Hello Ash, all,
I kept insisting on the subject, up to a certain extent, I am glad I did, as this meter is really good...
On one hand, I am still stuck with the CAL software, although I found a very interesting issue: there was a hardware failure on my K3330. The output signal was half of what the CAL routine expected, and I was lucky enough to locate a defective transistor that was responsible for such signal loss. Once I replaced it, the signal got back to its normal amplitude, and I could move one step ahead in CAL. Now it gives me some weird message while trying to run a frequency response test (I guess it will run a measurement of output signal at all available frequencies, but I don't get why it stops and gives an error message. This time output voltages are spot on).
In any case, I was able to write the original calibration data back, and I could verify that the system is now performing as expected. This means I would not need to go through calibration as the system is now OK, however I feel that leaving things like this may turn out to be a problem in case I need to run calibration in the future.
I have to find out some more time to experiment on the subject, but it is very frustrating to deal with old hardware and software.
I am posting a capture of GPIB bus that I could apparently run while writing cal data back into the unit, and while reading cal data from the unit. It's been ages since my last experience with GPIB commands, and more specifically with NI calls, so I do not know whether this info is good enough to make a move on migrating the calibration software to a newer platform.
In any case, this is what I have right now. I do not know whether I can manage things to have another GPIB controller as "passive" to listen and capture all bus activity. If anyone is aware on the subject, I look forward to any comments.
My current setup is PCIIA (mandatory for CAL.EXE to run), and I could connect an HP E5810A GPIB hub as well.
In case you are interested to have a look at the attachments, please check the WriteDat first, as this one may have two commands that belong to the readdata sequence that I ran afterwards. The original CAL data is the one I posted a couple of days ago. Hope this helps.
Best regards!
Alberto