Starting A Calibration - Agilent Technologies N4413A User Manual

A Method of Checking Calibration
A good method of checking calibration is to establish a Golden Device, which is a device that
meets all specifications and is saved for comparison of the measured results in the future.
Establishing a Golden Device
Follow these steps to establish a golden device:
1. Calibrate the system.
2. Perform the complete set of measurements on the golden device.
3. Save and print all of the test results from these initial measurements.
Now you can measure the Golden Device when you suspect that your system may need to be
calibrated. Compare the results of these measurements against the results that you saved
and printed from the initial measurements.

Starting a Calibration

1. Complete the hardware and software setup. See
Hardware" on page 18
Software" on page
2. Define a test plan to include desired measurement types, and the use and placement of any
adapters.
3. Characterize the adapters. See
4. For test sets with the optional step attenuator, determine the attenuation needs. Once you
calibrate at an attenuation setting, any changes to the setting will invalidate the accuracy
of the calibration. Even if the attenuator is moved from the calibrated position and reset
prior to measurement, measurement accuracy will be reduced. It is strongly recommended
that you recalibrate if you have changed the attenuator setting.
5. When all of these prerequisite steps have been completed, select Calibrate > Standard
Calibration... or Calibrate > Electronic Calibration... to begin. You are guided
through this process step-by-step.
NOTE Creating a Calibration Subset
If you do not want to use all frequency points for your measurement, you can
create a calibration subset and use it for the active calibration instead of the
full calibration set. See
Chapter 3
and "How to Install and Start the Balanced Measurement
39.
"How to Characterize Adapters" on page
"Calibrate > Create Cal Subset..." on page
Using the Multiport Test System
"How to Set Up the Multiport Test System
How to Calibrate
44.
133.
41