Are Agilent/HP "Precision" VNA calibration kits ok to replace a "Standard" kit ?

[drkirkby]

Are Agilent/HP "Precision" VNA calibration kits ok to replace a "Standard" kit ?

I notice Agilent sell Precision, Standard and Economy calibration kits for some of their vector network analysers. For example, these are those for an HP 8720D for APC-7. (The 8720D has APC 3.5 mm connectors, not APC-7).

• 85050B 7 mm Standard Calibration Kit (45 MHz to 18 GHz)
• 85050C 7 mm Precision Calibration Kit (45 MHz to 18 GHz)
• 85050D 7 mm Economy Calibration Kit (45 MHz to 18 GHz)

Is there any disadvantage in owning a Precision kit rather than a Standard one? Can the Precision kit do everything a Standard one can? The new price of a Precision kit is higher than a Standard kit, but that does not necessarily follow on the used market.

I don't see APC-7 being a big requirement for me, but I bought a cheap 11866A
http://www.home.agilent.com/owc_dis...rvlet/download/74-16983-54893-3001/11866A.pdf
(consisting of just an APC-7 open, load and short) for a modest sum on eBay. The load is rated at 2 GHz, but I can easily replace that by a 18 GHz load. But the 11866A kit is not actually supported by the 8720D, so it is never going to be surpurbly accurate. But I bought it because it was fairly cheap, the dealer local etc so no expensive courier costs.

I just noticed the same eBay seller tried unsucessfully to sell a HP 85050C Precision Mechanical Calibration Kit. Clearly he wanted more for that (8x as much in fact), but I'm contemplating asking if he will cancel my wining bid on the cheap/obsolete/unsupported/2GHz 11866A kit, and make him a sensible offer on the Precision/Supported/current 85050C kit. But before doing so, I just want to make sure that owning the Precision 85050C would be sufficent to do any calibration, and there would for example be no need to own the Standard kit too.

Dave

 

[biff44]

Re: Are Agilent/HP "Precision" VNA calibration kits ok to replace a "Standard" kit ?

You want to buy a calibration kit in the exact same type of connector that the VNA has. If you try to use adapters, you will get a less accurate cal.

 

[drkirkby]

Re: Are Agilent/HP "Precision" VNA calibration kits ok to replace a "Standard" kit ?

You want to buy a calibration kit in the exact same type of connector that the VNA has. If you try to use adapters, you will get a less accurate cal.

But if one needs an N connector, and the VNA has 3.5 mm connectors as the 8720D does, one has no alternative but to use an adapter. My understanding, is that given those circumstances, the best one can do is to use an N calibration kit, not a 3.5 mm calibration kit.

The other option is to calibrate in 3.5 mm, then use adapters to N, and attempt to compensate for the effect of the adapters. That is an inferior method as far as I know.

I am looking for a 3.5 mm calibration kit, but at this point in time, I have not found one at a price I consider acceptable.



Dave