[ARC5] Crystal tester.

[J Mcvey]

Not sure how accurate you wnt to get, but here is the grid dip meter/oscillator that I used to test the crystal. The FT243 base  plugged right in the top.
The meter shows output which can be peaked with the tuning dial. I attached a foot long length of wire to the "hot side" of the crystal so that it would radiate a bit.Dialed my radio in on CW  to spot the resonant frequency . Neither the wire nor the peaking affected the resonance much , maybe 100Hz max.Of coarse, this was on the low end of the HF spectrum (6325KHZ).
http://www.lodestarelec.com/27-grid_dip_meter.html?CID=8 

    On Sunday, June 12, 2016 9:20 AM, N4ch--- via ARC5 <arc5 at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
 

 Regarding crystal testers: a lot of you PROBABLY have one in your shack, and don't know it.   Many years ago, I was faced with the same need, and discovered that many garden-variety grid dip meters will work just fine (and you can either look at the meter for an activity indication, or simply place the GDO and "test" crystal near a short length of wire, connected to the antenna jack of a (calibrated) general-coverage receiver.   Many such GDOs (such as the old Knight-Kit ones) have a FT-243 socket as the connector that accepts the plug-in coil; simply plug this style crystal in to test.   It's a fairly simple procedure to make up a "test adapter" (to accept virtually ANY case-style crystal); simply open up a "junker" FT-243 crystal, and use the holder (with two short lengths of flexible wire and 2 small alligator clips) to make an adapter.    In the case of testing FT-243 crystals, simply plug the crystal into the socket, instead of a coil.   Over the past few years, I have typically used a Kenwood DM-81 (a battery-operated solid-state dip meter........whose companion coils also "fit" the FT-243 pin outline)........works fine as a "go-no go" tester.   Meter will not move unless there's oscillation, and if U want to know what frequency U are on, simply look for activity on a nearby receiver........safe, simple, and easy.   Works great on most every crystal I've tried, 1-50 MHz or so. 73, Herman, N4CH.  In a message dated 6/11/2016 8:07:10 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, hwhall at compuserve.com writes:
 There's many solid state tester designs around that let you check those xtals you run across at hamfests, etc., before you decide to buy. Make them with gator clips to accommodate the various pin types.
 
 Wayne
WB4OGM 

 -----Original Message-----
From: Rich Post <kb8tad at gmail.com>
To: Ken Gordon <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>
Cc: ARC-5 List <Arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sat, Jun 11, 2016 5:58 pm
Subject: Re: [ARC5] Crystal tester.

      The military used this one (TS-39B/ TSM-1) and likely some other crystal testers
<http://www.ohio.edu/people/postr/bapix/TS-39B.htm>

You can also simply plug a crystal into a grid dip meter in place of a coil and check the freq on a counter. 

A third method is shown in the third picture down, using a sig generator, scope and counter. 
<http://www.ohio.edu/people/postr/bapix/SigGenFun.htm>

Rich KB8TAD
 
 On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 6:56 PM, Kenneth G. Gordon <kgordon2006 at frontier.com> wrote:
 
  Wayne: 
 The military had a good crystal-test unit, but I cannot remember its nomenclature. 
--  -- 
 Ken W7EKB 



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