[Elecraft] I'm Stuck!- counter hints

[Stuart Rohre]

Counters need a high impedance probe to connect to some circuits and not
pull the frequency. Probes of 1 meg ohm (X1 Scope probes) or make your own
with a VOM probe with 1 meg ohm resistor in series at the tip.  Twist the
Red and black leads to avoid extraneous mag field loop, and pickup
therefrom.

Sometimes, cheap counters may not be sensitive enough.  Try another range
setting in that case.  But, usually, a simple oscillator will leak enough
frequency energy to be picked up by a simple wire laid near the board and
connected to counter input as indirect (inductive or capacitive) coupling.

It is easy to try something like the above, even a 100 k ohm resistor in
probe before buying a more expensive counter.  Also, some DVM counter
combinations do not cover higher than audio frequency (20 kHz) or maybe 1
MHz.  Check the specs on what you have for its sensitivity and frequency
coverage.  Low end counters maybe be less sensitive, (need more signal) at
higher frequencies.
72,
Stuart K5KVH