Calibration for HP 8901B Modulation analyzer

[MattSR]

Hi Guys,

I recently purchased a lovely new (old) HP 8901B analyzer. From the bloke I bought it off, I know it was last calibrated 5 years ago, however I would like to get it done again. Does anyone know of any places to get it calibrated in Sydney, Australia? I did receive a quote from one place and they wanted $2,000 for it to be certified to NATA standards (whatever NATA is..)

Cheers,
Matt

[MattSR]

Bump... Anybody? Surely someone in here knows of a place to get test equipment calibrated in Sydney..

[TheRuler8510]

Ouch!...I got a perfectly good working unit off eBay last year for only $100, so it seems crazy to pay $2000 for a cal.

Why do you need it to be so precise? ...just curious.

[Alexei.Polkhanov]

Did you see the Operation and Calibration Manual? http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/08901-90113.pdf.
Brief look at the document tells me that most of function have self-calibration built in so you just need to follow the steps described. Also if you have RF signal generator and RF power sensor you can probably use that, I did not find references to any tools in a document however.

[edavid]

This is not a precision instrument, or a valuable one, and 5 years is not very long ago, and most cal labs are not going to be at all familiar with it.   Summary: Don't do it!

[MattSR]

Hi Guys,

Awesome responses, thanks for the help. I somehow missed the calibration manual which looks very handy. I have access to an up to date Aeroflex 3920 that gets an annual calibration done, so I will just use that to check the 8901B.

TheRuler - I can't believe you got one for $100 - wow!!! I'm using it to align and calibrate some digital radio equipment (APCO P25) and also to develop an open source version even further (using GNUradio and a USRP) I guess its not worth the cost and the DIY cal will be more than good enough.

edavid - That makes perfect sense, since I have the gear and now the manual to calibrate it myself, that should be more than good enough!

Thanks for the responses!

Cheers,
Matt