Validation of the Open-Area Antenna Calibration Site at CENAM

The process of validating an open-area antenna calibration test site (CALTS) as a national reference for Mexico is presented. It is shown that the site is fully compliant with CISPR-16-1-5 (2003-11). The site's performance, according to this standard, is determined by the difference between the measured and theoretical calculated site attenuation (SA) values. The main contributions of this paper are the assessment of the validation process and the practical implications deduced from this assessment process. The assessment validation process was performed using the following: 1) three sets of calculated theoretical SA values; 2) two measurement systems used almost simultaneously to strengthen the validation (one is based on a network analyzer, and the other is based on a spectrum analyzer); and 3) two direct-connection configurations. The similarities among the four sets of obtained results allow the deduction of the following important practical implications: 1) Measurement methods and system are validated, and we have confidence on the results from both measurement systems. 2) The direct connection at baluns is used in practice, because its effects are better canceled experimentally rather than mathematically. 3) There is a need to construct the set of dipoles of the Centro Nacional de Metrologia (CENAM) due to bad functioning of the commercial 700-MHz dipole.