[Milsurplus] [MRCA] FR-114 Digital Frequency Counter

[Ray Fantini]

That sounds great, got pictures? In the past several years I have gotten into this whole world of the M151A1 and radios installed in that. The problems and work are endless. Rust, missing parts, expensive or often on-obtainable components having to live with the fact that no matter how much you do there is always someone else who has a better version of your vehicle and who is more than happy to tell you all the things that you have done wrong. Car trailers, tow hitches and the cost of gas in transporting the whole mess and the fact that no matter how much you have you still need more! Getting to the point now where I need to buy an M-416 trailer to drag behind for a generator and storage!
Collecting military radios and telephones can be fun, when you start building networks and shelters that's better and the final insanity is to cross over into the world of vehicles and then your certifiable.

Then again I imagine as long as we can still point to people who are worse than us, the ones with larger collections we can consider ourselves marginally sane.


Ray F/KA3EKH

From: MRCA [mailto:mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of KA1LHZ
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2017 10:40 AM
To: mrca at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [MRCA] FR-114 Digital Frequency Counter


there is some intangible quality that drives us to spend hundreds of hours and lots of money on projects that others may consider pointless, or perhaps it's a form of mental illness?

Yeah, like spending hours inside 2 MTC-7 shelters in the hot sun (I now know what a turkey feels like in a convection oven), because we can't just be happy with the display of vintage technology. NOOOOOOO, we have to make sure all the phone circuits work too so we can make calls too...

I figure we spent about 75 hours per phone call made.

73

DE KA1LHZ

On 04/13/2017 10:25 AM, Ray Fantini wrote:
Has nothing to do with functionality or use, between work and shop at home have tons of test equipment that's wider range, more accurate and smaller.  At the end of the day looking at this in terms of functionality proves it's pointless! The problem is we collect this stuff because the way it makes us feel or for some weird reason about it bringing back our youth or for its technical historical significance (that may be a bit of a stretch!) but there is some intangible quality that drives us to spend hundrets of hours and lots of money on projects that others may consider pointless, or perhaps it's a form of mental illness?

Ray F/KA3EKH

From: Peter Gottlieb [mailto:kb2vtl at gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2017 10:14 AM
To: W2HX <w2hx at w2hx.com><mailto:w2hx at w2hx.com>
Cc: Ray Fantini <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu><mailto:RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>; Mrca Mailing List <MRCA at mailman.qth.net><mailto:MRCA at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [MRCA] FR-114 Digital Frequency Counter

A prescaler can fix that.

Peter

On Apr 13, 2017, at 9:56 AM, W2HX <w2hx at w2hx.com<mailto:w2hx at w2hx.com>> wrote:
I know exactly what you mean. I saw one of these on ebay a while ago. The low frequency ultimately was what stopped me from buying one. I love anything with nixies.

From: Milsurplus [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ray Fantini
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2017 9:54 AM
To: Mrca Mailing List; milsurplus at mailman.qth.net<mailto:milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>; R-1051 Discussion Group
Subject: [Milsurplus] FR-114 Digital Frequency Counter

Quite often it turns out that you want something just because you want it, not for any good reason or practical purpose but just because you want it. For some unknown reason I have now decided that I want a FR-114U Digital Frequency Meter.
For those unfamiliar with this device it's a first generation vacuum tube digital frequency counter that counts up to about 1 MHz, it uses something called a Trochotron beam-switch counters controlled by a 100 KHz time base firing a 6D4 thyratron.
Think I posted something in the past about the HP-524 family of counters but for now have given up on trying to locate a 524 thinking that the size and space requirements may be a bit too much for the current shop, keep in mind that this is being posted by someone who already has a couple full size PDP-11 systems along with a ton of other radios currently in the shop. Although I did sell off a broadcast transmitter that I had on 160 so that provided a hole.
But there it is, insanity has no limits. I want a first generation huge digital frequency counter.
Nothing happens in a vacuum, this weird desire to want a FR-114U stems from seeing one on EBay at:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-Military-Sentinel-FR-114A-U-Digital-Nixie-Tube-Frequency-Meter-TESTED-/122368130037?hash=item1c7db57bf5:g:Xc8AAOSw2gxYrgPT

Just don't want to pay that much money plus shipping!


Ray F/KA3EKH
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