sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Sidekick 7B or T&N?

Hey,

I've been looking into getting a sidekick meter because they seem to be a whole lot more accurate than guess and check.

Question is... is it worth the extra hundreds for the transmission and noise test model?

Secondly, what are the appropriate uses for a sidekick? I don't know that much about them... a full run down would be appreciated.

Nick

I have one that just collects dust. I used it everyday when I was working outside plant copper and loops over hundreds of feet. It will test for environmental conditions that affect copper. A basic TDR with wire length like a Harris TS100 and a simple multimeter will accomplish more for inside wire. Check out Tempo Communications web site if you want info on the Sidekick.

I'm thinking it would be more useful when I'm out in the field and we're dealing with underground/aerial stuff. We've had a couple of situations with odd static problems or what have you... and I think I'd rather get scientific than guessing.

If it was useful once, I'd be thrilled.

As gkar said, his collects dust. If you maintain a large campus the expense might be worth it. A toner, multimeter and butt-set are all you really need. Now if you can lay your hands on a megger, that would be worth the investment.

Megger?

Essentially, a sidekick does what a megger does, measure insulation resistance but is calibrated for the telco field. Other functions include a simple multimeter but again calibrated for the telco field. Technicians are trained to use the sidekick which pretty much displays a go no-go function. A megger on the does one thing. Measure insulation resistance and it does this by sending out 500 to 1kv, some more, of voltage. You could say one hell of a stress test. What your looking for is anything 50k ohms or above and never have equipment connected while using a megger. have a look at www.metercenter.com