Hershal said:
I presume these units were designed/built since Fluke bought Wavetek?
No, the 9100 was a Wavetek product for
several years (at least 4)
before Fluke bought the company. Likewise, the Wavetek Portocal-II automation software is actually older than that.
It's all part of the narrowing of the field of suppliers...
- Danaher Corp Owns Fluke as one of at least 89 companies and/or brands. (Some other recognizable names may be Pomona Electronics, Hart Scientific, Pacific Scientific, K-D Tools, Matco Tools (a major customer for the hand tools group is Sears, for the Craftsman brand line), Gilbarco (gasoline pumps), Delta (toolboxes and work truck bodies) Jacobs Chucks and more ...
- Fluke bought Wavetek several years ago.
- Earlier in the 1990's, Wavetek bought Datron.
- Hewlett-Packard spun off the test and measurement instruments (their whole heritage!) into Agilent Corp, which now does not make anywhere near the number of high-end calibration standards as they used to.
As a result, if you need a high-end multifunction calibrator or AC/DC voltage standard, there's now basically one major supplier where 15 years ago there were at least four or five.
and there are many more examples ...