AEA Technology (formerly known as AEA Wireless, Inc.) has announced its latest offering to the cable-testing world, the 20/20 time domain reflectometer (TDR) line of products. The 20/20 uss a new twist on standard Step TDR technology to increase accuracy and speed, while cutting the investment required nearing a third of what was required in the past to do the same job.

Article Tools

• 

The 20/20 will give you 1/10th of an Ohm impedance reading every inch out past 100 feet and then within 0.1 percent out to more than 10,000 feet. The 20/20 works in all coaxial and twisted-pair environments with a network version covering both at the same time. The twisted-pair and network models also have a pair-balance test and an intermittent fault test. The specifications are reminiscent of larger models costing in the $3500 to $5000 region, while the 20/20 is a 20-ounce hand-held unit priced at $1295. Included with each unit is the TDR PC Vision software. Uploading stored plots to the software is a snap with the high-speed serial Interface. With up to 99 internal memories for plot and setup storage, not having the PC close at hand is not an issue either.