B&K Precision bench multimeters, good?

Or buy it cheap enough that it doesn't matter. :)

become

they

In the areas you tend to work in, your stance is understandable. Getting a great deal on a mm only to have to have it factory refurbished is not a very winning strategy. Then you still have to keep it calibrated. Not funny, fun or cheap.

?-)

So I just ordered the Fluke 8845A at Tequipment.com. That way, if it doesn't live up to my expectations I can blame John 8-)

Spehro, if you want to order one as well don't just click "Byu" on the web site but get a quote. That lops around $100 off the price. No free shiiping then but ground was only $18.

What I found surprising was that in their manual they say "This Meter has shown susceptibility to radiated frequencies greater than 1 V/m from

250 to 450 MHz". I like that kind of honesty in a spec listing.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

And expect no more free beer.

Our thermocouple gadgets tend to have narrowband sensitivities in the

150-300 MHz range, which I suspect is wire/trace resonances driving opamp junctions. In an instrument with a plastic case, and nv resolution, EMI suceptability must be a real challenge.

Just tried my 8845A: 3 foot banana leads connected to an inductor, measuring DC on the lowest range. I'm seeing well under 1 uv of zero shift when I grab the test leads here and there. You know my EMI environment. Once the steel alligator clip temperatures settle out, it reads about +300 nv.

--

John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com 

Precision electronic instrumentation 
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators 
Custom laser drivers and controllers 
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links 
VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro   acquisition and simulation

[...]

That is pretty dang good. We have a hill with lots of radio towers about

2mi away but not quite as powerful as your Sutro Tower. However ... aircraft calling in final approach for our local runway plus "big iron" freighters calling into Mather Field almost over the building. Steel roof though.

What made me look around for a while longer was that this meter has steampunk PC connectivity, RS232. But I'll get that going, and it has LAN if needed. Other more modern meters couldn't be shipped by Dec-31 and for the usual reasons that didn't work. Some blew me away, they even had a built-in web server. Pretty soon toasters will have a web presence.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

A web server is a requirement for LXI compliance.

Then I guess the Fluke is not LXI-compliant. Oh well. But I only care about SCPI anyhow.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

The aircraft VHF communication radios are running at quite benign power, some tens of watts. Nothing compared to a broadcast transmitter.

--

Tauno Voipio

I know, but they are sometimes only 30 meters above the roof. Sometimes only 10 meters ...

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On Mon, 10 Dec 2012 07:49:53 -0800 Joerg wrote in Message id: :

[...]

Just got this in my inbox. I've never used one so I can't comment on the unit, but an intro price of $595 till the end of December.

That's not such a great price and in this thread Keithley didn't fare too well. Yesterday I ordered a 6-1/2 digit meter (the 8845A) from Fluke for $931.50. The design seems to be about 6-7 years old but that also means that the early bugs are out. I was a bit surprised that despite the design age it can be operated via a LAN. Not that I plan to do that a lot but it's kind of nice.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Well, Sunday it said ship date is Dec-14 (which was three days after ordering but ... ok). Today I checked and now the ship date is Dec-28. No email note, nothing. Inquired ... "Oh, it's on backorder". Hurumph. Grumble.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

met

Crikey! Are T&M manufacturers STILL using RS232 connectivity? OK, many people still have investment in '232 Data Aq stuff, but WHEN will we transition to USB? When it's obsolete?

Sheesh...

When USB is as simple to bit-bang.

I suspect the primary reason is to get you on their sales mailing / call list for future "cold" calls. Actually finding you the equip you are asking about is secondary.

This is SO last-century customer service...

"Get 'em on the hook. Customer service second..."

SO last-century...

OK, end of grumbling for today.

Bit-banging a DMM?

Why not?

To what end?

Extra credit for examples.