Instruction manual

For signal coverage measurements, the recommended antenna system is the AA-2R
Ruggedized Active Monopole Antenna with AA-2M Magnetic Mount. This antenna may
be attached to a metal vehicle rooftop and connected to the field strength meter with a
flexible 50 ohm connecting cable. Drive testing confirms that, with a rooftop-mounted
antenna, vehicle direction and adjacent automobile traffic has little effect on signal
strength. As expected, the major effect, dips as much as 10 – 15 dB, occurs when driving
directly under power lines.
Both the shielded loop and monopole antennas are quite tolerant of mounting location.
Antenna height has little effect on signal strength at AM broadcast frequencies, but it
makes sense to measure under typical listener locations. Select a location that is generally
clear of large obstructions and power lines. Antennas need not be grounded, and may be
hand held, tripod mounted, or attached to a vehicle rooftop. A loop antenna must be
physically oriented to account for its deep broadside null. The short vertical monopole is
essentially non-directional.
As with the antenna, there are selections to be made for the measurement instrument.
Manual monitoring point measurements are easily made with the basic field strength
meter. Modern field strength meters are battery operated, quite small, require no field
calibration, may be programmed to account the antenna factor, and may be set to read
directly in the desired measurement units.
For automatic measurement of signal coverage, programmable field strength meters may
be attached to a laptop PC with Z Technology application software recording field
strength information along with GPS locations for subsequent display using Microsoft
MapPoint. Recorded field strength data is in clear text for easy recovery and analysis
using commodity office productivity applications such as Microsoft Excel or MapPoint.
An automatic measurement system can be as simple
as an R-506 Programmable Field Strength Meter
with a BC-BCB block converter and antenna,
attached to the users laptop PC running Z
Technology Windows software. Measurement
systems with additional capabilities, for multiple-
station measurements, coverage mapping, portable
packaging, AC/DC power operation are available
factory configured. DriveTest application software
automates measurement and documentation, and the
operator can enter comments or flag unusual
conditions with a simple mouse-click. Recovery of
specific information for any location in the drive is
also quite straightforward, as are running averages for strings of individual locations. Any
of the system configurations on the Z Technology website, www.ztechnology.com, may