Anritsu Company introduces the MW8219A PIM Master, the industry's first field test solution that can accurately and quickly locate the source of passive intermodulation (PIM), whether it is at the base station or in the surrounding environment. Covering the PCS and AWS cellular frequency ranges, the MW8219A 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.

PIM Master has been designed to work with Anritsu's S332E/S362E Site Master, MS2712E/MS2713E Spectrum Master, and MT8212E/MT8213E Cell Master handheld analyzers, as well as the MT8221B/MT8222A/MT8222B BTS Master handheld analyzers. 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 analyzers 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 analyzers, the location of the measurement can be recorded as well.

A unique feature of the MW8219A is its 40 W testing, compared to alternative methods that only measure at 20 W. Using double the power allows the PIM Master to locate intermittent failures due to light corrosion, high-traffic loading, or changing weather conditions. It also permits users to find faults in a multicarrier antenna system or discover microscopic arcing in connectors.

Locating PIM Sources

Anritsu developed a proprietary technology called Distance-to-PIM for use with PIM Master. Distance-to-PIM helps field engineers, technicians and contractors pinpoint passive intermodulation faults, eliminating the unknown of whether the PIM source is from the antenna system or surrounding environment. Simple, immediate, and accurate, Distance-to-PIM simultaneously informs the user of the distance and magnitude of all the PIM sources, both inside the antenna system and beyond the antenna.

Distance-to-PIM testing provides the detail and insight that can quicken repairs, control repair costs, and help plan budgets. Historical data can be used to monitor a device and determine if it is deteriorating with age, so that corrections can be made before a failure results in dropped or blocked calls.