Portable frequency counter

[theoldcop]

Admin: Please move to the appropriate forum if I've mistaken where this belongs
I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with a portable frequency counter? I've known about the Optoelectronics Scout for years although I never used one. In looking at the market now I see there are a few models that differ in price quite considerably! Are the cheaper models worth it in terms of accuracy and sensitivity or is the Optoelectronics model still king of the hill?

 

[BinaryMode]

I have used back in the '90s and currently still own the RadioShack 22-305 frequency counter. It was pretty cool too because at the time I lived near railroad tracks and so I connected the counter to my outside RadioShack discone antenna and when the train came th0ough I saw the frequency they were using.

The other great thing about a frequency counter is that it'll read 60 Hz from mains power if the counter goes down that low. Great to know if a line is hot or not, but I would NOT use that as an absolute... Multimeter or nothing to check a live electrical outlet or whatever. I would never trust those pens either...

At any rate. Never had the Optoelectronics version. I think they use a proprietary battery if I'm not mistaken. That to me is a very limited factor. Like the battery in the BC296D. I need to retrofit this thing... Owned the OS535 board for my Pro-2042 though. Suckers are VERY hard to come buy on the Internet. Optoelectronics also sold these pager looking things. One decoded subcodes, another DTMF and another I think was an RF signal strength meter. Try as I might, I never see them on eBay.

Just keep in mind these frequency counters are near field. Like Uniden's Close Call...

 

[prcguy]

Most portable freq counters are somewhat useful for identifying close in transmitters but they are not very accurate for aligning anything. They are way more off frequency that the radio you might be adjusting.

 

[theoldcop]

well, I got a god deal on one so I went for it. Thank you for your comprehensive review!

 

[merlin]

I bought a cheap Chinese kit that works good on the bench. .1 Khz to 1000 Mhz, and surprisingly accurate.
Has GPSDO input (external 10 Mhz ref.) if you need 1 Hz accuracy.
Downside is very sensitive, and too strong RF field will destroy the front end.
With small 12 V battery, could easily go portable.
I like the Agilent 15381A better.

 

[doctorwizz]

Still got my radio shack freq counter. With that I was able to find many military frequencies that were unavailable at the time. I lived on Andrews AFB. Just drive over to the antenna farm on base. Used a car scanner antenna. Fun times! Still have that log book I kept.

 

[waltmitty]

....At any rate. Never had the Optoelectronics version. I think they use a proprietary battery if I'm not mistaken. That to me is a very limited factor. Like the ba2ttery in the BC296D. I need to retrofit this thing... Owned the OS535 board for my Pro-2042 though. Suckers are VERY hard to come buy on the Internet. Optoelectronics also sold these pager looking things. One decoded subcodes, another DTMF and another I think was an RF signal strength meter. Try as I might, I never see them on eBay......

The Opto Scout is fitted with a hard wired, secondary AA, so it's not proprietary. Still annoying though to swap out if needed.

I sold an Opto OS456 and CE232 interface which I used in my good old RS-2006 for over about 20 yrs. Someone got a good deal on that packaged deal.

As the legacy model Scout I have is only useful for near field analog signals, I have been playing around with the 'waterfall' feature of the Uniden SDS models. I don't think I'll be needing a digital Scout (et al) in the long run.

 

[Gronner8]

Optoelectronics R-11 interceptor would auto tune to whatever is near you transmitting & you hear it via speaker or headphones, but not show or store freq info. Listening only, but no need to look at display or fiddle with anything. Any transmissions, you hear.Nice.
Optoelectronics Xplorer same, but would also store freq, #hits, & even gps for you to review later. Both were analog only. Can you imagine if they made a modern version for digital? All these inuding freq counters you are barraged with local fm radio(yeah fm notch filter), any nonsense strong signals constantly are the strongest signal displayed unless you remember exact time you were near that transmission to look at it to know what the freq transmitted was. For over 800MHz use BHP800 800mhz band pass filter or get similar for over 700mhz. Angway, freq counter is Not exactly low key you standing around looking at your counter near the guys with radios. Sure meant to test your own equipment- great for that. Love waterfall display on radios but i havent seen one that can show wide enough bandwidth or display detailed enough shows it fast enough to be any use catching that transmitter that just went by or lasted 45seconds. Anyone know of a good waterfall setup that's useful for you? Love to get some leads!