COUNTER SPECIFICATIONS (all models)
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The VHF version can select divide by 10 or divide by 64 prescalers and provide
direct reading.
Maybe all you are looking for is a low power digital display for your homebrew QRP rig? Well the receiver software version of the counter has programmable IF offsets and an S-Meter display thrown in! The counter contains only three inexpensive ICs (well, add a regulator and three transistors), and operates from 6 - 15V DC at about 25mA. The most expensive single item is the LCD display, which is an industry standard 16 x 2 dot matrix module, which can often be found used or at bargain prices. This isn't a kitset, but the parts are easily obtained, and the circuit can be built using any prototyping technique, or you could design your own PCB. The prototype was built on a small commercial strip board. |
 The Counter Prototype in all it's glory! View full size |
Some of the features of the unit are:
- Four ranges, with 10 Hz and 1Hz resolution to at least 40 MHz.
- High sample rate (5 samples/sec or more) with averaging to remove jitter.
- Programmable ± offsets and S-Meter display for receiver or transceiver.
- Binary and BCD maths to provide direct reading of frequency with prescalers.
- Low current single supply operation. Can be operated from a small battery for portable use.
- Optional high speed PC telemetry.
- Well documented source code is available, so the design can easily be adapted.
- Six A-D channels and high resolution counter channel.
- Graphical colour display on the PC, with digital display, bar-graphs and a trend graph.
- PC display completely configurable independently on each channel.
- Channel data type, gain, offset, and measurement units can all be preset.
