Times Technology T100 instruction manual

T100 Vector Impedance Analyzer

timestechnology.com.hk

User Manual Ver. 1.1

T100 is a state of the art portable Vector
Impedance Analyzer. This powerful yet handy
instrument is specifi cally designed for the
advanced amateur radio experimenters working
at the VHF/UHF band.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

General Description
T100 Menu Structure
Key Defi nitions
Single Frequency
Sweep Frequency Plot
Calibration
Settings
PC Mode
Firmware Update
Specifi cations
Accessories

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The T100 Vector Impedance Analyzer is
essentially a device to inject an RF signal
into whatever is connected to its test port,
and measures the amplitude and phase of the
refl ected RF signal.

The refl ected amplitude and phase are
calibrated with industrial standard 3-term
Open/Short/Load (OSL) calibration method.

T100 Vector Impedance Analyzer can operate
from 100MHz to 170MHz (VHF), and from 400MHz
to 470MHz (UHF), with a 25KHz minimum step
size.

T100 MENU STRUCTURE

MAIN MENU
SINGLE FREQ

•SWR

•IMPEDANCE (SERIAL)

•IMPEDANCE (PARALLEL)

•S11 (RECTANGULAR & POLAR)
SWEEP FREQ PLOT
SWR
IMPEDANCE (Z)
RESISTANCE (R)
REACTANCE (X)
RETURN LOSS (S11)
PHASE ANGLE
CALIBRATE
CONNECT OPEN
CONNECT SHORT
CONNECT LOAD
SETTINGS
BACKLIGHT
AUTO
ON
OFF
AUTO POWER OFF
ENABLE
DISABLE
BATTERY
ALKALINE
NIMH
CAL DATA PROTECT
LOCK CAL DATA
UNLOCK CAL DATA
INFO
PC MODE

KEY DEFINITIONS

POWER : Press and hold this key

for two seconds to turn on or off
T100 Vector Impedance Analyzer.

CONFIRM : Use this key to confi rm
the desired selections and fre­quencies entered.

MODE : In SINGLE FREQ, this key is
used to switch between the following
modes cyclically:

• SWR

• IMPEDANCE (SERIAL)

• IMPEDANCE (PARALLEL)

• S11
In SWEEP FREQ PLOTS, this key is used
to switch between the following func­tions cyclically:

• FREQUENCY

• Y SCALE

• ALIGNMENT

• STEP SIZE

ARROWS : These keys are used to se­lect the desired menu items or op­tions. They are also used to in­crease/decrease the frequency. Hold
to increase/decrease frequency auto­matically. In SINGLE FREQ, the step
size is fi xed at 25KHz. In SWEEP
FREQ PLOT, the current step size can
be selected with the MODE key.

0

~

9

NUMERIC : Use these keys to enter
the desired frequency directly.
Frequencies within the valid oper­ating range will automatically be
aligned to the 25KHz steps. Fre­quencies outside the valid operat­ing range will be ignored.

BACK : Cancel the current opera­tion and/or go back to the previ­ous menu.

SINGLE FREQ

In this mode, T100 can display the measured
data in any of the following four represen­tations. You may switch cyclically through
these representations with the MODE key.

•SWR

•IMPEDANCE (SERIAL)

•IMPEDANCE (PARALLEL)

•S11 (RECTANGULAR & POLAR)

SWR displays the
Standing Wave Ratio
in large font for
easy reading. It
also displays the
impedance (Z) for
reference.

IMPEDANCE (SERIAL)
displays the imped­ance seen from the
test port. The im­pedance is resolved
into the real (re­sistive) part and
imaginary (reactive)

SWR

FREQ:435025
Z=138.08

IMPEDANCE

FREQ:435025

101.80 - j112.58

3.25pF
SERIAL

part connected in
series. The corre­sponding inductance
or capacitance is
also displayed ac­cording to the sign
of the reactance.

IMPEDANCE (PARALLEL)
displays the impedance
seen from the test
port. The impedance
is resolved into the
real (resistive) part
and imaginary (reac­tive) part connected
in parallel. The cor­responding inductance
or capacitance is also
displayed according to
the sign of the reac­tance.

IMPEDANCE

FREQ:435025

240.10 - j194.53

1.88pF
PARALLEL

S11 displays the
rectangular and
polar representa­tions of the S11
measured.

S11

FREQ:435025
RECTANGULAR:

0.58 + j0.34
POLAR:

|0.67| <-30.10

SWEEP FREQ PLOT

Under this menu, T100 can plot any of the fol­lowing measured data over the desired frequen­cy range:

•SWR

•IMPEDANCE (Z)

•RESISTANCE (R)

•REACTANCE (X)

•RETURN LOSS (S11)

•PHASE ANGLE
Use the MODE key to switch cyclically between

any of the following parameters to change
their value.

•FREQUENCY - use the ARROW keys to increment
or decrement the frequency by the value of
STEP SIZE. The cursor on the plot will move
accordingly. The frequency can also be en­tered directly using the numeric keys.

•Y SCALE - use the ARROW keys to select the
maximum value on the Y axis. Possible values
are 3, 10, 30, 100, 300, and 1000.

•ALIGNMENT - use the ARROW keys to select
if the directly entered frequency should be
aligned to the CURRENT position of the cursor,
BEGIN (leftmost on the plot), CENTER (of the
plot), or END (rightmost of the plot). Ranges
outside the valid frequencies will be shaded.

•STEP SIZE - use the ARROW keys to select
the desired frequency step size. Possible
values are 25KHz, 100KHz, 500KHz,and 1MHz.

CALIBRATION

T100 Vector Impedance Analyzer employs indus­trial standard Open/Short/Load (OSL) cali­bration method to eliminate various system
errors. To perform accurate measurements,
T100 needs to be calibrated against the OPEN,
SHORT, and LOAD standards. Three high qual­ity OPEN, SHORT, and LOAD SMA terminators are
included for this purpose. Resulting calibra­tion data to be used in computations will be
stored in non-volatile memory in T100.

Calibration data is
locked upon power up
of T100 to avoid ac­cidental erasure. It
has to be unlocked in
the SETTINGS menu,

CALIBRATE

DATA LOCKED
GOTO SETTINGS MENU
TO UNLOCK DATA FIRST

before CALIBRATION can
be performed.

Connect securely the
OPEN standard, and
then press the OK key
to start calibration.
Likewise for the SHORT
and LOAD standards in
sequence to complete
the calibration.

Calibration data will
be locked again auto­matically after cali­bration. The instru-

CALIBRATE

CONNECT OPEN

CALIBRATE

CALIBRATION DONE

ment is now ready to
use. If desired, T100
can be re-calibrated
at any time.

SETTINGS

SETTING MENU

A number of general
options and informa­tion are available in
this menu.

BACKLIGHT
AU TO - Turn off

backlight automat­ically if no key
is pressed for 30
seconds.

ON - Leave backlight

always on

BACKLIGHT

AUTO POWER OFF
BATTERY
CAL DATA PROTECT
INFO

BACKLIGHT MENU
AUTO

ON
OFF

OF F - Leave back-

light always off

AUTO POWER OFF
EN ABLE - Automatic

power off if no
key is pressed for
5 minutes.

DI SABLE - No auto-

matic power off.

AUTO POWER OFF MENU
ENABLE

DISABLE

BATTERY
Choose between
ALKALINE and NIMH to
refl ect the type of
batteries being used.
It only affects the
threshold voltage
dictating when a low
battery sign on the
upper right hand
corner of the display
will appear.

CAL DATA PROTECT
Select UNLOCK CAL DATA
before calibration.
Calibration data will

BATTERY MENU
ALKALINE

DISABLE

PROTECT MENU
LOCK CAL DATA

UNLOCK CAL DATA

be locked automatical­ly after calibration.
Alternatively, choose
LOCK CAL DATA to lock
calibration data manu­ally if necessary.

INFO
Display general infor­mation of the device,
as well as the bat­tery voltage. ( 5
blocks on the battery
bar as battery full
and 1 block as battery
empty.)

SYSTEM INFORMATION

MODEL : T100
H/W VER: 1.00
F/W/VER: 1.00
BATTERY:

PC MODE

T100 is capable of communicating with a
PC via an emulated serial link over the
USB connection. Virtual serial port
driver for Windows XP is included in the
T100 CD-ROM and should be installed be­fore connecting your T100 to a PC. A
sample host program for Windows XP is
also included to demonstrate controlling
T100 from a PC, and displaying T100 mea­sured data.

The (virtual) serial communication be­tween T100 and the PC should be confi gured
as follows:

Baud Rate = 38400 baud
Parity Bit = None
Data Bits = 8
Stop Bit = 1

On entering the PC MODE, T100 will dis­play the “WAITING FOR HOST CMD” message
and listen to the serial port.

PC MODE

WAITING FOR HOST CMD

To command T100 to tune to a specifi c fre-
quency, the host program shall transmit a
six-digit frequency in ASCII characters
via the serial port.

To command T100 to take a measurement,
send an ASCII character ‘S’. Then re­ceive from the serial port a null termi­nated ASCII string. This is the measured
magnitude and argument in degrees, sepa­rated by a comma. The same result will
be displayed on T100 at the same time.

Send another ‘S’ to repeat measurement at
the same frequency, or issue another six
digit frequency to tune to a new frequen­cy.

Sending an ASCII character ‘D’ will bring
T100 back to the initial state, display­ing the “WAITING FOR HOST CMD” message
and listen to the serial port.

PC MODE

FREQ : 144000
|S11| <S11

0.9577 -14.72

FIRMWARE UPDATE

T100 fi rmware can be updated as new releases
are available. Updated fi rmware fi le can be
downloaded from the Internet to a PC and
programmed to the T100 via the USB interface.

Caution

1. Please use fresh batteries
when updating fi rmware.

2. Do not turn power off or re­move batteries during fi rmware
updating.

Hold down the “Mode”

Firmware Update

key while switching
on T100 to enter the
“Firmware Update”
Mode. T100 will show
the screen on the
left.

On a PC running Windows XP operating system,
open a DOS console in a directory with the two
fi les update.exe and fi rmware.ENC.

Plug in the USB cable to connect the PC and
T100. Find out which USB emulated COM port
T100 is connected to from the Control Panel/
System/Hardware/Device Manager on the PC.

With T100 at “Firmware Update” mode, issue the
following command in the DOS console to update
the fi rmware with the fi le

update

fi rmware

.ENC -COMx -38400

fi rmware

.ENC :

T100 SPECIFICATIONS

Frequency Range: 100MHz ~ 170MHz (VHF)
400MHz ~ 470MHz (UHF)
PLL Synthesized

Frequency Resolution : 25KHz
Test Port Connector : SMA
Output Power : > 0dBm (typical)
Harmonics : < -30dB (minimum)
Display :

128 x 64 dots graphical LCD with backlight
Physical Dimensions :

140mm(length) x 68mm(width) x 25mm(thick)
Net Weight : 130 gram (without batteries)
Power : AA Size Battery x 2

ACCESSORIES

SMA connector for OPEN Calibration: P/N 202112
SMA connector for SHORT Calibration:P/N 132331
SMA connector for LOAD Calibration: P/N 132360

SMA male to BNC female adaptor
SMA male to SO-239 adaptor
USB A to mini-B cable
CD-ROM