It is a fairly routine measurement to make, but it's usually done with
a network analyzer. It needn't be done with a VNA if you just want
frequency response (a scalar quantity...amplitude, no phase), a scalar
network analyzer will do the trick. One typically calibrates out test
fixtures and cables, but source leveling is usually done by the sweep
generator in a "set it and forget it" sort of way.
That said, I'm pretty sure the 853 frame can do stored trace
subtraction, but it's been so long since I've seen one I don't recall
exactly how. :-(
-Dave
On 10/14/2015 02:57 PM, w2bvh w2bvh@... [hp_agilent_equipment]
wrote:
I would like to use a high level noise source (one of those $15 Chinese
boards) with a HP8559/853 to do filter and amplifier passband / stopband
measurements. I know that in general I have store the noise source's
output and then subtract the filter (or amplifier) output in order to
normalize the measurement against the non-constant noise source output.
I'm sure this must be a relatively routine measurement technique, but I
don't know what buttons to press in what order on the 853A display unit
to do this. The manual is pretty ambiguous about how to use the "A" and
"B" "Trace" buttons.
Could someone who does this routinely explain which buttons to press
when? And maybe, more clearly, what each of them does?
Thanks in advance for any help.
--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA
Dave McGuire