I've had the Radio Shack Frequency counter and it performs
just like the others. For twenty years got by using the SEARCH
feature on radios scanners and short wave radios .

Frequency counters are a test instrument and as such do what they are
intended to.
The one aspect of using frequency counter is getting close enough
or having access to the unknown transcevier-tranmitter to make the count!
With out arousing suspicion of the operator or intruding on an incident in
progress.

For casual frequency hunting the search feature on radios works
well.
Many of the newer communications (scanner) radios and VHF UHF police/fire

radio scanners have sophisticated search banks that do an excellent job
finding
new and unknown frequencies. The tone coded squelch search feature used in
some
radio scanners rivals that built into more expensive frequency counters.
Once a tone code is found it can be loaded right into memory along with
it's frequency!

After monitoring a the communications on a new frequency (found with
a frequency counter or by searching ) the user if they don't I D
can be deduced easily, by the context of their comms!
Jim

byrnefm wrote:

Thank you both for your replies! I was very interested hearing how it
compared with the other models you both mentioned of. I guess I was a
bit optimistic in how sensitive the frequency scanner is. Still,
every frequency found is one less to search randomly for...