Fluke · OptiFiber · OptiFiber Pro

Open a Fluke .tst OTDR file without LinkWare

.tst files from Fluke Networks OptiFiber and OptiFiber Pro OTDRs open in the browser. You see the trace at each wavelength and what the instrument recorded about the shot. There is nothing to install, and any operating system will do.

Open a Fluke file

From a LinkWare database (.flw) the fibre loss tests open, fibre by fibre. Copper certification results (DSX) do not open.

The application window with a trace open. The file name on top, and beside it the totals: optical length, span loss and ORL. Below that, the chart toolbar with the wavelength and pulse width, then the OTDR trace across the whole range with vertical event marks, the overview strip under it, and a line telling how the cursors are placed.

What you will see

One Fluke record holds several traces, and each opens on its own, labelled with its wavelength, the fibre end and whether it is a channel map.

The trace

The trace with zoom and cursors A and B, with 2P and LSA readings between them. Several traces can be laid over one another on a single chart.

Events

For the OptiFiber Pro the instrument's event table opens. For the older OptiFiber it is not read yet, and “Our analysis” finds the events on the trace.

A .sor file

The trace can be saved as an ordinary Telcordia .sor. Any other maker's software opens it, and it can go to a contractor who has no LinkWare.

No need to install LinkWare

Fluke's own program for .tst files is LinkWare PC. It runs on Windows, has to be downloaded and installed, and is built above all for copper certification.

Here the file opens in the browser: on Windows, macOS and Linux, on a tablet and on a phone. No account needed. The PDF report and a link for a colleague are made right there, free.

Three different formats with one extension

Fluke's .tst covers three incompatible formats, and the file name does not tell them apart. We tell them apart by their content.

OptiFiber Pro

The OTDR module of the Versiv platform. The instrument's event table opens along with the trace.

OptiFiber, early firmware

The OF-500 of the early 2000s. One record can hold both fibre ends and a channel map.

OptiFiber, later firmware

The same OF-500 on newer firmware. It records differently, and before this such a file would not open.

At 1310 and 1550 nm the instrument samples at different steps, so one event can land a fraction of a metre apart on the two wavelengths: that is how the instrument itself recorded it.

A LinkWare database with fibre tests

Besides traces in .tst, a LinkWare .flw database opens: loss tests from CertiFiber Pro, DTX, MultiFiber Pro, SimpliFiber Pro and other instruments, fibre by fibre, with the limit, the margin and the instrument's verdict. Copper certification from the same database does not open.

How LinkWare fibre tests open→

Nearby

How to open a .sor file→ OTDR trace report as PDF→ Several traces on one chart→ How to read an OTDR trace→ Downloading OTDR software, and when you do not need to→ What the events on a trace mean→

By manufacturer

EXFO→ VIAVI / JDSU→ Anritsu→ Yokogawa→ Tribrer · T3 · T3Lab→ FIBERCLOUD · FC4000 · 980TEK→ Grandway→ AFL / Noyes→ NOVKER · NK OTDR-2101→ Atlas · Dwei-Tech→ SNR · SNR-OTDR-01 · SNR-OTDR-01N→ MOT · MOT 50 · MOT3000→ Orientek · TR600 · TR700→ Wavetek / Acterna→

OTDR Master works independently of instrument makers and sellers. Fluke, Fluke Networks, OptiFiber, Versiv and LinkWare are trademarks of their owners.