What is the fastest way to calibrate a tuner for a large number of frequencies?

June 12, 2024

Tuner Setup

Symptoms / Solutions:

If there are a number of frequencies (>2) that require testing, performing these tuner calibrations can take a number of hours. Each CCMT calibration can take up to 15-30 minutes depending on the point density chosen.

The fastest way to calibrate a CCMT (or any tuner) is to perform a frequency sweep or arbitrary frequency list calibration.

  1. When defining the tuner calibration frequencies, select FREQ SWEEP and define the start, stop and step.
  2. When defining the tuner calibration frequencies, select ARBITRARY LIST and type or paste a list of frequencies into the text field.

Either of these selections will only take as long as a single frequency calibration, but the user will be capable of splitting the calibration afterwards to use these as individual Fo calibrations.

The limitations of this are as follows:

  • The frequency sweep or arbitrary list cannot span the crossover frequency. If the tuner being calibrated has a crossover frequency, the list should be split in two: a list below the crossover and a list above the crossover.
  • The arbitrary list is not available on all VNA drivers. It is available on the Keysight PNA, Keysight PNA-X, Keysight ENA, R&S ZNB, R&S ZVA and R&S ZVB.

To split the calibrations, open the calibration browser (Tools -> Calibration Browser), select the tuner and calibration and then press the Split button. Select the frequencies to split and then press the Create Individual button. This will create an independent Fo calibration for each selected frequency.

These individual calibrations can then be loaded into the load pull project setup.

Keywords: Tuner calibration, many calibrations, calibration too long

Last date modified:  March 1, 2017