The DSP-100 in the field

Fluke takes pride in manufacturing rugged, compact measurement tools thatare easy to use. Users of Fluke tools appreciate this, as one of our customer’s experiences illustrates.

Kamb Elektronik in Ludwigshafen (Germany) was founded 90 years ago as an installation firm for electrical power cabling. As the company grew and gained experience, the design and installation of data networks also became part of their expertise. The company now installs networks ranging in size from only a few to several hundreds of networked workstations. Their customers are active in all types of industry, trade, finance an administration fields. Network technologies include twisted pair, Token Ring and Ethernet, with Cat. 5 Class D cabling accounting for a large part of the work. At Kamb Elektronik, technicians rely on the Fluke DSP-100 CableMeter for the quality of their work.

Traditional quality

Quality and productivity are the tradition on which Kamb Elektronik is built. The highly trained and qualified personnel appreciate powerful, high-quality tools for the execution of their tasks. 'With their quality and user-friendliness, Fluke measurement instruments are tops,' says Georg Ludwig Kamb, general manager of Kamb Elektronik. 'The DSP-100 offers far more functionality than other meters, and gives a better price/performance ratio.' As particular strengths of the DSP-100, Kamb identifies several aspects: the speed of the measurements and hence the productivity gained; the accuracy according to TIA TSB-67 Class II; the ability to measure near end cross talk (NEXT); and the graphic display of results.

The DSP-100 has proved itself very helpful in localizing errors precisely, eliminating the time-consuming process of physically searching for malfunctioning parts. 'Experience shows that it is not the cable itself that is the source of difficulties,' says Kamb. 'It’s the connections, such as plugs, sockets an panels, that cause most of the problems.'

The company has written its own quality manual for Cat. 5 cabling, detailing problems and trouble-shooting procedures. With the help of the manual and the DSP-100, Kamb technicians on-site can quickly identify errors in the cabling systems and repair them. Small differences in NEXT measurements, caused by differences in cable pairs, are also made visible with the DSP-100. DSP-100 measurements are even used during training of new employees, to demonstrate the effects of a change in the twist of a twisted pair cable.

Speed and accuracy of the measurements were key in Kamb Elektronik´s selection of the DSP-100. Fluke’s measurement method, feeding the cable with a ramp pulse signal and using Fourier processing for the received signal, is a distinct advantage over common cable testers, which typically use wobble signals. The instrument is also an investment for the future, as the software can be updated to meet new standards.

'We selected the DSP-100 CableMeter almost two years ago after a thorough evaluation. Since then, we’ve been using them everyday on-site an they have never failed us,' concludes Mr. Kamb.