The portable, rugged 1503B TDR Cable Tester is afield maintenance tool that are simple to operate and will test any transmission cable under virtually any condition. These units use a technique called Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) to identify and locate cable faults. The unit is connected to a line in the cable and sends out an electrical pulse that is reflected back to the unit by a fault in the cable. Fault type is identified by the shape of the display. The display is an LCD where distance measurements may be made using a cursor.

The 1503B tests long runs of coax or twisted pair cables in telephone and other communications applications.

The 1503B provides high-energy, 1/2 sine-shaped pulses for long cables. Range of the 1503B, dependent upon cable type, is up to 50,000 feet. Resolution capability provides for resolving faults as close together as one foot on short cables. Impedance levels of 50, 75, 93, and 125 ohms are selectable.

This unit is directly calibrated in reflection coefficient (rho) and distance. The 1502B uses a step-pulse and provides fault resolution to 0.9 inch on short cables. The 1502B performs to a maximum of 2000 feet, but with decreasing resolution as the fault distance increases. The unit is matched to 50-ohm cables, but may be used on others by adjusting the front panel vertical scale control or using optional impedance adapters.

The 1503B Option 05 has a distance resolution of 0.3 mm and measures 10,000 meters.

The 1503B offers the operator a variety of parameters and information which can be acquired using the Menu feature. The main menu allows the user to access: Help with the instrument controls; velocity of propagation and impedances of different cable types; instrument/front panel configurations; and instrument diagnostics.