Wireless Interference Affecting RF Instrument Calibration in Manufacturing Mode

The presence of wireless signals during the electrical testing of RF receivers, which is the spectrum analyzer, under different instrument termination and measurement conditions were investigated. This study opposes the thought that properly terminated RF measuring devices are safe from detecting interfering RF signals. Failures during instrument calibration and testing when exposed to continuous wireless interfering sources confirm the significance of interfering signals. The decay of signal strength with distance was quantitatively determined whereby an estimate of safe distance to work in the presence of an interfering source was established