Operator Tutorial
2–21502C MTDR User Manual
Getting Started
Let’s start by inspecting a cable. For the next few examples, we will use the
3-foot precision test cable provided with the 1502C (Tektronix part number
012–1350–00).
1. Pull on the POWER switch. The instrument will initialize, give instructions
for accessing the menu, and enter normal operation mode.
2. Set the 1502C front-panel controls to:
CABLE Attach 3-ft cable
NOISE FILTER 1 avg
VERT SCALE 500 mr (default)
DIST/DIV 1 ft/div (0.25 m if using metric)
Vp .66
NOTE. Vp (velocity of propagation) of the test cable is important for making
accurate distance measurements. If you do not know the Vp factor of a cable,
distance readings will be directly affected. You can get a general idea from the
table on page 1–12 or find the Vp with a sample piece of cable using the
procedure on page 1–12, or use the Cable Information Menu. If it is impossible
to obtain the Vp of the cable, the instrument will still show cable faults, but the
distance readings might be erroneous. The test cable used in this tutorial has a
Vp of .66.
VERT SCALE will already be set to 500 mr (default). The cursor will be near
the leading edge of the incident pulse (at the point on the waveform representing
the front panel). Other information displayed includes the type of power used (ac
or bat) and the distance window in the upper right corner of the LCD displays
the distance from the front panel to the cursor (0.000 ft in this case). This data
will be displayed when the instrument is turned on. Switch status and other
instrument functions are also displayed (see Figure 1–4 on page 1–6 for
descriptions).