[Elecraft] Newbie needs frequency counter advice, please...

Thu Apr 17 19:11:00 2003

I think I concur with most of the comments you have received.  There are
sources for used counters and you can get some pretty good ones for
reasonable prices.  But you do get what you pay for.  I think for
solving your problem, a calibrated receiver would do the trick quite
well.  When I say calibrated I really mean most of the newer rigs such
as a 756 Pro, a TS 870, one of the Yaesu models, etc.  Most of them are
pretty well calibrated.  To check, tune to WWV, zero beat and read the
display.  Most of my rigs are right on.  I think a decent frequency
counter is very important if you want to service some of the newer rigs
which use DDS and master clocks to control the frequencies of most of
the other circuits.  Should the master clock wander off frequency, the
rig will start sounding bad.  The only way to fix that is to get the
oscillator right back on freq.  But a decent counter, with a reasonably
stable time base is going to cost several hundred dollars used.  It will
also require calibration to a frequency standard from time to time which
really should be done by a professional lab.  That will cost several
hundred dollars alone.  All of that may be justified if you plan to do
the kind of work that requires such precision often enough to justify
the cost.  You can send a rig into the service center several times
before you run up a cost high enough to make such instruments practical.
And that assumes you know what you are doing when it comes to using the
service instruments properly.
On the other hand, if we were interested in practicality, we would sell
our equipment and use the telephone or the internet!  Several hundred
dollars for a decent, used HP or other counter may not make economic
sense but if it is fun to use and learn with, who is to say you
shouldn't make that investment.  But . . . I would stay away from the
$99.00 handheld units that are only approximately accurate and which are
not stable over a period of time.  An unreliable instrument is worse
than no instrument at all because it can give very misleading results.
End of soapbox.

Bruce - W8FU

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Steere
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 1:11 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Elecraft] Newbie needs frequency counter advice, please...

Elecrafters,

I'm a brand new ham with a brand new K1, about to fill the air with 
beautifully handcrafted 5 wpm CW (I wish...).  But, before I transmit 
anything, I would dearly love to assure myself that all my careful
alignment 
has indeed resulted in an accurate transmit frequency for each of the
K1's 4 
bands.  It's probably safe to assume that a properly built and aligned
K1 
will be accurate, but I would like to make sure.  And, it only seems 
reasonable that an accurate instrument for transmit frequency
measurement 
might also be useful in further amateur radio work.  To that end, I have
the 
following questions:

- What other procedures besides transmit frequency measurement
   might a frequency counter be useful for?
- What accuracy/stability/resolution/sensitivity should I look for?
- What additonal features, if any, should I look for?
- Will I need to refinance my house to afford a useful instrument?
- Can anyone offer specific brand/model recommendations?

I've read through the Elecraft archives and found one encouraging 
recommendation for the handheld Elenco F-2800, together with some
helpful 
techniques for using it, but this seems to be all I can find.  With such
a 
dearth of frequency counter discussion, I wonder if I'm about to buy an 
instrument that I might not really ever use enough to justify its cost.

Thanks for any advice.

  - Dave Steere, KG6OSK

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