Anritsu MT8212B

[oh2ftu]

Hi,
There seems to be quite a few MT8212B:s coming on the market, so I picked one up for a decent price. Shipping, handling and import charges kill me though.
It has a nice array of options;

• 21 - Transmission Measurement
• 25 - Interference Analyzer (requires directional antenna)
• 27 - Channel Scanner
• 28 - CW Signal Generator
• 31 - GPS (GPS antenna NOT Included)
• 33 - cdmaOne/ CDMA2000 1xRTT (OTA)
• 34 - EVDO Over The Air
• 42 - CDMA - RF Measurements
• 43 - cdmaOne/ CDMA2000 1xRTT Demodulator
• 62 - EVDO - RF Measurements
• 63 - EVDO Demodulator

While the options 33-63 are really useless, 21 and 28 might be good fun.

How would one go forth and upgrade the firmware? one is at version 5, the other 5.16. Are there any changelogs floating around?
As the units are end-of-life, and most probably discontinued, has someone been able to add options?

Anything I should have known, before I bought one?

[DaJMasta]

It's not that old.... and did you check Anritsu's site?  From the downloads link on the main product page there's a PDF describing the firmware update procedure and the tool set used to do it is also available for download.

https://www.anritsu.com/en-us/test-measurement/products/mt8212b


I don't have any experience with that particular flavor, but Anritsu makes some really nice SAs with TG or VNA functionality that can be quite affordable on the used market.

[Howardlong]

FWIW I have an old SiteMaster S331A in the same form factor which has single port measurement predominantly for cell site antenna and feeder diagnostics.

Here are my comments on it: of course the 8212B may have some improvements, although from a brief skim of the 8212B user guide the following may still be relevant.

o Smith chart is only available via the PC program Handheld Software Tools (magnitude only graphs like return loss, DTF etc are directly available on device);

o Connection to the PC is via an RS232 serial port (not USB);

o Batteries are NiMH, and the battery management isn't great in terms of holding charge, and they often need replacing;

o The S331A only holds two sets of OSL cal constants, so if you use it for ad hoc measurements you frequently need to recal (not sure if this applies to 8212B).

[oh2ftu]

I bought myself one, but I'm unable to get it to communicate with MST 2.21.0.
I've tried a normal null-modem cable, and just three wires. The PC is with XP and a hardware serial port. Tried speed settings from 9600 to 115200.
Also tried using an FTDI USB-rs232 and just three wires. No luck.

HHST will show some information (even on win10) with the null modem cable.

Odd, any ideas, or pinout for the 800-441 cable?

[oh2ftu]

Never mind. My "null modem cable" har (6+8)-4 and 7-1 handshakes.
Got a real one and now it works.
It's a bit picky with usb-rs232. FTDI does not work (cheap adapter, should be genuine but might be missing handshakes). Aten and Keyspan(Tripp-lite) do work, as the Panasonic FZ-G1 integrated in the dock.