You might want to consider going to a ham swapfest and buying a good used
commercial unit by HP or others. I see very good ones going cheap ($20 to
$30) especially if they're 100MHz and below.
73
hank wd5jfr
"SWbeginner" wrote in message
...
I am looking to build a frequency counter, or buy an inxepensive kit.
Any recommendations?
Needs: low cost, few parts count
Thanks

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 21:43:08 -0000 SWbeginner
wrote:

I am looking to build a frequency counter, or buy an inxepensive kit.
Any recommendations?
Needs: low cost, few parts count

I have a number of very nice HP counters for frequencies from 20Hz to
1.3 GHz. Prices vary depending on what frequencies and features you
want over a range from $60 to $200. They are all very high quality and
extremely accurate. These are small AC powered units.

Email me for a list if you think you might be interested.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 21:43:08 -0000 SWbeginner
wrote:

I am looking to build a frequency counter, or buy an inxepensive kit.
Any recommendations?
Needs: low cost, few parts count

I have a number of very nice HP counters for frequencies from 20Hz to
1.3 GHz. Prices vary depending on what frequencies and features you
want over a range from $60 to $200. They are all very high quality and
extremely accurate. These are small AC powered units.

Email me for a list if you think you might be interested.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

You can buy a HP 5328A or B on EBay for less than $50. Even the nixie 5326B
which is ancient -- will provide many more years of service. These two can
be described as "ubiquitous". The 5334 is also a very nice two-channel
unit.

Jack

"SWbeginner" wrote in message
...
I am looking to build a frequency counter, or buy an inxepensive kit.
Any recommendations?
Needs: low cost, few parts count
Thanks

You can buy a HP 5328A or B on EBay for less than $50. Even the nixie 5326B
which is ancient -- will provide many more years of service. These two can
be described as "ubiquitous". The 5334 is also a very nice two-channel
unit.

Jack

"SWbeginner" wrote in message
...
I am looking to build a frequency counter, or buy an inxepensive kit.
Any recommendations?
Needs: low cost, few parts count
Thanks

"Hernán Sánchez" wrote in
:

Hi.

I have just designed one that uses 2 chips, it is controlled by a PC
(parallel port) and it has a software to display measurements.

It works from 1Hz to 80Mhz, and can be improved.. if you want to give
it a try, write me and I will send you the schematics and the software
to play with it. I have one working in a XESS FPGA card, but it
doesn't need all those hardware, just 2 of them.

Regards,

Hernán Sánchez
Sure I like to see it. Which 2 chips does it use?

"Hernán Sánchez" wrote in
:

Hi.

I have just designed one that uses 2 chips, it is controlled by a PC
(parallel port) and it has a software to display measurements.

It works from 1Hz to 80Mhz, and can be improved.. if you want to give
it a try, write me and I will send you the schematics and the software
to play with it. I have one working in a XESS FPGA card, but it
doesn't need all those hardware, just 2 of them.

Regards,

Hernán Sánchez
Sure I like to see it. Which 2 chips does it use?

This would be great for me but can it work with LED's. I haven't work with
LCD displays before and don't know which one works.

You might try Francesco Morgantini's (IK3OIL) PIC freq counter. It's
based on a 16f84 and he will email you the hex code if you request it.
It will run to approx 45 MHz as is and up to 1.5 GHz with a simple
add on prescaler. He has divide functions built in the program (
divide by 10/32/64) and he has also include IF offset if you want to
use the counter as a freq readout. I've etched about 40 boards for
local hams here and every one that has been built has worked without
fail. Total cost has been in the neighborhood of $35.00 including the
prescaler but excluding enclosure. If you want a copy of the circuit
board layout with prescaler, just email me at ww2742 at dragonbbs.com.
As for accuracy, I just adjusted one today for another local ham at
it was within 200 Hz at 440 MHz using a recently calibrated IFR-1200
for a source - that was close enough for me.

Here's his website URL:
http://digilander.libero.it/ik3oil/menu_eng.htm

This would be great for me but can it work with LED's. I haven't work with
LCD displays before and don't know which one works.

You might try Francesco Morgantini's (IK3OIL) PIC freq counter. It's
based on a 16f84 and he will email you the hex code if you request it.
It will run to approx 45 MHz as is and up to 1.5 GHz with a simple
add on prescaler. He has divide functions built in the program (
divide by 10/32/64) and he has also include IF offset if you want to
use the counter as a freq readout. I've etched about 40 boards for
local hams here and every one that has been built has worked without
fail. Total cost has been in the neighborhood of $35.00 including the
prescaler but excluding enclosure. If you want a copy of the circuit
board layout with prescaler, just email me at ww2742 at dragonbbs.com.
As for accuracy, I just adjusted one today for another local ham at
it was within 200 Hz at 440 MHz using a recently calibrated IFR-1200
for a source - that was close enough for me.

Here's his website URL:
http://digilander.libero.it/ik3oil/menu_eng.htm

Why does everyone think that PIC is the only microcontroller or the best
/easiest one? Since PIC needs higher programming voltages and not all PC
serial ports provide enough of it, most of the very easy PIC programmers
dont work. I would suggest you use atmel avr's. A nice programmer for it
can be found here : http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbolt/e-spider_prog.html
A freq counter using avr and logic counters is here :
http://www.myplace.nu/avr/countermeasures/
You can find more stuff when using google.

Cheers,
Ronald

SWbeginner wrote:
I plan on building receivers and a simple frequency counter is needed.
Say 4 to 6 digits, up to about 50 Mhz.


I have seen approaches using:
74HCxxxx logic IC's could be made for $20 but lots of wiring

PIC - not much experience except with 16f84.
how to build programmer for lastest PIC's?


Anyone know of a demo or free digital simulation software with CMOS 4XXX
library? I have Microcap 7 demo but digital library is scarce.

So much has progressed since the MC14553 3 digit counter chips. Do they
even make them?




What frequency range , how accurate, and what do you think of as
inexpensive ?
I have not looked lately but there used to be some that would work up
to about 1.5 Ghz around $ 125 or so that would get you to within a
couple of hundred Hz at 150 mhz.