HPO Replacement Kit Selection Guide
The HP 53131A, 53132A and 53181A come in different flavors when it comes to the installed options. Unfortunately, not all of the options are interchangeable, which means that care has to be taken when selecting a replacement kit.
The following compatibility table will help you select an option that will work with your counter:
| Counter | Installed Option | Max. Frequency | Compatible Options | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 53131A | None | HPO-030, HPO-080, HPO-100, HPO-120 | ||
| HP 53131A | 030 | 3 GHz | HPO-030, HPO-080, HPO-100, HPO-120 | |
| HP 53131A | 050 | 5 GHz | HPO-080-E, HPO-100, HPO-120 | Limited to 5 GHz. |
| HP 53131A | 124 | 12.4 GHz | HPO-080-E, HPO-100, HPO-120 | |
| HP 53132A | None | HPO-030, HPO-080, HPO-100, HPO-120 | ||
| HP 53132A | 030 | 3 GHz | HPO-030, HPO-080, HPO-100, HPO-120 | |
| HP 53132A | 050 | 5 GHz | HPO-080-E, HPO-100, HPO-120 | Limited to 5 GHz. |
| HP 53132A | 124 | 12.4 GHz | HPO-080-E, HPO-100, HPO-120 | |
| HP 53181A | None | HPO-030, HPO-080, HPO-100, HPO-120 | ||
| HP 53181A | 015 | 1.5 GHz | HPO-030, HPO-080, HPO-100, HPO-120 | Limited to 1.5 GHz. |
| HP 53181A | 030 | 3 GHz | HPO-030, HPO-080, HPO-100, HPO-120 | |
| HP 53181A | 050 | 5 GHz | HPO-080-E, HPO-100, HPO-120 | Limited to 5 GHz. |
| HP 53181A | 124 | 12.4 GHz | HPO-080-E, HPO-100, HPO-120 |
Cable selection
In the cable department, you have a selection of both low cost and high quality cables. To keep the price down, the base models come with the low cost BNC or TNC cable assemblies, which while sufficient for many uses, they have worse mechanical properties and RF performance than the higher cost ones.
In the graph below, we have the RF characteristics of several randomly selected cables, and it can easily be seen how the top three options are outperforming the two low cost cable assemblies. Aside from that, they are also exhibiting higher mechanical strength and better wear resistance.
The most popular option is the SMA cable assembly, followed by the BNC-2 option. They are both available at discount, when bought together with a prescaler, but they can also be purchased separately (SMA, BNC-2).
Updated on: 2021-05-21