NARDA IDA User manual

IDA-3106
Interference and Direction Analyzer
Operating Manual
IDA
IDA 2

Narda Safety Test Solutions GmbH
Sandwiesenstraße 7
72793 Pfullingen, Germany
® Names and Logo are registered
trademarks of Narda Safety Test Solutions
GmbH - Trade names are trademarks of the
owners.
© 2022
Order no.: 3106/98.21
Issue: 06/01.2022, A ...
Previous issues: 05/06.2016, A ...
Subject to change.
Our normal terms of warranty and delivery
apply.
Printed in Germany

Contents
Narda IDA-3106 I
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 About this device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 The antenna handle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Narda directional antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 PC connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5 Overview of options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.6 About this operating manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2 Important Safety Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 Using this operating manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2 Before connecting up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Proper use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.4 Improper use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5 General hazards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.6 Dangers due to electromagnetic fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.7 AC adapter / charger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.8 Rechargeable batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.9 Faults and unusual stresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.10 Proper disposal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3 Connecting Up and Starting to Use the Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1 Unpacking the device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.2 Device overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 Power supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.4 Fitting the Narda directional antennas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.5 Attaching other Narda antennas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3.6 Using cables and antennas from other manufacturers . . . . . 34
3.7 Using the carrying strap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Contents
II IDA-3106 Narda
4 Operation and Basic Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.1 Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.2 Switching the device on and off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.3 Switching stealth mode on and off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.4 LCD screen elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.5 Fundamental operating steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5 The Main Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.1 Menu overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.2 Displaying and editing system settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.3 Displaying and editing configuration data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
5.4 Saving and loading setups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
5.5 The memory menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
5.6 The SD Card menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
6 Common Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6.1 Notes on this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.2 Resetting all device settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6.3 Setting the center frequency (Fcent) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6.4 Setting the bandwidth (RBW / CBW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
6.5 Setting the video bandwidth (VBW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6.6 Setting the reference level (Reference Level) . . . . . . . . . . . 97
6.7 Selecting the trace type (Trace) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
6.8 Changing the displayed units (Unit) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
6.9 Adjusting the Y axis (Y-Scale). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.10 The Marker function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
6.11 Using the Magnifier function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
6.12 Using Multi-Channel Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
6.13 Demodulating signals (Audio). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
6.14 Setting the noise threshold (Noise Thresh.) . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
6.15 Measuring with multiple axis antennas (Axis). . . . . . . . . . . 124
6.16 Changing the operating mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Contents
Narda IDA-3106 III
7 Direction Finding Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
7.1 About Direction Finding mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
7.2 Operating mode specific functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7.3 Manual Bearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
7.4 Horizontal Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
7.5 Localizing a signal source (Outdoor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
7.6 Exchanging bearings between instruments. . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
7.7 The Map menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
7.8 Finding the location of a signal scource (Indoor). . . . . . . . . 154
8 Spectrum Analysis Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
8.1 About Spectrum Analysis mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
8.2 The Spectrum measure menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
8.3 Comparing spectra (Delta Spectrum) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
8.4 Displaying the time characteristic (Spectrogram) . . . . . . . . 168
8.5 The Spectrogram Marker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
9 Level Meter Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
9.1 About Level Meter mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
9.2 Display overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
9.3 Operating mode specific functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
10 Time Domain (Scope) Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
10.1 About Time Domain (Scope) mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
10.2 Display overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
10.3 Selecting measurement parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
10.4 Measurement parameter examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
10.5 Using the trigger function. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
10.6 Saving measured values automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
10.7 Measuring the Duty Cycle and Time Domain Power . . . . . . 196
11 I/Q Analyzer Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
11.1 About I⁄Q Analyzer mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Contents
IV IDA-3106 Narda
11.2 Display overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
11.3 Selecting measurement parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
11.4 Using the trigger function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
11.5 Saving measured values automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
12 Multi-Channel Power Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
12.1 About Multi-Channel Power mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
12.2 Operating mode specific functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
12.3 Using the Table view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
12.4 Using the Bar Graph view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
13 Measurement Data Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
13.1 About the Memory menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
13.2 Viewing and recalling data sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
13.3 Exporting data (Export to SD Card) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
13.4 Viewing screenshots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
13.5 Replaying demodulation recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
13.6 Saving measured values manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
13.7 Saving measured values automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
13.8 Changing the comment modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
14 Maintenance, Repairs, Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
14.1 Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
14.2 AC adapter / charger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
14.3 Updating the device software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
14.4 Activating options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
15 PC Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
15.1 PC software versions and functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
15.2 Connecting the device to a PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
15.3 Working with the PC software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Contents
Narda IDA-3106 V
16 Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
16.1 About remote control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
16.2 Connecting to the PC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
16.3 Connecting to the network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
16.4 Activating / deactivating remote control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
16.5 Syntax rules for remote control commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
17 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
17.1 Definitions and conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
17.2 IDA-3106 Basic Unit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
17.3 Operating modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
17.4 Antenna handle and antennas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
17.5 Declaration of Conformity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
18 Annex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
18.1 Holding and panning the directional antenna properly . . . . 266
18.2 Determining the polarization plane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
18.3 Horizontal Scan in practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
19 Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Contents
VI IDA-3106 Narda

Narda IDA-3106 1
1Introduction
This chapter contains basic information on measuring electromagnetic
fields, on using the IDA-3106, and on how this manual is laid out.
1.1 About this device (page 2)
1.2 The antenna handle (page 3)
1.3 Narda directional antennas (page 4)
1.4 PC connection (page 5)
1.5 Overview of options (page 5)
1.6 About this operating manual (page 6)

1 Introduction
2 IDA-3106 Narda
1.1 About this device
The Interference and
Direction Analyzer IDA-3106
is a compact, portable system
for measuring
electromagnetic signals in the
frequency range 9 kHz to
6 GHz. As well as the
spectrum display with its
extremely fast measuring
speed, other optional
operating modes such as
Multi-Channel Power, Level
Meter and Time Domain
(Scope) allow sophisticated
analysis of the signals.
Together with the handle and
Narda directional antennas,
the IDA-3106 is particularly
used for identifying and
localizing signal sources. The
bearings determined manually
using the Manual Bearing
function or automatically with
the Horizontal Scan function
can be directly superimposed
on an electronic map in
Direction Finding mode.
Triangulation can then be
used to determine the location
of the transmitter.
The IDA-3106 can be used
outdoors even under difficult
environmental conditions
thanks to its robust casing,
controls that can also be
operated when wearing
gloves, and rechargeable
batteries that can be hot
swapped.
Figure 1: IDA-3106 in field use