On Sat, 11 Jun 2005 11:39:51 -0400, Scott in Baltimore
wrote:


I "found" them a few minutes later when I tuned for someone else.

That's one very good reason to have a locked clarifier.

Every time I had a locked clarifier, I get off frequency comments.


So you're going to believe that someone who's clarifier isn't
at 12 o'clock on the 00's is right? I find it annoying to have
to chase someone around because they tune to my on-frequency
radio and they change their transmit frequency.

A common complaint. But the alternative of having several different
people on slightly different frequencies, requiring you to tune each
one for clean fidelity is, IMHO, a bigger irritant.


Have it properly aligned by a tech with calibrated equipment.

That's good for you, but not for the other guys who align with a
"galaxy" frequency counter.


Also, the Unidens stay on freq better then the Galaxy and Connex crap.

An old Cobra with the Uniden guts will stay on freq summer and winter,
while a Galaxy will drift a lot from turn on to warmup.

My old TRC-451 (Cobra 146) just keeps on going. Feed that into a
225 box on low using a 636L into a KW-7. Killer SSB combo.

You are right about the TRC-451. I aligned mine 6 years ago, and it's
still rock solid on.


The radio was hacked up when I got it. Now it's back to stock
with the final placed off the regulator for dependability.

Mine is still basically stock, with the exception of an unlocked
clarifier. I can stand locked-on ones.

Dave
"Sandbagger"
http://home.ptd.net/~n3cvj

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 13:18:30 -0400, Dave Hall wrote:

Have it properly aligned by a tech with calibrated equipment.

That's good for you, but not for the other guys who align with a
"galaxy" frequency counter.


Dave,

Do you recoomended a decent Freq counter I can get on ebay for aound $40? They
have a ton of older HP and BK Precisions. I had a Fluke 1900A, but it died on
me, and I am looking to replace it.

Vinnie S.

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 17:50:26 -0400, Vinnie S.
wrote:

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 13:18:30 -0400, Dave Hall wrote:

Have it properly aligned by a tech with calibrated equipment.

That's good for you, but not for the other guys who align with a
"galaxy" frequency counter.


Dave,

Do you recoomended a decent Freq counter I can get on ebay for aound $40? They
have a ton of older HP and BK Precisions. I had a Fluke 1900A, but it died on
me, and I am looking to replace it.

Well, as a matter of course, you get what you pay for. To me $40 is in
the "recreational user" category. For true lab precision quality test
equipment, you're going to pay a lot more (Unless, of course, it's 30+
years old, and then I'd have my doubts about calibration).

I have a Fluke counter, which I obtained about 8 years ago. At the
time I got it, the calibration was about a year old. While the
optional heated crystal oven high precision timebase is fairly stable,
I'm sure there's been some drift in the last 8 or 9 years.

So even if you get a "Lab quality" counter, unless the seller can
provide calibration traceability, you still don't know how accurate it
might be.

Dave
"Sandbagger"



Vinnie S.

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 06:48:24 -0400, Dave Hall wrote:


Dave,

Do you recoomended a decent Freq counter I can get on ebay for aound $40? They
have a ton of older HP and BK Precisions. I had a Fluke 1900A, but it died on
me, and I am looking to replace it.



Well, as a matter of course, you get what you pay for. To me $40 is in
the "recreational user" category. For true lab precision quality test
equipment, you're going to pay a lot more (Unless, of course, it's 30+
years old, and then I'd have my doubts about calibration).

Well, most of these are bench quality that have been removed from labs that have
been shut down. For how often I have to do it, it doesn't pay to buy a $200
counter when it's going back in the closet after alignment.

I have a Fluke counter, which I obtained about 8 years ago. At the
time I got it, the calibration was about a year old. While the
optional heated crystal oven high precision timebase is fairly stable,
I'm sure there's been some drift in the last 8 or 9 years.

So even if you get a "Lab quality" counter, unless the seller can
provide calibration traceability, you still don't know how accurate it
might be.


I used to do calibrations, years ago on research instruments that was traceable
to NIST, and NBS before that. At that time, traceability was at least $100 per
piece. I don't see how it would be cost effective to get a counter with this
traceability that could easily run you twice the cost of a new radio.

Vinnie S.

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 09:10:40 -0400, Vinnie S.
wrote:

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 06:48:24 -0400, Dave Hall wrote:


Dave,

Do you recomend a decent Freq counter I can get on ebay for aound $40? They
have a ton of older HP and BK Precisions. I had a Fluke 1900A, but it died on
me, and I am looking to replace it.



Well, as a matter of course, you get what you pay for. To me $40 is in
the "recreational user" category. For true lab precision quality test
equipment, you're going to pay a lot more (Unless, of course, it's 30+
years old, and then I'd have my doubts about calibration).

Well, most of these are bench quality that have been removed from labs that have
been shut down. For how often I have to do it, it doesn't pay to buy a $200
counter when it's going back in the closet after alignment.

Like I said before, accuracy costs money. How accurate do you want to
be?

I have a Fluke counter, which I obtained about 8 years ago. At the
time I got it, the calibration was about a year old. While the
optional heated crystal oven high precision timebase is fairly stable,
I'm sure there's been some drift in the last 8 or 9 years.

So even if you get a "Lab quality" counter, unless the seller can
provide calibration traceability, you still don't know how accurate it
might be.


I used to do calibrations, years ago on research instruments that was traceable
to NIST, and NBS before that. At that time, traceability was at least $100 per
piece. I don't see how it would be cost effective to get a counter with this
traceability that could easily run you twice the cost of a new radio.

I was going to bring that up. The cost of calibration is often more
than what you paid for the used instrument itself, unless you have
access to a cal lab and can do it yourself. Once in a while I'll sneak
one or two of my pieces into the pile at work when we send a bunch out
to cal. But the bottom line here is that it makes little sense to buy
a lab quality counter for its inherent accuracy, and not have it
recently calibrated.

But these are the issues you have to face. If you want something that
is "Dead on, no argument, last word on the subject" accurate, you will
have to pay for it. If, on the other hand, you are content with being
"close", a $40 counter will fit the bill. The choice is yours.

I get a kick out of guys on the air (SSB) arguing over who's on
frequency and who isn't. One guy will tell another to tune to him
because he's "a bit off". The other guy will respond that if there's a
difference, it must be the first guy's radio, because his "XYZ brand"
is "dead on", and it goes from there.

In the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? As long as
everyone has the ability to synchronize their transmit with their
receive clarifier, and can tune to each other, where exactly they are
becomes irrelevant.

But you can see how the wide variation of quality test equipment and
radio drift can make it nearly impossible to bring everyone's transmit
frequency to the same exact point (Within 100 hz). That's why I don't
like "locked on" transmit clarifiers.

Dave
"Sandbagger"

Galaxy freq counters should not be called "frequency counters" and
should be referred to as what they truly are,,,,, more of a freq
"display" than true counter.

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 16:03:51 -0400, (I
AmnotGeorgeBush) wrote:

Galaxy freq counters should not be called "frequency counters" and
should be referred to as what they truly are,,,,, more of a freq
"display" than true counter.

I would agree. They are also known (At least on the earliest models)
to generate "hash" noise, which you can hear on the receive if it's
quiet.

I certainly wouldn't use the built-in counter on a CB radio as any
source of accuracy.

Dave
"Sandbagger"