mike wrote:




You suffer from test equipment buyer's exaggeration.
"I dunno what I want so gimme EVERYTHING, and then some, for cheap."

Take a step back and decide what you need to measure that you didn't
need for the last 50 years.

I designed frequency counters for a living back in the day. I have more
than a few. I haven't turned one on in more than a decade, and here's
why...

FOR CHEAP COUNTERS:
They're inaccurate.


** Anything using a crystal time base will have good accuracy.


If you're setting a radio frequency, you want an ACCURATE counter.
Most other times, the accuracy is irrelevant. It's go/nogo.
The accuracy and stability of the timebase may be the most important
parameter.
What do you want to do?

They're insensitive.
You typically can't go probing around in equipment and learn anything.


** Yep, RF circuits are very load sensitive and you will need a FET probe to buffer the signal.

But any counter will read the carrier frequency of a transmitter, long as it has a few milliwatts of output.

Radio mics operating in the VHF and UHF bands can be read by placing them close to a short antenna attached to the BNC input.

Analogue mobile phones (remember them) would read from 5 yards away.



...... Phil