[volt-nuts] HP 3457A

[Dr. David Kirkby]

On 11 August 2013 22:34, Charles Steinmetz <csteinmetz at yandex.com> wrote:
> Orin wrote:

>> BTW, they don't list any accreditation on the certificate.
>
>
> As I suspected.  So it is vanishingly unlikely that they do traceable
> calibrations, contrary to their claim.

I see a lot of sellers selling things on ebay which are NIST tracable,
but I wonder what this means.

Let's asume I borrow a 3458A 8.5 digit DVM which has a valid (i.e.
non- goldenrubi ) NIST tracable calibration, and use the 3458A to
calibrate my 4.5 digit handheld DVM. If I work out all the
uncertainties, could I perform a NIST traceable calibration on a 6.5,
7.5 or even 8.5 digit meter using my handheld DVM? Of course, I'm not
suggesting for one minite it is reasonable to calibrate a high end DVM
with a handheld one, but could such a calibration still be NIST
traceable? It would have not a hope in hells chance of being able to
determine if a 6.5 digit DVM is in spec, but does that matter if all
the customer wanted was a NIST traceable calibration?

My VNA is going off to Agilent this week for cal. I'm just having an
Agilent calibration

https://service.home.agilent.com/infoline/public/product-service.aspx?pn=8720D&lc=eng&cc=GB

not an acredited calibration. I know, from discussions I have had with
Agilent staff, it will be the same test equipment calibrating it,
using the same automated procedures, so I don't want to pay 50% extra
for acreditation.

I trust Agilent can properly calibrate their own product.  At the end
of the day a lot of this is about trust.

Dave