargeable batteries

or 5 VDC from USB

Auto Power off For battery economy, 3030 automatically

turns off after user defined time. (5 minutes)

Capacity Fully charged: More than 4 hours continuously.

Colour Silver/blue

Width 92 mm

Depth 40 mm

Height 113 mm

Weight 400 gram (incl. Batteries)

EMC Complies with directive 89/336EEC as amended by

92/31EEC and 93/68/EEC

Standards Emissions: EN 61000-6-4: 2001

Immunity: EN 61000-6-2: 2005

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Conversion table: Return Loss Reflection VSWR In dB Coefficient, r 1 0.891 17.4 2 0.794 8.72 3 0.707 5.85 4 0.631 4.42 5 0.562 3.57 6 0.501 3.01 7 0.447 2.61 8 0.398 2.32 9 0.355 2.10 10 0.316 1.92 12 0.251 1.67 14 0.199 1.50 16 0.158 1.38 18 0.126 1.29 20 0.100 1.22 25 0.056 1.12 30 0.032 1.07 35 0.018 1.04 40 0.010 1.02

Abbreviations SWR, VSWR (Voltage) Standing Wave Ratio RF Radio Frequency MHz Mega Hertz GaAs Gallium Arsenide MMIC Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit SMPS Switched Mode Power Supply GSM Global System for Mobile dBm deciBell referenced to 1 milli Watt dBd deciBell referenced to half wave dipole ppm parts per million LCD Liquid Crystal Display AC Alternating Current DC Direct Current NiMH Nickel Metal Hydride

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The 3030 Directional Watt Meter

Operators Manual Version 1f