Poll
Question:
Any one having problems calibrating 9550 and 9560 fast pulse heads?
Option 1: Yes
votes: 2
Option 2: No
votes: 1
We have seen some problems with calibrating the 9560 pulse head with 11801A tek mainframe and sd24 sampling plugin. Fluke found and problem and it's now on AWP for parts under warranty repair. We seen some problems getting in tolerance reading with the Tek 11801A system with other plugins. Agilent brought in their 86100C with 86112A(20Ghz) and 86113A(30/50Ghz) to make the same measurements. The 25ps head was within the required 4ps of the 9500B reading. There is a user defined rise time function that makes the measure much better than the automatic 90% & 10% points. Example: -500mV pulse at 1Ghz, User can define the known 10% points of the negtive 500mV pulse. So use -450mV and -50mV for the 90 and 10% points. The reason for the better readings are the overshoots of the 500mV in 90 and 10% points have an vertical and horizional trigger average points. In user defined you only get the horizonal trigger points. Since the Tek 11801 and plug-in are obsolete I recommend replacing them with the Agilent System. Check it out. The Cost is also not too bad either.
Perhaps you can recommend to AFMETCAL to research these part numbers as something to replace the Tektronix if it meets all needs for the 11801/SD24. I'm sure across the AF there is lots of shipping that can be avoided after the warranty plus the non warranty repairs these units are costing because of issues.
Another problem we encountered..when we talked with Fluke..they said the Tek system measures the rise/fall time too fast..since they use the Agilent system for thier calibrations.hmmmm...
However..not a bad solution using known points..I will throw this past my QA, since I busted an SR for this, but a week later it was in tolerance..could of been the alignment of the planets..no adustments were done, as he had the head locked away while we investigated..
Mike
I have not done any 9560 heads but with 9530 I set the scope for a couple cycles on the display, let the amplitude markers find 10 & 90% then turn off the marker tracking so the levels hold at the same level when I scale down to check the edge. I use your setup or a 54121T and have gotten good results either way.