Can anyone recommend a decent frequency counter for lab use?
The cheapest Agilent (53131) is now about $2100. It has a fairly good, but not ovenized, timebase... looks like a TCXO. It is a "universal" counter, start/stop trigger levels and all that, so it's not too bad a deal. Seems a tad expensive, though. I'd like something good to at least 1 PPM, so I can use it to calibrate our waveform generators.
We'll probably buy new here, so it comes cal'd and known good.
John
I suspect you will need to pay big bucks to get a time base with a 1 ppm accuracy. Stanford Research has one for $5000. See:
Howard
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You might consider a GPS-based timebase. They are excellent frequency standards, and could be used as external timebase for the counter, and are traceable. I've seen Trimble units on fleabay, really cheap (search for "Thunderbolt GPS"), around $200-$250. Alternatively, you might look at whether the standard non-ovenized oscillator could be replaced with a model 10811A oscillator without any additional interface circuitry. I've done that with several older models of counters... most notably the 5328A. I know that you can buy a working 10811A from fleabay for around $100 USD. If someone who owns or services these units could verify that possibility, that would save a kilobuck or so off the high stability (option 010;
Another possibility is a low-cost Rubidium oscillator
I have one of these which I use for checking the calibration of some oven stabilised counters that are used in production:
There is usually one for sale at any time on eBay. Just search for MS-1003A.
The seller calibrates against GPS over a 2-say period. A big advantage is that the device is small and self-contained, not needing a line of sight to the sky which can be hard to get in a large production area. The 10MHz output can be connected to the external reference input of many counters. Accuracy is considerably better than 1ppm.
John
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