Anritsu MW8219A PIM Master analyser

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Introduced by Anritsu is the MW8219A PIM Master, said to be the first field test solution that can accurately locate the source of passive intermodulation (PIM), whether it is at the base station or in the surrounding environment.

Initially covering the PCS and AWS mobile phone frequency ranges (with an 850 MHz version to follow ) it provides field personnel with a test system that can help ensure optimum network performance and also locate PIM faults before intermodulation distortion adversely affects signal transmission.

The analyser has been designed to work with the S332E/S362E Site Master, MS2712E/MS2713E Spectrum Master and MT8212E/MT8213E Cell Master handheld analysers, as well as the MT8221B/MT8222A/MT8222B BTS Master analysers.

Field personnel can use the PIM Master to generate two high-power tones in the transmit band of a base station and use any of the handheld analysers to measure the 3rd, 5th, or 7th order intermodulation products in the receive band that travel down the same cable.

Using the GPS option available on all the analysers, the location of the measurement can be recorded as well.

A feature is its 40 W testing, compared to other methods that measure at 20 W. Using double the power allows the instrument to locate intermittent failures due to light corrosion, high-traffic loading or changing weather conditions. It also permits users to find faults in a multi-carrier antenna system or discover microscopic arcing in connectors.

The company has developed a technology called Distance-to-PIM for use with this analyser. Distance-to-PIM helps users pinpoint passive intermodulation faults, eliminating the unknown of whether the PIM source is from the antenna system or surrounding environment. Simple, immediate and accurate, it simultaneously tells the user of the distance and magnitude of all the PIM sources, both inside the antenna system and beyond the antenna.