Tips for Preventing Unnecessary Repairs on Your Signal Generator
A signal generator is an electronic test instrument used to create waveforms that may have varied amplitude, frequency, and wave shapes.[i] They are used for function tests to check performance levels of spectrum analyzers. Signal generators are most often used in designing, manufacturing, servicing and repairing electronic devices. When handling your precision test and measuring…
Network Analyzer Preventive Maintenance Tips
Best Practices to Avoid Costly Repairs of Your Network Analyzer By Nancy Brady, NSCA & Tra-Cal A network analyzer (NA) creates a signal and characterizes the devices that receive the signal. It is used to measure components, equipment, circuits, and subassemblies. An RF network analyzer measures both amplitude and phase information (frequency or power sweeps)…
Proper Calibration of Electronic Equipment: Techniques to Calibrate Essential Defense Tech
From Sea Technology Magazine February 2018 (pp. 18-23) Mission-critical signal analyzers that measure multiple aspects of a signal need to be accurate and consistently perform at optimal levels. Variations in temperature, humidity and the corrosive nature of the environment can cause damage. The most critical challenge is ensuring that there is no signal failure. See…
The Weakest Link? Cable and Connector Care Tips
Before you send your test equipment to be calibrated or repaired, you may want to check the weakest link— the cables and connectors to make sure they are not affecting your test equipment’s performance. High quality cables are expensive and may cost $2,000 and up to replace. We recommend sending cables along with your equipment…
Tips for Preventing Unnecessary Repairs of Your Spectrum Analyzer
In a recent report by Aberdeen,[i] one hour of unplanned downtime costs organizations $260,000, on average. The highest percentage of unplanned outages were attributed to not being able to deliver services to customers (46%) and losing production time on a critical asset (37%). When handling your precision test and measuring instruments, it is important to…
Care and Maintenance of Calipers
Imagine this: You arrive at work to find your best customer has just returned $10,000 worth of precision metal blocks. They arrived with a nasty note saying that they are out of tolerance. You stand to lose one of your best contracts, not to mention your job, unless you get to the problem right away.…
Proper Care of Torque Wrenches and Screwdrivers
In a recent post, someone mentioned, “We recently had our audit and something came out of it that we didn’t expect. Torque wrenches not calibrated. Now granted, we only use them to tighten machining fixtures on certain equipment but we were still told they needed to be calibrated.” Quality requirements for torque equipment are in more…