WCA July 2008

Testing & measuring of wires & cables

Instruments and sensors for testing and measuring are mainly employed to certify conformity to published standards for electrical and physical properties, but these troubleshooting tools also analyse, control, calibrate, display, and record data in laboratory, mill, and field. The operator of an electronic cable tester can range across a broad spectrum: coaxial, triaxial, and twisted pair; fibre optic and fibre channel; parallel, serial, and universal; small computer system interface (SCSI) and general-purpose interface bus (GPIB); Ethernet and local area network (LAN). The cable testing equipment itself produces accurate readings on points, resistance, maximum voltage and maximum current. Testing and measuring as performed in a modern wire plant are comprehensive; they must be, and their results must be absolutely reliable. The products and services reviewed here reflect that variety and capability.

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