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| Frequency counter |
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| cleanworkbench:
Hi there , i,m researching into building a frequency counter for the bench . Been looking at PIC chips ie 16f628 and the 16F886 as the system and displaying onto an LCD. Looking at a pre scaler to go up to 432 or even 1296Mhz. So i have never used or programmed PICs before . I watched the you tube on the pickit 2 vs the pickit3 programmer and might be leaning toward finding a pickit 2 as a tool for this project yet another consideration. Or build a programmer with open source capability ?. Like ive said , never done programming so it could be a work up? I could go and use ICs i think 74 CMOS series , but that could involve quite a lot more work but i dont mind , what i am looking for is a bullet proof design that gives accurate readout . So can anyone chip in , no pun intended, with some comments please |
| Brutte:
Noob + 1296Mhz = :palm: I do not want to discourage you but you are just too ambitious. Start from something simpler. |
| HB9EVI:
A simple gate timed counter isn't a big thing to program, but nevertheless it needs the basic programming skills to do so - to start as a newbie into programming a counter is quite something. handling the 23cm band isn't impossible but has to be seen as a separate task which requires more knowledge about rf-friendly pcb design and smd soldering; with a MB506 as prescaler its no big thing. By saying a 'gate timed counter' isn't a big thing, I don't want so say that this is the type of counter you still want to use these days in your lab; reciprocal counters are a much better target as counter, but requires again different knowledge in mcus hardware and programming it. |
| cleanworkbench:
Thanks for the replies , just wanted to see opinions , looks like i,m going to have try something simpler then to learn on . |
| MosherIV:
Using the counter/timer of a microcontroller is indeed a simple way to make a freq counter. As hb9evi says, simple time gated counter is not that good or flexible for a freq counter. As Brutte says, trying to count GHz is no easy task. Even the instrument designers have difficulty at that range. Another thing to consider is the stability of the crystal oscillator of the micro itself. It needs to be very very stable. Your standard xtal is not going to cut it! Best is a ovened crystal (ocxo). |
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