posted 13 June 2001 04:09 PM               

The calibration lab covers all common electrical/electronic measurement areas, including RF, from DC to 2 GHz.

Does anyone have some quick suggestions for questions? They can be true/false, multiple guess or fill-in-the-blank. Thanks in advance.

posted 14 June 2001 08:44 PM               

Always go for essay type questions.

True/false = 50/50 guess
Multiple choice = 1/X guess
Essay = knowledge

posted 15 June 2001 09:19 AM               

Testing the ability of people to calibrate equipment is very subjective. You could give them a piece of equipment and tell them to "do it", however, if they are not familar with it, then the time they take (learning curve) would be considerable. Perhaps a better way would be to create a calibration procedure (e.g. simple signal gen)that is riddled with errors, including procedures are not even related. Give them the equipment manual and tell them to make all the necessary corrections to the procedure. Calibration is about detail, not just twiddling controls. This would give an excellent indication on the candidates:
³h ability to follow directions
³h ability to understand/interpret/reiterate specifications and adjustments
³h ability to identify errors in procedures
Include near the end of the procedure, a list of the equipment they would be given to perform the calibration. Provide specifications of the equipment (which one of them would not be able to be used, e.g. its' TCXO has a worse ppm that the equipment to be calibrated)

This is of course a purely academic exercise, but then any technoid can twiddle controls and not understand what they are doing. Hope that this helps.
Keep being inventive.
Trakman.