Radiodetection 1205CXB User manual

1205CXB™
High Resolution TDR Cable Fault Locator
Operation manual
90/1205CXB-OPMAN-ENG/01

1205CXB OPERATION MANUAL v1
© Copyright Radiodetection Ltd 2022 2
Inside front cover

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Preface
Before you begin
Thank you for your interest in Radiodetection’s 1205CXB high-resolution cable fault locator. Please read
this user manual in its entirety before attempting to use the 1205CXB.
Radiodetection products, including this manual, are under continuous development. The information
contained within is accurate at time of publication; however the 1205CXB, this manual and all its
contents are subject to change.
Radiodetection Limited reserves the right to modify the product without notice and some product
changes may have taken place after this user manual was published.
Contact your local Radiodetection dealer or visit www.radiodetection.com for the latest information about
the 1205CXB product family, including this manual.
Safety
WARNING! Failure to comply with safety warnings can cause serious injury or death.
CAUTION!: Failure to comply with safety cautions can result in damage to equipment or property
This equipment shall only be used by qualified and trained personnel, and only after fully reading and
understanding this Operation Manual.
WARNING! Direct connection to live conductors is POTENTIALLY LETHAL and likely to cause
significant damage to the equipement.

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Contents
Preface ..........................................................................................................................................................3
Before you begin.......................................................................................................................................3
Safety ........................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................6
Description and Overview.........................................................................................................................6
Velocity of Propagation (VOP) ..................................................................................................................6
Typical VOPs for some common cable types........................................................................................6
VOP and V/2..........................................................................................................................................8
System Overview ..........................................................................................................................................9
Front panel................................................................................................................................................9
Features ....................................................................................................................................................9
Keypad ......................................................................................................................................................9
Display.....................................................................................................................................................10
Display features ......................................................................................................................................10
Navigating the Config, Cursor and Waveform submenus.......................................................................11
Launch and reflected pulses ...................................................................................................................11
Basic operation ...........................................................................................................................................12
Menu...........................................................................................................................................................13
Technical section.....................................................................................................................................13
System section ........................................................................................................................................13
Save and Load waveforms ..........................................................................................................................14
Save.........................................................................................................................................................14
Load.........................................................................................................................................................14
Displaying loaded waveforms.................................................................................................................15
Deleting waveforms................................................................................................................................15
Cable analysis..............................................................................................................................................16
Config menu details ................................................................................................................................16
Cursor menu details................................................................................................................................16
Waveform menu details .........................................................................................................................17
Typical waveforms ......................................................................................................................................18
Open circuit.........................................................................................................................................18
Short circuit.........................................................................................................................................18

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Cable joint...........................................................................................................................................18
Wet splice or joint...............................................................................................................................18
Bridge tap............................................................................................................................................19
Water ingress......................................................................................................................................19
Load coil ..............................................................................................................................................19
Return Loss..................................................................................................................................................20
Reflection Coefficient and VSWR............................................................................................................21
WaveView™ PC software............................................................................................................................22
Ordering Information..................................................................................................................................23
Additional information................................................................................................................................24
Specifications ..........................................................................................................................................24
Battery.....................................................................................................................................................24
Service.....................................................................................................................................................24
Care and maintenance............................................................................................................................24
Cleaning...............................................................................................................................................24
Compliance .............................................................................................................................................25
Warranty.....................................................................................................................................................26

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Introduction
Description and Overview
The 1205CXB™ is a High Resolution Cable Fault Locator, also known as a Cable Radar or a Time Domain
Reflectometer (TDR). The 1205CXB transmits electrical pulses into a cable, and a portion of the pulse
energy reflects back from cable imperfections. These can be discontinuities (eg cable joints, changes in
cable type or the far end of the cable under test) or faults (typically short circuits, open circuits, water
ingress or corroded connections).
The transmitted pulse and the reflected pulse(s) are shown on the display. The time taken by the pulse
to travel to the imperfection and back is a measure of the distance to the fault. Position the cursor at
the start of the reflected pulse to ensure that the distance to the discontinuity is shown accurately. You
may assess the type of imperfection by analyzing the displayed waveform.
Reflections from an impedance higher than the characteristic impedance of the cable, and from
inductive faults, are upwards. Reflections from an impedance lower than the characteristic impedance
of the cable, as well as capacitive faults, are downwards.
NOTE: The 1205CXB has been specially designed to analyze coaxial cables but can be used on any cable
that contains at least two conductors or one conductor and a metallic screen.
Velocity of Propagation (VOP)
The properties of the cable, mainly the insulation between the two conductors, greatly affect the
velocity of the pulses traveling along the cable. This velocity is known as the Velocity of Propagation
(VOP), or Velocity Factor (PVF), while some cable datasheets refer to the Dielectric Constant. The
1205CXB uses this value to calculate distance, so it is important for this to be as accurate as possible.
The 1205CXB can accept user selectable values for the VOP of between 10.0 and 99.9%.
Typical VOPs for some common cable types
The VOP and characteristic impedance values for some common cable types are:
Use/Type Cable type VoP
Air 0.98
Air Spaced Coaxial 0.94
Dynafoam 0.9
Foam Poly 0.82
PARA I 0.82
QR PARA III 0.88
RG6, RG11, RG59 0.82
Solid PE 0.67
T, TR 0.87
TX, TX10 0.89
Times Fiber RG59 0.93
CATV and Coax

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The VOP and characteristic impedance values for some common cable types are:
Use/Type Cable type VoP
Ethernet 0.77
RG58 0.78
RG58/U 0.76
Thicknet 0.77
Thinnet 0.68
Twisted pair 0.66
U/UTP cat 5e, 6 0.67
UTP26 0.64
Gel 0.912 0.68
Gel 0.643 0.65
Gel 0.511 0.64
Gel 0.404 0.63
Paper 0.643 0.69
Paper 0.511 0.68
Paper 0.404 0.68
PE 0.912 0.69
PE 0.643 0.68
PE 0.511 0.66
PE 0.404 0.65
PTFE 0.71
Air 0.96
Paper 0.70-0.88
Paper Oil Filled (PILC) 0.50-0.56
Paraffin 0.64
PE 0.67
PTFE 0.71
PE foam 0.82
XLPE 0.52-0.58
Data
Phone
Power

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VOP and V/2
Some users like to use V/2 as an alternative to VOP. V/2 is the speed of the pulse in a cable, in m/µs,
halved. There is a direct relationship between VOP and V/2 as shown in the following tables.

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System Overview
Front panel
Features
1
USB port
2
BNC cable connector
3
Display
Keypad
Button
Name
Function
4
Power
Turn 1205CXB On and Off
5
ConFiGuration
Select parameters and auto search in the
ConFiG submenu
6
CURsor
Select cursor 1 or 2
7
WAVEform
Select move or zoom function for a
waveform
1
5
6
7
3
8
9
10
13
12
11
2
4

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8
MENU
Select units, a pre-loaded cable and
system settings
9
SAVE
Save waveform to 1205CXB’s memory or
USB
10
LOAD
Load a waveform from 1205CXB’s
memory or USB
11
Left, up, down, right arrows
Increase/decrease parameters
Zoom, move waveforms and cursors
12
ENTER
Confirm menu item or waveform
selection
13
ESCape
Escape, back one step in the menu
Display
Display features
Feature
Name
Information and use
14
Date
Provides date information for stored files
15
Cursor 1
Position for accurate measurement to
discontinuities
16
Cursor 2
Position for accurate measurement to
discontinuities
17
Launch pulse
The pulse sent out by the TDR
18
Reflected pulse(s)
Pulse(s) reflected by a cable discontinuity
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

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Time measurement
Time for the pulse to reach the
discontinuity
20
Distance measurement
Distance along the cable to the
discontinuity
21
dBRL measurements
dB of Return Loss at cursor 1 and 2
22
WAVEform submenu
Use, with the arrow keys, to Zoom and
Move waveforms
23
CURsor submenu
Select cursor 1 or 2. Move cursors with
left and right arrow keys
24
ConFiGuration submenu
Change selected parameter with arrow
keys
25
Time
Provides time information to stored files
26
Battery status
Shows battery charge
Navigating the Config, Cursor and Waveform submenus
Pressing the , or buttons (Button 5, 6 or 7) more than once scrolls the highlighter
around the Config, Cursor or Waveform submenus to select a parameter or function, which you can
then change using the arrow buttons. For details, see the Menu section.
Launch and reflected pulses
The display of the 1205CXB shows a launch pulse at the left hand side of the display and a reflected
pulse if any cable imperfections are within range (see “Description” section).
When cursor 2 is positioned at the start of the reflected pulse and the VOP is set correctly, the distance
to the imperfection is displayed in the top right hand corner of the display.
Open circuit and high impedance series discontinuities will result in a positive (upward) reflected pulse.
Short circuit and low impedance shunt discontinuities will give a negative (downward) reflection.

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Basic operation
1. Charge the 1205CXB using the mains charger and cable supplied, via the USB-A port
2. Press the Power button for 2 seconds to power the 1205CXB on
3. Attach the cable for analysis to the BNC connector, either directly or using one of the
connection cables supplied
4. Press the button (Button 5) several times until VOP is highlighted. Change this to
match the VOP of the cable for analysis using the arrow buttons (Buttons 11).
a. The Left and Right arrows and change the VOP by 1%
b. The Up and Down arrows and change the VOP by 0.1%
5. Press the button again until Search is highlighted, then press (Button 12)
6. The 1205CXB will search for the most significant discontinuity in the cable and place
cursor 2 (Display feature 16) at the start of the reflected pulse
7. You can read the distance to the discontinuity at the bottom of the display (Display
feature 20)
8. Press the Power button at any time to turn the 1205CXB off
NOTE: You can set an Auto Power Off time. For details, see the Menu section

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Menu
The menu allows you to choose settings for your measurements and has the following sections:
Technical section
Menu item
Options
Use
Display unit
Feet, Meters
Set the distance measurement unit to
your preference
Cable reference
Many
Set the 1205CXB up with an industry
standard cable's settings
Auto search on
boot
On, Off
Set the 1205CXB to search your cable for
analysis immediately on power up
Live signal check
On, Off
Set the 1205CXB to check for live voltages
on your cable for analysis
System section
Menu item
Options
Use
LCD brightness
0 to 100% in 5%
intervals
Change the brightness of the display to
your preference. A lower setting will
improve battery life
Auto power off
Off, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2,
2.5 or 3 hours
Set the 1205CXB to turn off
automatically, after a set time to save
battery life
Date & time
Date & time
Saving files with the correct name,
derived from the date and time
Factory reset
Yes, no
Reset the 1205CXB to its factory settings

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Save and Load waveforms
The 1205CXB allows you to save waveforms and to recall them. You can display recalled waveforms
together with live cable waveforms to compare them easily. This can be very useful in cases such as
comparing a waveform taken when a cable was installed with a live one when a customer reports a
fault.
Save
You can save a waveform at any time, and you can choose where to save it to and in what format. To
save a waveform:
1. Press the button (Button 9)
2. Choose one of the following locations with the arrow keys to save the waveform to, and
press the button (Button 12) to confirm
a. RAM. This is the internal volatile memory, the waveform will be available until you
turn the 1205CXB off
b. FLASH. This is the internal permanent memory, the waveform will be available
permanently
c. USB. This is your own USB memory stick that you must plug into the USB port
3. When saving to USB, choose whether to save the waveform as an image (IMG), as data
(DATA) or as both types. The file types are:
a. *.bmp format for the image file, for easy viewing and sharing
b. *.btr for the data file, for further examination and manipulation in Radiodetection’s
WaveView™ program. For further details, see the separate WaveView User Guide
4. You will see a notification bar during the save process, followed by a “file saved
successfully” message
Load
You can load a saved waveform at any time, and you can choose where to load it from. To load a
waveform:
1. Press the button (Button 10)
2. Using the arrow keys, choose one of the following locations to load the waveform from,
and press (Button 12). Note that you will not be able to select an option if there are
no saved waveforms there
a. RAM. This is the internal volatile memory, any saved waveforms will be available
until you turn the 1205CXB off
b. FLASH. This is the internal permanent memory
c. USB. This is your own USB memory stick
3. Scroll through the list of saved waveforms using the arrow keys, and press the
button on the one you want to display. A red check mark denotes the selected file.
4. Press again to confirm the load operation

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Displaying loaded waveforms
You can display the loaded waveform, L, on its own or at the same time as the live cable waveform, C. If
you look at the two separately, you can also decide whether to have them overlaying or offset from
each other.
When a loaded waveform is displayed, the 1205CXB also shows its save information at the top right
hand side of the display:
Save location, eg @USB
File name, eg 20220131_112557
Save date, eg 01/31/2022
Pulse width, eg 50ns
VOP, eg 85.0%
Output impedance, eg 75Ω
To select how the loaded waveform, L, is displayed, press the button several times until Func is
highlighted. Use the left and right arrow keys to scroll through:
LOAD, shows Lon its own
C&L, shows both Land C
C-L, shows the difference between Cand L
CABLE, shows Con its own
NOTE: When displaying C&L, press the button to offset the Lwaveform from Cfor easy side by side
comparison
Deleting waveforms
You can delete a waveform from the on-board FLASH memory at any time. To delete a waveform:
1. Press the button (Button 10)
2. Using the arrow keys, ensure that FLASH is highlighted and press (Button 12).
3. Scroll through the list of saved waveforms using the arrow keys, then press the right
arrow key twice so that the green cross is displayed
4. Press to delete the selected waveform

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Cable analysis
The Basic operation section above provides a simple introduction to cable analysis and in many cases
can deliver enough information for the user. Using the menus more extensively provides engineers and
technicians with a very powerful analyzer capable of helping them find a wide variety of cable details
such as taps, repeaters and water ingress.
Config menu details
Pressing the button (Button 5) more than once scrolls the highlighter around the Config submenu
allowing you to select a parameter or function, and to change it using the arrow buttons:
Pulse width Vary the pulse width using the arrow buttons. The up and right arrows increase the pulse
width, while the down and left arrows decrease it.
A wider pulse has more energy, meaning it can travel further along a cable, but a narrow
pulse can make it easier to see cable features at shorter distances
VOP Also see Velocity of Propagation (VOP) above. Change the VOP, otherwise known as the
Dielectric, to match the cable under analysis for accurate distance measurement.
The left and right arrow buttons change the VOP by 1%. The up and down arrows change
the VOP by 0.1%.
Out Z Match the output impedance of the 1205CXB to the cable for improved signal transfer
Thres Threshold is the minimum voltage range over which the 1205CXB detects an event. This
means that you can set the sensitivity of the unit for the size of fault at which it will place
the cursor during an automatic search (see below)
Avg Set an averaging filter to reduce noise on your signal
Func your options are to view the following signals:
the cable being analyzed (CABLE)
a saved waveform (LOAD)
the difference between CABLE and LOAD (C-L)
CABLE and LOAD at the same time (C&L)
NOTE: press the button (Button 13) to offset the two waveforms from each other
Search Tell the 1205CXB to perform an automatic search
Cursor menu details
Pressing the button (Button 6) more than once toggles between Cursor 1 and Cursor 2. Use the
arrow buttons to move the selected cursor to the left or right.

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Waveform menu details
Pressing the button (Button 7) more than once toggles between Zoom and Move.
In Zoom mode:
using the up and down arrow keys changes the zoom in the Y axis
using the left and right arrow keys changes the zoom in the X axis
In Move mode:
using the up and down arrow keys moves the waveform in the Y axis
using the left and right arrow keys moves the waveform in the X axis

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Typical waveforms
You will encounter a variety of waveforms during testing because
there is a huge number of different cable types
electrical and environmental conditions can change and affect TDR test results, and
you are likely to test cables with and without faults.
The following are examples of some waveforms that you may meet. Note that every circumstance is
different so these are typical examples and may not match exactly what you see.
Open circuit
A reflection with the same polarity as the launch pulse
indicates a fault with high impedance characteristics.
The reflection shown at Cursor 2 is a complete open at
99.67m
Short circuit
A negative or downward reflection indicates a fault
with low impedance characteristics. The reflection
shown at Cursor 2 is a dead short at 330.42ft
Cable joint
This cable has a joint or splice 19.61m from the near
end of the cable. The visibility of a splice will depend
on the quality of the splice and the distance away
from the 1205CXB
Wet splice or joint
This is a typical reflection from a wet splice or joint
99.67m
Far end
of cable
330.42ft
Far end
of cable
19.61m
Far end
of cable
213.5ft
Wet
splice

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Bridge tap
A bridged tap will appear as a downward or negative
reflection, because the impedance reduces at the
point of the tap, sometimes followed by an upward
reflection caused by the end of the tap.
Water ingress
This cable system has water ingress starting at 213.5ft
from the beginning of the cable. The waveform of the
wet section will usually appear irregular and noisy
Load coil
A telephone network load coil will cause an
upward, high impedance reflection similar to an
open circuit. TDRs are generally unable to “see”
past a load coil
213.5ft
Water
ingress
503.3ft
Bridge
tap
147.3m
Load coil

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Return Loss
The 1205CXB provides you with a numerical measurement of the severity of a fault. This is called the
Return Loss and it is measured in dB.
Return Loss is a ratio of the amplitudes of the reflected pulse and the transmitted pulse. It is calculated
as:
where:
VOis the amplitude of the transmitted pulse, and
VRis the amplitude of the reflected pulse
A severe fault causes a large reflection, making VRrelatively high. The dBRL value will therefore be low.
A minor fault produces a small reflection, making VRrelatively low. The dBRL value in this case will
therefore be high.
In summary:
NOTE: the larger the dBRL reading, the smaller the problem and vice versa.
To display the dBRL of a discontinuity, move the cursor to its reflection. Continue to move the cursor
over the reflection until the dBRL reaches a minimum, which will usually be at its peak.
NOTE: the position of the cursor for dBRL measurements is different from its position for measuring the
distance to the discontinuity.