Comba is a prime manufacturer – we internally design and manufacture many sub components and sub assemblies that other OEMs outsource (PCBs, PCB insertion and wave soldering, metal chassis components, key passive components, power amplifiers, etc.).

This provides Comba with much lower cost – and in addition, internal manufacturing also allows us to maintain a higher level of quality control and better control over lead times.

Comba utilizes High Efficiency Linear amplifier design – linear amplifiers draw significantly less operating current than conventional amplifier designs.

This is another advantage of High Efficiency Linear amplifier design – extremely low weight. It is also important to note that since the Linear amplifiers generate less heat, there is no need for cooling fans – this also contributes to lower weight.

In addition, Comba’s design team puts forth great efforts to ensure that there is no “over design” of any part of the CriticalPoint products, that could result in unnecessary extra weight or cost.

Not necessarily – if there is network access via modem or Ethernet available, the CriticalPoint BDA can be commissioned, adjusted, and monitored remotely. Modem/Ethernet access and SNMP v2/v3 are fully supported.

No – Comba CriticalPoint BDA products are designed to work with Comba BBU products or any other +48VDC UL2524 certified and listed BBU product to meet AHJ requirement.  However, they can also work for private radio system which do not require a BBU and are fed from a standard 120VAC circuit.

Yes – CriticalPoint protects against oscillation in 2 ways:

First, there is a mandatory isolation test that must produce satisfactory results prior to being able to commission the BDA.  The isolation test also limits the DL/UL maximum gain per the IFC/NFPA code requirements.

Secondly – in the event that something changes the isolation (and causes oscillation) while the BDA is in use, the CriticalPoint BDA will first attempt to mitigate the issue by automatically reducing the gain to a level where it can maintain operation.  In this case an oscillation gain reduction alarm is generated.  In the event the BDA cannot reduce the gain enough to mitigate the oscillation issue, the BDA will shut down and generate an oscillation shutdown alarm.

All Comba products have a 3 year product warranty with advanced exchange service.

The CriticalPoint BDA is FCC, UL and IC approved – and it is fully NFPA and IFC compliant. In addition, the unit is housed in a NEMA 4 rated chassis.

Comba tests and certifies it’s products through a Nationally Recognized Test Lab (NRTL) to meet the strict UL requirement standards. Click to view Comba’s UL Standards Testing and Product Certification process pdf.

As our specification sheet states – our BDA is compatible with and capable of passing analog and digital communications, simultaneously.

How does this work: our BDA amplifies and passes RF (radio frequency) – RF can carry analog traffic, or it can carry digital packetized traffic. As stated, our BDA is simply amplifying and passing the RF – we do not read, manipulate, or modify, nor really even “see” or know, what the traffic content is.

A way to look at this: consider the BDA and the antenna infrastructure as plumbing in a home or building – all the plumbing does is carry water. The water can be hot water or cold water – or could be potable or non-potable water – the plumbing doesn’t care. And in a similar fashion, our BDA does not care what the traffic content over the RF is comprised of.

So how can analog and digital, which are different, be carried simultaneously? The end devices (base station and mobile devices) operate on either analog or digital – meaning that an analog device won’t even see the digital traffic, and the digital devices won’t even see the analog traffic. So – both types can be mixed over the same RF path with no chance of one interfering with the other.

Comba Public Safety VHF/UHF BDAs utilize a built-in bias-T as the primary means for monitoring and alarming for donor antenna malfunctions.  The bias-T circuit can sense a connection/disconnection between the BDA and donor antenna itself, and generate an immediate alarm upon disconnection.  Additionally, the device can be programmed to monitor the broadband input level detected by the BDA and generate a donor antenna alarm if the level falls below a user defined threshold.

Solution: Download PDFs in Chrome

1. On your computer, open Chrome.
2. At the top right, click More Settings.
3. At the bottom, click Advanced.
4. Under “Privacy and security,” click Content settings.
5. Near the bottom, click PDF documents.
6. Turn on Download PDF files instead of automatically opening them in Chrome.

Chrome will now download the generated Report.