Should I use a Limiter?
Hello,
We recently purchased a Spectran V6 Plus 500 for our lab which mainly deals with WiFi testing (802.11). I read around the forums, and have heard that I should purchase a SMA Limiter to keep the pre-amp safe, and also use SMA Terminations Plugs on the Rx side when they are not being used. Is this still true or has some safeguards been implemented in the unit to prevent to prevent pre-amp damage. I'll list all the questions below that I have. We rather play it safe than have to replace the unit due to damage.
Device: Aaronia SPECTRAN V6 Plus 500XA-6
- Is a SMA Limiter recommended, and which one?
- Is a SMA Termination Plug on the Rx side recommended to prevent damage, and which one?
- What antenna is recommended to see the whole 802.11 spectrum 2.4GHz to 6GHz? Will a bandpass filter be required?
Yes you should use our limiter (30MHz to 7,125GHz) to protect your Rx input(s). This is essential for any test and measurement unit.
Adding terminators is only needed if you have real strong signals near by.
The only non directional antenna offering the full SPECTRAN frequency range is the IsoLOG 3D Mobile 9080 (9kHz to 8GHz) or the OmniLOG PRO 10100 (100MHz to 10 GHz). Both work great for any Wi-Fi band.
Got it! I'll get a order placed for the limiter that was linked. Out of curiosity would the OmniLOG 90200 work with scanning the 6Ghz band if used along side a 5600-7000 MHz bandpass filter? If so, which plugs into the Spectran V6 Plus 500 first the limiter or bandpass filter?
Hello,
I have related question. Is there for some reason no need for RF limiter below 30MHz or are you just recommending that one since signals below 30MHz are less common?
The OmniLOG 90200 offers very poor gain outside its regular operation range, nothing you should use for Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7.
The connection chain you should use is: Antenna -> Band Pass Filter -> Limiter -> SPECTRAN V6
Since there are no "cheap" wide band limiters available below 30MHz this is simply a physical limit of the used diodes. Below the 30MHz the loss (RF damping) will get very high and any measurement will suffer from it but the protection still works.
If you want to operate below 30MHz use an optimized limiter e.g. for HAM RADIO within that frequency range.
