Telamon wrote:
In article ,
dave wrote:

Telamon wrote:
In article ,
dave wrote:

Telamon wrote:
In article ,
dave wrote:
I do not schlep gear. I am an RF technician. I play with radios and
antennas and make union scale doing it.
Does that entail more than microphones? Do you repair equipment?
Engineer or build equipment?

Microphones, instrument packs, wireless intercoms, wireless in-ear
monitors, etc.

I do component level troubleshooting and repair.

I am not an engineer. I am a high-school "dropout". That being said,
I design and build RF amplifier systems, spec fixed filters and have
Anatech build them, and tune "agile" cavity bandpass filters. I sweep
cables. I coordinate frequencies for "live" TV shows.
That sounds like a great job. Good for you.

You probably use some kind of TDR to test the cables. Is most of it 75
ohm?

I've never worked with "agile cavity bandpass filters". Sounds
interesting.

I wish we had a TDR. When we get a thousand foot roll of cable we
actually unspool the whole mess to see that it's all there. Oddly
enough, we do have optical TDRs for fiber, but none for copper. I
personally own one, but I don't mingle my tools with the company's.

I use my trusty R&S FSH-313.

A spectrum analyzer with tracking generator is an excellent piece of
diagnostic gear and just the thing to use to tune up circuits.

The Germans build good stuff and R&S is top of the line.

We use these extensively. As soon as we retune them we void the
warranty, but have only lost one so far. We use the 4 cavity model.

http://www.microwavefilter.com/pdffiles/pg20.pdf

They look like tuned cavity filters alright.

I'm really surprised you don't have a TDR for the electrical coax.

Is the copper coax 50 or 75 ohm? Do you use SMA or the type F connectors.

My work is 50 ohm connectors of all types from "V" to "BNC" and the
frequency range of DC to 65 GHz. No optical work at the current job
right now with one exception coming up later this year.

I am currently watching Stevie Wonder and the Jonas Brothers, doing
"Superstition".

My radio on the desk at work can't compete with that.


We use miles and miles of all kinds of cable. To find a break we bend
the cable while listening to a continuity tester. Very crude, but my
bosses are quirky that way. We have the manpower and the time to do
things the hard way, I suppose.

The RF is almost all RG8/U family, with BNCs exclusively. I like
Pasternack but sometimes my supervisor gets a Harbor Freight mentality
and I have to settle for AMP or Amphenol. We have some 6' and 15'
jumpers made from RG8X. Our 3' jumpers are RG58/U. My domain is from
74 MHz to 952 MHz. Most is in the DTV core spectrum from 470 to 698 MHz.

My background as a UHF TV transmission engineer prepared me well for
this gig as I was already well versed in the propagation characteristics
of the band. I've gone from 120 KW transmitters to 100 mW transmitters,
but I have way more of them!

Coldplay, McCartney, and U2 left tonight, then a few hours sleep 'til
dress rehearsal and then "live to the East Coast Sunday" afternoon.
Then I get to roll up my co-ax and go home for some serious sleep.
Monday I start building other shows. February is sweeps month; lots of
TV specials.

I listen to the radio (with headphones) during lulls.