I have looked at used eqpt etc and kits. Most kits are partial kits.
How I wish Heath were still in business

Any recommendations for a frequency meter of good accuracy. I dont need
high frequency capability - a few MHz is good enough but I need good
accuracy.

thanks
Kirk
KC7THL

In article om, "Kirk"
wrote:

I have looked at used eqpt etc and kits. Most kits are partial kits.
How I wish Heath were still in business

Any recommendations for a frequency meter of good accuracy. I dont need
high frequency capability - a few MHz is good enough but I need good
accuracy.

Kirk-

Believe it or not, Heath did not go out of business. They just stopped
selling Heathkits!

How accurate is accurate? If one part per million is acceptable, many
counters will do that. If your requirement is better than that, look for
a counter with an oven-controlled crystal oscillator. If that still isn't
good enough, you may be able to obtain a Rubidium-controlled oscillator
(or GPS-controlled) to use as an external timebase.

If you are willing to spend the money, look at Agilent (HP) and Phillips
(Fluke) as sources. If you're looking for a bargain, then there are
several HP and Fluke counters that show up on eBay that should meet your
needs.

Examples are Fluke's 7220A, 7260A and 7261A. One of these with the
high-accuracy option might sell for around $75.

Another good one is the HP 5328, also available with the high-stability
option. I think this is the one that shows up in a military configuration
that includes the high-stability oscillator as well as a 500 MHz
pre-scaler.

Fred
K4DII

If you aren't afraid of picking up a soldering iron, it is pretty cheap and
easy to build a counter. Counters count -- really --, so precision is
completely dependent on how long you are willing to wait. 1 second = 1 Hz,
10 seconds = 0.1 Hz. Counters up to about 60 MHz can be built for under
$15. (Well, OK, if your junk box isn't very good, and you don't have other
projects, shipping for the parts will probably double or triple the cost.)
Accuracy is dependent on a crystal, so if you want to get under something
like 0.01% you are probably going to have to add an oven to the typical
designs you will find on the web. For "a few MHZ", construction is very
non-critical. Take a look at OM3CPH's designs for a starting place.

...

"Kirk" wrote in message
ps.com...
I have looked at used eqpt etc and kits. Most kits are partial kits.
How I wish Heath were still in business

Any recommendations for a frequency meter of good accuracy. I dont need
high frequency capability - a few MHz is good enough but I need good
accuracy.

thanks
Kirk
KC7THL

I second the HP 5328 -- you can also get very good results with the HP 3586
measurement receiverif you only need to go to some 10's of MHz. These often
show up with stabilized crystal ovens.

I have also used an HP5334 and much prefer the HP5328.

Small Wonder Labs sells the Freq Mite for $20.00 - if you build it and
put it in an Altoids tin, you'd have a nice small portable freq
counter.

http://www.smallwonderlabs.com

73 de KB9BVN


Kirk wrote:
I have looked at used eqpt etc and kits. Most kits are partial kits.
How I wish Heath were still in business

Any recommendations for a frequency meter of good accuracy. I dont need
high frequency capability - a few MHz is good enough but I need good
accuracy.

thanks
Kirk
KC7THL

"Kirk" wrote in message
ps.com...
I have looked at used eqpt etc and kits. Most kits are partial kits.
How I wish Heath were still in business

Any recommendations for a frequency meter of good accuracy. I dont need
high frequency capability - a few MHz is good enough but I need good
accuracy.

thanks
Kirk
KC7THL


You need to be more specific. There are "frequency counters" (common) that
are different from "frequency meters" (older equipment and more rare).
How many is a "few MHz."
What is "good accuracy" ?
What are you measuring ?
What is your price range ?

If a Heath frequency counter will do, then any frequency counter available
will probably do.

Elenco has small counters that start at $150
http://www.elenco.com/

Similar small units:
http://www.optoelectronics.com/cub.htm


http://www.apogeekits.com/frequency_counter.htm

73, Steve, K9DCI
Not sure what you mean by partial kit, but:
http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist/weedfreq.htm ~ $49


73, Steve, K9DCI