universal frequency counter

There are still many companies where it's a steep uphill battle to purchase anything non-Tek/Agilent even if there is significant cost savings to be had.

I stand by my hypothesis that many companies don't worry about "bang for the buck" at all so long as they get their 10% ROI or so...

What's your business model, John? -- E.g., as long as your company does, say, better than an index fund and you get to do things you enjoy, you're a happy camper? :-)

It's been years since I've used a fancy standalone frequency counter -- usually there's a spectrum analyzer already powered up and running by the time I care about absolute frequencies...

---Joel

Well, we do have to pay the bills and the salaries and the mortgage. I don't want to pay $1500 for a Tek scope when a $500 Rigol is at least as good. Both are made in China.

I do a lot of time-interval/period type stuff too. We have a spectrum analyzer, but I don't use it very often. Most of my stuff is time domain.

John

I have no info on the Protek but I hope this is a misprint. Input Impedance 1MW + 35µF capacitance. Hmm. that's funny, it says "Input Impedance 1MW +35uf capacitance", but when I copy and paste, it pastes as " Input Impedance 1MW + 35µF capacitance." MikeK

What range? I still like my old HP 5245L 50 MHz Universal Frequency Counter.

--
Politicians should only get paid if the budget is balanced, and there is
enough left over to pay them.

--
You've got the smarts and the bucks, so why not build what you need
and then offer it for sale to those who might also need/want it?

time

Looks like a couple of hundred MHz is common, and most modern counters have a prescaler for frequency-only measurement up to a couple of GHz. We commonly run digital clocks at 20 to 155 MHz, and multiply FPGA internal clocks up to 250 maybe.

I have a couple of old HP nixie-tube universal counters (not 5245's... don't remember) but they are mostly dead by now.

We do still use several 5370Bs, big rackmount universal counters with

20 ps single-shot time interval resolution. That's overkill for my workbench.

John

I'm not interested in building my own frequency counter, cell phone, blender, or ski boots. There are too many on the market already.

I've been asked to do a new picosecond-resolution time-interval counter, but I doubt it would make money, and it would take a lot of engineering.

It's Highland Technology, singular. Building frequency counters would be a threat to *our* bottom line, because the margins would be too low. The Chinese are taking over the low-end test equipment business. And maybe not so low end.

Do you build your own DVMs and scopes and function generators? You might consider following your own advice.

John

Used HP/Agilent 53131A or 53132A? 225 MHz two channels, third channel to 3GHz or so, frequency, ratios, intervals, statistics.

The 131 is 10 digits/sec, and the 132 is 12 digits/sec resolution.

commonly available on eBay with different levels of options.

Test equipment is free - so long as you keep it long enough to fully depreciate it.

-- Les Cargill

Hmm. New might be the problem here - my 5334A can do all that, I think. It's old enough to be HP, and relatively inexpensive, with a C channel and DVM to boot. Finding a C-channel preamp might be a bit of a challenge, but I haven't really tried. Likely not enough digits or gigawhompers to suit your unstated specs, or you fear the retro red-light display ;->

One day I'll feed it and the 3325 a 10MHz clock they can agree on, since even (sometimes especially) for old junque, the TCXO units are overpriced. Too bad my Genrad doesn't go to 10mhz - that sucker is one heavy ovenized crystal, and should be aged to stability by now - perhaps I should frequency double the old gal. Or anchor a boat with her...

As far as I recall the 3325 would actually take 5mhz (or 1, or 10) as reference, but the 5334A is more limited in the references it will accept from outside.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

Possibility. They are going for $1000 to maybe $1700. The single-shot time resolution is nice.

John

Not really. It needs maintanance and calibration, and depreciation doesn't pay back the cost of purchase. In San Francisco, there is a 1% per year tax on all equipment, based on the purchase price, *forever*.

John

I've been getting away from the old HP boat anchors. They are starting to fail, and are a pain to fix. And take up a lot of bench space.

We have a rubidium standard, a cesium, and an SRS SC-cut OCXO. And a bunch of ebay HP5370 counters with OCXOs. They all usually agree to 75 PPB or less.

John

had.

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say,

happy

time

I used a 5245L to measure the integration time of the AGC system in telemetry products. No where near 250 MHz, but it was the most stable of any of the interval counters at the plant.

What's wrong with them? The biggest failure was the custom HP HV BCD to Decimal decoders.

--
Politicians should only get paid if the budget is balanced, and there is
enough left over to pay them.

--
No, but then I'm not the one one bitching about the high price of
everybody else's stuff, am I?

Need that one megawatt to properly frap that large capacitance..

had.

say,

time

...but the price is right...

..so you buy what you need, and sell it at a very low scrap price to some kid down the block (that happens to be your son) and then buy it back at similar price...meaning that 1% tax is under a dollar and so exempt...

It is when you post these weird local rules and regulations that I begin to understand why you are so bitter and twisted about taxes. It makes no sense at all to punish companies that buy test equipment!

Most other jurisdictions allow you to write down capital kit over a period of around 5 years with an offset against profits to help to encourage investment in equipment needed for the business.

Regards, Martin Brown