Aeroflex adds 3550 support for Bird WPS

Aeroflex has added support for the through-line Bird Wideband Power Sensors (WPS) to its 3550 Hand-held Radio Test System. The addition of the Bird 5017 and support for other Bird power sensors enables the 3550 to improve measurement accuracies for in-field test applications.

The Bird 5017 supports frequency ranges from 25 MHz to 1 GHz, with power accuracy of ±4% of reading. It provides accurate power measurements and detection for true average power, peak power and duty cycle directly, and uses these measurements to calculate a wide range of other important factors, such as VSWR, return loss, reflection coefficient, crest factor, average burst power and CCDF.

The 3550 test system is lightweight (3.8 kg including battery) for field-testing of analog, DMR, P25, NXDN and dPMR systems, and features 4.5 h of continuous operation with its internal battery. The system enables the user to test all aspects of the radio system - the transmitter, receiver, cables and antennas - with features typically found only in benchtop equipment. It also meets MIL-PRF-28800F specifications for humidity, shock and vibration, with an operating range of zero to +50°C.