Agilent Technologies 8494A Service manual

Agilent Technologies
Agilent 8494/95/96A/B
Attenuators
Operating and Service
Manual

2 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
Notices
© Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2011
No part of this manual may be reproduced in
any form or by any means (including elec-
tronic storage and retrieval or translation
into a foreign language) without prior agree-
ment and written consent from Agilent
Technologies, Inc. as governed by United
States and international copyright laws.
Manual Part Number
08494-90008
Edition
Third Edition, January 2011
Printed in Malaysia
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
Phase 3 Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone
Bayan Lepas, Penang 11900 Malaysia
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ject to being changed, without notice,
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Safety Notices
CAUTION
A CAUTION notice denotes a haz-
ard. It calls attention to an operat-
ing procedure, practice, or the likes
of that, if not correctly performed
or adhered to, could result in dam-
age to the product or loss of impor-
tant data. Do not proceed beyond a
CAUTION notice until the indicated
conditions are fully understood and
met.
WARNING
A WARNING notice denotes a
hazard. It calls attention to an
operating procedure, practice, or
the likes of that, if not correctly
performed or adhered to, could
result in personal injury or death.
Do not proceed beyond a WARN-
ING notice until the indicated
conditions are fully understood
and met.

Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual 3
Certification
Agilent Technologies certifies that this product met its published
specifications at the time of shipment from the factory. Agilent
Technologies further certifies that its calibration measurements are
traceable to the United States National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST, formerly NBS), to the extend allowed by the
Institute’s calibration facility, and to the calibration facilities of the
other International Standards Organization members.
WEEE Compliance
This product complies with the WEEE Directive (2002/96/EC)
marking requirements. The affixed label indicates that you must
not discard this electrical/electronic product in domestic household
waste.
Product Category: With reference to the equipment types in the
WEEE Directive Annex I, this product is classed as a "Monitoring
and Control Instrumentation" product.
Do not dispose in domestic household waste.
To return unwanted products, contact your local Agilent office, or
see www.agilent.com for more information.

4 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
Regulatory Markings
The CE mark is a registered trademark of the European Community. If it is
accompanied by a year, it indicates the year the design was proven.
The CSA mark is a registered trademark of the Canadian Standards Association.
This text indicates that this ISM device complies with Canadian ICES-001.
Cet appareill ISM est conforme a la norme NMB-001 du Canada.
This text indicates that the instrument is an Industrial Scientific and Medical
Group 1 Class A product (CISPER 11, Clause 4).
This symbol indicates the time period during which no hazardous or toxic
substance elements are expected to leak or deteriorate during normal use. Forty
years is the expected useful life of the product.

Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual 5
Contacting Agilent
For more information, please contact your nearest Agilent office.
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www.agilent.com/find/contactus

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Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual 7
Contents
1 Introduction 9
Product Overview 10
Instrument Options 11
Specifications 12
Frequency Range and Attenuation 12
Attenuation Accuracy 12
Maximum SWR 13
Maximum Residual Attenuation 13
Attenuation Repeatability 13
RF Power Handling Capability 14
Operating Life 14
2 Environmental Specifications & Physical Dimensions 15
Environmental Specifications 16
Physical Dimensions 17
3OperatingGuides19
Installation 20
Initial Inspection 20
Mating Connectors 21
Installation Instructions 21
Operating Instructions 22
Operator’s Check 23
Performance Tests 25
Service Instructions 25

8 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
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9
Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators
Operating and Service Manual
Agilent Technologies
1
Introduction
Product Overview 10
Instrument Options 11
Specifications 12
Frequency Range and Attenuation 12
Attenuation Accuracy 12
Maximum SWR 13
Maximum Residual Attenuation 13
Attenuation Repeatability 13
RF Power Handling Capability 14
Operating Life 14
This manual contains operating instructions for the Agilent
8494/95/96A/B Attenuators. Included in the manual is
information required to install and test these attenuators.

10 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
1 Introduction
Product Overview
Agilent 8494A/B, 8495A/B, and 8496A/B are 50- ohm coaxial
step attenuators.
For the 8494A/B, the attenuation can be varied in 1 dB steps, or
10 dB steps for the 8495A/B and 8496A/B. The attenuation shown
on the control knob is the additional attenuation added in the
signal path over the insertion loss of the attenuator in the 0 dB
position.
•Agilent 8494A/B instruments are four- section attenuators with a
range of 0 dB to 11 dB in 1 dB steps.
•The 8495A/B is a three- section attenuator with a range of 0 dB
to 70 dB in 10 dB steps.
•The 8496A/B is a four- section attenuator with a range of 0 dB
to 110 dB in 10 dB steps.
The attenuator sections are connected in cascade. Each section
consists of a precision, thin- film attenuator card, a lossless
thru- line and a ganged pair of edge line transmission lines. The
edge lines are flexed to make contact with either the attenuator
card or the thru- line. The edge line contacts are gold- plated leaf
springs which ensure long life and high repeatability. Low- torque
cams flex the edge lines. Table 8, “Attenuator Switching Order,” on
page 22 shows the switching arrangements.
CAUTION
Do not exceed the RF power rating of 1 W average or 100 W peak with a
maximum pulse width of 10 µs. Do not connect an attenuator RF input or
output connector to greater than ±7 Vdc. If the attenuator must be connected
to a device with a potential greater than ±7 Vdc, use a blocking capacitor.

Introduction 1
Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual 11
Instrument Options
Each instrument is specified with an option number which denotes
the configuration of the input and output connectors.
Table 1 Instrument Options
Option Connector Description
001 Both connectors type-N female
002 Both connectors SMA female
003[1]
[1] Option 003 is not available with the 8494A, 8495A, and 8496A.
Both connectors APC-7

12 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
1 Introduction
Specifications
Frequency Range and Attenuation
Attenuation Accuracy
(±dB): (Referenced from 0 dB)
Table 2 Frequency Range and Attenuation
Product 8494A 8494B 8495A 8495B 8496A 8496B
Frequency Range dc to 4 GHz dc to 18 GHz dc to 4 GHz dc to 18 GHz dc to 4 GHz dc to 18 GHz
Attenuation 0 dB to 11 dB 0 dB to 11 dB 0 dB to 70 dB 0 dB to 70 dB 0 dB to 110 dB 0 dB to 110 dB
Steps 1 dB 1 dB 10 dB 10 dB 10 dB 10 dB
Table 3 Attenuation Accuracy
8494A/B 8495A/B
8496A/B
8494A 8494B 8495A 8495B 8496A 8496B
Attenuation
Selection (dB)
dc–4
GHz
dc–12.4
GHz
12.4–18
GHz
dc–4
GHz
dc–12.4
GHz
12.4–18
GHz
dc–4
GHz
dc–12.4
GHz
12.4–18
GHz
1 10 0.2 0.3 0.7 0.2 0.5 0.6 0.2 0.5 0.6
2 20 0.2 0.3 0.7 0.4 0.7 0.8 0.4 0.7 0.8
3 30 0.3 0.4 0.7 0.5 0.9 1.2 0.5 0.9 1.2
4 40 0.3 0.4 0.7 0.7 1.2 1.6 0.7 1.2 1.6
5 50 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.8 1.5 2.0 0.8 1.5 2.0
6 60 0.3 0.5 0.8 1.0 1.8 2.4 1.0 1.8 2.4
7 70 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.2 2.1 2.8 1.2 2.1 2.8
8 80 0.4 0.6 0.8 – – – 1.3 2.4 3.2
9 90 0.4 0.6 0.8 – – – 1.5 2.7 3.6
10 100 0.4 0.6 0.9 – – – 1.6 3.0 4.0
11 110 0.5 0.7 0.9 – – – 1.8 3.3 4.4

Introduction 1
Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual 13
Maximum SWR
Maximum Residual Attenuation
Attenuation Repeatability
±0.03 dB max (5 million cycles per section).
Table 4 Maximum SWR
Instrument Frequency Range (GHz) Maximum SWR
8495A dc to 4 1.35
8495B dc to 8
8 to 12.4
12.4 to 18
1.35
1.5
1.7
8494A,
8496A
dc to 4 1.5
8494B,
8496B
dc to 8
8 to 12.4
12.4 to 18
1.5
1.6
1.9
Table 5 Maximum Residual Attenuation
Instrument Maximum Residual Attenuation
8494A,
8494B
0.6 dB + 0.09 dB/GHz
8495A,
8495B
0.4 dB + 0.07 dB/GHz
8496A,
8496B
0.6 dB + 0.09 dB/GHz

14 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
1 Introduction
RF Power Handling Capability
1 W average, 100 W peak with maximum pulse width of 10
microseconds (all models).
Operating Life
5 million cycles per section.

15
Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators
Operating and Service Manual
Agilent Technologies
2
Environmental Specifications &
Physical Dimensions
Environmental Specifications 16
Physical Dimensions 17
This chapter contains the environmental tests on the Agilent
8494/95/96A/B Attenuators that fully comply with Agilent
Technologies’ product operating environmental specifications.
The physical dimensions are illustrated in the
later section.

16 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
2 Environmental Specifications & Physical Dimensions
Environmental Specifications
The Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators are designed to fully
comply with Agilent Technologies’ product operating environmental
specifications as shown in Table 6.
Table 6 Environmental Specifications
Temperature:
•Operating
•Storage
0 °C to +55 °C
–40 °C to +75 °C
Humidity:
•Operating
•Storage
<95% relative
<95% relative
Altitude:
•Operating
•Storage
<4600 m (15000 ft)
<7600 m (25000 ft)
Shock:
•Operating
•Non-operating
10 Gs, six ms, on six sides, three blows
500 Gs, 1.8 ms, in six directions
Vibration:
•Operating 5 Gs, 34 Hz to 2000 Hz
EMC Radiated interference is within the requirements of
MIL-STD-461, RE02

Environmental Specifications & Physical Dimensions 2
Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual 17
Physical Dimensions
Table 7 shows the physical dimensions of the Agilent
8494/95/96A/B Attenuators.
Table 7 Physical Dimensions
Instrument Dimensions[1]
[1] Dimensions are for general information only. If dimensions are required for building spe-
cial enclosures, contact your Agilent field engineer.
Weight[2]
[2] Weight and width of the instrument varies with the option selected due to the type
of connectors.
8494A/B Per Figure 1 15 oz
425 g
8495A/B Per Figure 1 11 oz
312 g
8496A/B Per Figure 1 15 oz
425 g

18 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
2 Environmental Specifications & Physical Dimensions
Figure 1 Dimensions of Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators

19
Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators
Operating and Service Manual
Agilent Technologies
3
Operating Guides
Installation 20
Initial Inspection 20
Mating Connectors 21
Installation Instructions 21
Operating Instructions 22
Operator’s Check 23
Performance Tests 25
Service Instructions 25
This chapter describes the installation of the Agilent
8494/95/96A/B Attenuators. The operating instruction
quick- check procedure is included for verification test prior
to usage. Service instructions on the repair and maintenance
of the Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators are also included
in this chapter.

20 Agilent 8494/95/96A/B Attenuators Operating and Service Manual
3OperatingGuides
Installation
Initial Inspection
1Inspect the shipping container for damage. If the shipping
container or cushioning material is damaged, it should be kept
until the contents of the shipment have been checked for
completeness and the instrument has been checked both
mechanically and electrically.
•Check for mechanical damage such as scratches or dents.
•Procedures for checking electrical performance are given
under “Operator’s Check” on page 23 or “Performance
Tests” on page 25.
2If the contents are incomplete, if there is mechanical damage or
defect, or if the instrument does not pass the electrical
performance test, contact the nearest Agilent Technologies Sales
and Service office. Refer to the Service and Support information
in the front matter of this manual. Agilent Technologies will
arrange for repair or replacement of the damaged or defective
equipment. Keep the shipping materials for the
carrier's inspection.
3If you are returning the instrument under warranty or for
service, repackaging the instrument requires original shipping
containers and materials or their equivalents. Agilent
Technologies can provide packaging materials identical to the
original materials. Refer to Service and Support information in
the front matter of this manual for the Agilent Technologies
nearest to you. Attach a tag indicating the type of service
required, return address, model number and serial number.
Mark the container FRAGILE to insure careful handling. In any
correspondence, refer to the instrument by model number and
serial number.