Rohde & Schwarz CMU200

[om4ik]

Hallo

Can anybody send me bios for CMU 200 FMR6 PC board please (pentium 933MHz) ?
Very Thanx

[lucaspnw]

Thanks for the replies!
Everything worked great, upgrade no problem.

Decompress the EXE files to separate directories on the PCMCIA card named after the files/versions. Ex:

├── BLTHV5.20
│   ├── ARC000.MD5
│   ├── ARC001.MD5
│   ├── ARCHIV.000
│   ├── ARCHIV.001
│   ├── CONFIG.INI
│   ├── archiv.exe
│   ├── prepupgd.bat
│   ├── readme.txt
│   ├── reconf.bat
│   ├── release.txt
│   ├── untgz.exe
│   └── untgz.md5
├── CD2KV5.20
│   ├── ARC000.MD5
│   ├── ARC001.MD5
│   ├── ARC002.MD5
│   ├── ARC003.MD5
│   ├── ARC004.MD5
│   ├── ARC005.MD5
│   ├── ARC006.MD5
│   ├── ARC007.MD5
│   ├── ARC008.MD5
│   ├── ARC009.MD5
│   ├── ARCHIV.000
│   ├── ARCHIV.001
│   ├── ARCHIV.002
│   ├── ARCHIV.003
│   ├── ARCHIV.004
│   ├── ARCHIV.005
│   ├── ARCHIV.006
│   ├── ARCHIV.007
│   ├── ARCHIV.008
│   ├── ARCHIV.009
│   ├── CONFIG.INI
│   ├── Prepupgd.bat
│   ├── UNTGZ.md5
│   ├── archiv.exe
│   ├── readme.txt
│   ├── reconf.bat
│   ├── release.txt
│   └── untgz.exe

[hi3cmz]

Hi, sorry for hijak the thread, but I am pretty sure that here is the place some if not all of my question might be answered.

1- Does cmu200 or CRTU-RU works under 100 khz? say 85 Khz?
2- It is possible to, modify as less as possible, write/append new K-like options that one need into CMU200, CRTU-RU/PU?
3- If preview question is yes, then what will be better, CMU200 or CRTU-RU?


Thanks!

[Octane]

Hi,

I’m pretty sure, the following answers are correct:

1) No. as far as I remember the generator starts at 100kHz and the spectrum analyzer at 10MHz. Or the other way round.

2) I doubt it. Everything is closed source.

3) N/A

4) I don’t understand the question...

5) The AMU200 is a totally different thing. It is a baseband signal generator and fading simulator.


I hope that answers your questions at least partly.

BR,
Michael

[Octane]

Hi,

Does anyone know the differences between a CMU200 and a CMU300 by heart? Looking through the specs and manuals they seem identical.

Thanks,
Michael

[Robert763]

I have a working CMU200 -> MMC (SD) card setup.  See the pictures below for the PCMCIA adapter and the MMC card I use.  I suspect that the it's important to use a SD (or MMC) card below a certain size...

I suspect that your setup works because that is not a simple SD card adaptor. It is an older multiformat SD, Sony Stick, Xd etc adaptor. This meains it has a conroller and probably presents the PC interface as ATA parallel.

Robert G8RPI.

[Robert763]

Hi,

Does anyone know the differences between a CMU200 and a CMU300 by heart? Looking through the specs and manuals they seem identical.

Thanks,
Michael

The CMU-300 was configured / marketed for base station testing. The only significant difference is that only the 300 supports the B71 ABIS interface option. This provides a E1/T1 line interface that is used for wired communication with cellular base stations. No use what so ever to the average RF user. So unless you are testing base stations the 300 can be considered identical to the 200 with same options fitted.

Robert G8RPI.

[szszjdb]

Anyone could help ?

The RF generator of my cmu200 dead. Running the RXTX1 selftest, all passed. But fail all in the internal RF loop selftest with no signal detected at all. Checked with another SA, the SG output a small signal nearly -60dbm than it is set.  The RX path seems ok checked with anther SG.
Checked the  service manual online  , found no schematics of the RXTX board. Does anyone got the full version of service manual?
As the 3 tx LO were pass the selftest, the issue should be on some RF switch?

Best Regards,

[szszjdb]

Hello everybody,
Does anyone know the component in the RXTX PCB, as attached picture? The yellow one with 4 signal port. I am tracing the signal flow and confused with this part.

Best Regards,

[ZL1CVD]

looks like a SMD filter

[ZL1CVD]

This is the block diagram for RX/TX if you need it..

[szszjdb]

Hi,ZL1CVD,
Many thanks for your kindly help!
The part have 4 signal port in the middle and the common filter just have two. That is what I am confusing. Or transformer or coupler?
It seems R/S did not provide the full detail schematics of RXTX pcb. Am I right?

Best Regards,

[Ice-Tea]

Aside from the block diagram, I never found schematics.

[ZL1CVD]

I haven't see schematics either.
There is 3 of those in the RXTX module. They could be a diplexer which would have at least 3 ports. Some filter used in cellular look like they have multiple ports but really only have 2 with lots of grounding points. I think its they way they etch the ceramic.

[szszjdb]

Hi,ZL1CVD and Ice-Tea,
Thank you!

The part already have 4 GND port at the corner and 4 signal port in the middle.
From the layout, it seems 2 port pass the 842mhz signal and the other pass the 1.2-2.2g signal. It is interesting to learn about the function of it.

Best Regards,

[a_q]

Hi,

Does anyone know the differences between a CMU200 and a CMU300 by heart? Looking through the specs and manuals they seem identical.

Thanks,
Michael

There are indeed some significant differences. As the CMU-300 is for testing the GSM BTS, it has one RF input that's capable of accepting a full 50W RF power. Mind you, when you stick in above 30W it does start to get a bit smelly!

It has a nice spectrum analyser (up to 2GHz as I recall) and also a signal generator with some modulation options. You can use these combined to test RF components, amplifiers, cables etc.

I would challenge anyone to come up with a spectrum analyser with a 50W input - calibrated.

[Qw3rtzuiop]

There are indeed some significant differences. As the CMU-300 is for testing the GSM BTS, it has one RF input that's capable of accepting a full 50W RF power. Mind you, when you stick in above 30W it does start to get a bit smelly!

Without the additional RF Generator (i think its option B96) the normal CMU200 can also take 50W.

[colorado.rob]

I just picked up a R&S CMU200 and it has B96, but I would rather have 50W input.  Can I remove the B96 option and restore the 50W input power handling?

[Ice-Tea]

As far as I know, the front end is different (including a fan to cool the input) so perhaps you can swap out the front end but its not like you can uninstall an option or something

[colorado.rob]

As far as I know, the front end is different (including a fan to cool the input) so perhaps you can swap out the front end but its not like you can uninstall an option or something

Thanks for the response.  Not what I wanted to hear, but an answer I can live with.

Next question: can I use a PCMCIA SD Card reader to load new software?  I see most people using PCMCIA CF readers.  Just wanted to know if I would run into trouble using a SD reader instead.

[colorado.rob]

Does the CMU200 have anything like the Agilent/Keysight 89600 VSA software available for it?

[Qw3rtzuiop]

I dont know what features the Keysight Software has but you can use R&S Commander to take copies, access the file system or record traces.

[niconiconi]

I have a working CMU200 -> MMC (SD) card setup.  See the pictures below for the PCMCIA adapter and the MMC card I use.  I suspect that the it's important to use a SD (or MMC) card below a certain size...

I suspect that your setup works because that is not a simple SD card adaptor. It is an older multiformat SD, Sony Stick, Xd etc adaptor. This meains it has a conroller and probably presents the PC interface as ATA parallel.

Robert G8RPI.

It must have a controller and possibly firmware inside, emulating as a True-IDE mode CF Card.

As far as I know, the front end is different (including a fan to cool the input) so perhaps you can swap out the front end but its not like you can uninstall an option or something

Thanks for the response.  Not what I wanted to hear, but an answer I can live with.

Next question: can I use a PCMCIA SD Card reader to load new software?  I see most people using PCMCIA CF readers.  Just wanted to know if I would run into trouble using a SD reader instead.

Yes, you probably can. I'm using a PCMCIA SD Card reader for making screenshots on my CMU200 without any problem. Disclaimer: I had only attempted making screenshots and using the card in MS-DOS, I didn't try loading new software, so there's no guarantee, but I can't see why it won't work.

The card reader is a no-name brand with a fake "Mercedes-Benz" logo on it, apparently sold as adapters to play music on old cars, nevertheless works fine for my purpose. But you need to make sure the SD card is compatible with the reader itself, and the card formatted properly to be compatible with MS-DOS.

* First, avoid using those super high density 64 GB SDXC cards, a 16 GB one or smaller card should work. Even better, use an old 1 GB card in your desk drawer specifically for the use in CMU200.

* The card must have a MBR partition table with 1 primary partition. Do not create a raw filesystem without partition table. Do not create more than one partition. Do not create extended partitions. The size of the primary partition should not be greater than 2 GiB, even if the card is larger.

* The filesystem on the first primary partition must be FAT16. Do not create a FAT32 filesystem, otherwise MS-DOS will still try interpreting it as FAT16, and corrupt the entire filesystem.

* Use a standard USB card reader on your PC to format the card. Do not plug the CF reader to the CMU200 or your vintage laptop to do it. It seems the firmware on my card reader is rather limited, doing any low-level operation can confuse the firmware and corrupt the partition table. I tried formatting the card in the reader itself on a vintage laptop, after created a partition and putting it in a standard SD card reader, I see a partition table with a 1000 GB partition.

After you've prepared the card, you should be able to make screenshots. On my model, it works in the second slot. Press Alt + F4 to enter MS-DOS, it should be recognized by MS-DOS as Drive D, and "dir" should reports the correct volume size (otherwise it indicates something must be wrong, e.g. DOS attempts to read FAT32 as FAT16). You can also run scandisk on the card, and it should always pass the check.

Incorrectly formatting SD card can freeze and crash the CMU200. But once the card has been formatted, it's just plug and play.

[_Wim_]

Does the CMU200 have anything like the Agilent/Keysight 89600 VSA software available for it?

There is also "FreRes" to take frequency sweeps, "CMUGo" to run measurement sequences and "VMA Spectrum Analyser for CRTU" which is maybe the closest to the keysight VSA  software (but not free).

[switchabl]

The VMA software doesn't seem to support any modulation analysis though.

There is an option to record raw I/Q samples and send them over GPIB (look for IQRecorder in the manual). It should be possibly to write these into a CSV file and import them into the Keysight VSA software. Unfortunately, the maximum capture length is 32k/64k samples (depending on options) which may be quite limiting.