L-3 Communications Avionics Systems

nd
5353 52 Street, S.E.
Grand Rapids, MI 49512-9704 USA
Telephone (616) 949-6600
Fax (616) 977-6898
www.as.l-3com.com Service Letter
Revision History: Rev-A (08/02/2012)

SL-279 (Rev. B)
February 5, 2013

SKY899 – Transmitter Pulse and Frequency Bench Check Procedure

Effectivity: TRC899 Transmitter Receiver Computer, P/N 805-11900-001

References: Installation Manual, 009-11900-001

Approval: This Service Letter contains no modification information that revises the
approved configuration and therefore does not require government or other
regulatory agency approval.

Export Compliance: This technical data is controlled under the Export Administration
Regulations (EAR) and may not be exported without proper authorization
by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Reason: Provide customers with Bench Check procedure to ensure proper

functionality of the TRC899.

Description: Use the following procedure to measure the transmitter pulse characteristics
and frequency of the TRC899.

A. Recommended Test Equipment

Table 1 provides a list of recommended equipment needed to measure transmitter pulse

characteristics and frequency.
NOTE
Equivalent substitutes may be used for listed items.

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 Service Letter SL-279 (Rev. B)

Table 1: List of Equipment and Hardware

ITEM MANUFACTURER / MODEL-P/N NOTES
Peak Power Analyzer HP, 8990A
Probe HP, 84812A Used with peak power
analyzer
Spectrum Analyzer HP, 8591A
Power Supply, +28 VDC HP, 6024A
20dB Attenuator Narda, 766-20
10dB Attenuator Narda, 766-10
Step Attenuator Narda, 745-69
RF Coupler (power splitter) Narda, 3002-10
Computer Laptop Commercially Available
RS-232 Terminal emulation Commercially Available (E.g.,
® ®
Software Procomm , HyperTerminal )
Compact Flash Card L-3 AS, P/N 805-11925-001 Card contains a standard
(Note - P/N 825-10052-001 has configuration for the system
been superseded) that can be loaded into the
system configuration module.
SKY899, RF Emissions Test Cable L-3 AS, P/N 576-1934 Power and config module
Standard 9-pin serial cable (pin-to- Commercially Available
pin)

Figure 1: Test Setup Diagram

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 Service Letter SL-279 (Rev. B)

B. Test Setup

Refer to Figure 1 and Table 1 for the following procedure.

1. Apply power to laptop and test equipment. Do not apply power to the SKY899.
2. Configure Laptop RS-232 Terminal Emulation Software for a Baud Rate: 19200, Data Bits: 8,
Parity: None, Stop Bits: 1, and Flow Control: Xon/Xoff.
3. Connect 9-pin serial cable between the Laptop Computer and connector J7 (RS-232 Serial Data
TEST port) of the SKY899.
4. Set the 28VDC Power Supply to 28.0VDC ± 0.1 VDC (No Load) prior to attaching the cable.
5. Connect Test Cable (P/N 576-1934) between the +28VDC Power Supply and connector J1 and
J8 of the SKY899.
6. Insert Compact Flash Card (805-11925-001) into SKY899.
NOTE
There should be one file (SP.SP) on the compact flash card .To check to
see if it is present type the “dir” <Enter> command on the laptop after the
Test Setup is complete.
7. Connect Attenuator (Must equal 40dB) to connector J11 (Transmitter Port-RED) of the
SKY899.
8. Setup Peak Power Analyzer per Table 2 and the following:
a. Press blue button then rise time (blue alternate of [4]) then 1.
b. Press blue button then fall time (blue alternate of [5]) then 1.
c. Press blue button then top (blue alternate of [9]) then 1.
d. Press blue button then PW (1) then 1.

NOTE
It is important to know if your power analyzer is measuring a power
waveform or a voltage waveform. The HP-8990 Power meter measures
power waveforms but the TCAS pulse requirements are based upon a
voltage waveform, this is why the measurements must be converted to
1%-81% for rise time/ fall time and to 25% for pulse width.

9. Set up Spectrum Analyzer per Table 3.

NOTE
For rise time and fall time measurements set the Peak Power Analyzer to
81% Upper threshold and 1% Lower threshold. For pulse width
measurements, set the Peak Power Analyzer lower threshold to 25%.

Under DEFINE MEAS SELECT THRESHOLDS, change set lower

threshold to 25 %. Switch from thresholds to measurements. Choose
pulse width and lower threshold. Ignore rise and fall times when
measuring pulse width. Press blue button then pulse width (blue
alternate of [1]) then 1. Remember to change lower threshold back to
1% when measuring rise and fall times.

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 Service Letter SL-279 (Rev. B)

Table 2: Peak Power Analyzer Settings (For Reference Only)

HARD KEY SOFT KEY MENU SETTING
TIME Seconds/Div. 200 ns
Delay 0 ns
ref center
window off
CHAN/VERT channel 1 on (others off)
Scale 2 dB/Div.
ref level 57 dBm
Bandwidth auto
External Loss 40 dB*
TRIG trig'd auto
edge
source 1
level 40 dBm
up-edge
holdoff 40 ns
DISPLAY Display avg
# of avg 8
Power Display log
# of Screens 1
grid
Connect Dots on
MARKERS Ampl Markers off
Time Markers off
CARRIER FREQ Channel 1 = Channel 4
Chan 1 & Chan 4 = 1.03 GHz
DEFINE MEAS Meas Def
user def
thresholds
set upper threshold 81 % **
** pulse width set lower threshold 25%**
UTILITY clicker on
check source pulse

* Enter actual dB loss from Transmitter to Peak Power Analyzer input head.
** 81% Upper and 1% Lower threshold's set for rise and fall time.

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 Service Letter SL-279 (Rev. B)

Table 3: Spectrum Analyzer Setup for RF Testing (For Reference Only)

BUTTON PARAMETER SETTING
FREQUENCY Freq center 1030MHZ

SPAN Span 200MHZ

AMPLITUDE Amplitude 20dBm

BW Res bw 1.0MHZ
Vid bw 3.0MHZ
Vid avg Off

SWEEP Sweep time Man 10sec

Sweep Cont
Gate Off
Dly swp Off

TRIGGER Trigger Free run

AUTO COUPLE Res bw Man

Video bw Man
Swp time Man
Atten Auto
Cf step Auto
Units Auto

TRACE Trace A
Vid avg Off
Normalize Off
A-b->a Off
A-b+dl->a Off

FREQ COUNT Counter On

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 Service Letter SL-279 (Rev. B)

C. Test Procedure
DISCLAIMER
This test is not a complete functional test and should only be used to
ensure proper Transmitter Pulse characteristics and frequency.

1. Apply power to the SKY899 via the +28VDC Power Supply.

2. Use the Laptop Computer and Terminal Emulation Software to setup test prior to transmitting
using the following command.

STEP COMMAND TO TYPE IN REASON

1 liwmgr inter disable <ENTER> Stop any current tests
mbite no <ENTER> Disables all RF Built in tests
baroalt –s alt=1000 <ENTER> Simulates barometric altitude to 1000 ft
2 mbite disable <ENTER> Tell the system not to capture bite results
3 liwmgr bite disable <ENTER> Tell the system not to generate the bite windows
4 mxmit no <ENTER> Tell the system not to do analysis on the interrogations
being generated

3. Type in the following commands to measure transmitter pulse characteristics (Full Power 3
Pulse TCAS):

STEP COMMAND TO TYPE IN REASON

1 liwmgr inter disable <ENTER> Stop any current tests
2 liwmgr active tcas <ENTER> Tell the system to interrogate in TCAS format (3 pulse
as opposed to Mode C)
3 liwmgr level 7 <ENTER> Set to full power whisper shout level
4 liwmgr inter enable <ENTER Turn On Transmitter
5 liwmgr inter disable <ENTER> Stop transmitter

4. Record the results in Table 4 on the data sheet (page 8). See Figure 2 for example.

Figure 2: Example of TCAS Reference Pulse

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 Service Letter SL-279 (Rev. B)

5. Type in the following commands to measure transmitter frequency (full power 2 Pulse Mode-
C):

STEP COMMAND TO TYPE IN REASON

1 liwmgr inter disable <ENTER> Stop any current tests
2 liwmgr active modec <ENTER> Tell the system to interrogate in Mode-C format (2 pulse
as opposed to TCAS)
3 liwmgr level 7 <ENTER> Set to full power whisper shout level
4 liwmgr inter enable <ENTER Turn On Transmitter
5 liwmgr inter disable <ENTER> Stop transmitter

6. Record the results in Table 5 on the data sheet (page 8).

7. Type in the following commands to stop the simulation and clear error logs to the system.

STEP COMMAND TO TYPE IN REASON

1 sim off <ENTER>. Stop internal simulations
2 clear error <ENTER> Clears the error log:
this command may take a few seconds to execute
3 mbite uncalibrate <ENTER>

8. Remove power to the SKY899 via the +28VDC Power Supply.

9. Remove the flash card from the unit.
10. This completes the test.

For additional assistance call L-3 Avionics Systems, Customer Service (800-453-0288 or 616-949-6600).

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 Service Letter SL-279 (Rev. B)

DATA SHEET FOR TRANSMITTER TESTS

NOTE
For Pulse Characteristics the lower thresholds and measure point is
different for pulse width and rise time / fall time.

Table 4: Whisper Shout Level 7 (TCAS MODE)

PULSE CHARACTERISTICS P1 PULSE P3 PULSE
Amplitude: >54.3 dBm
Rise Time: < 100 ns
Fall Time: < 200 ns
Pulse width: 800 ± 50 ns
Pulse P1 to P3 diff: < 1.0 db
Pulse Characteristics S1 PULSE
< P1 Amplitude
Rise Time: < 100 ns
Fall Time: < 200 ns
Pulse width: 800 ± 50 ns

Table 5: Transmit Frequency (MODE C MODE):

NOMINAL TRANSMITTER FREQUENCY MEASURED FREQUENCY
1030 ± 0.2 MHz

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