[sdiy] HP Counter Recommendation?

[James Patchell]

Lemon is a relative term...although, knowing what you are getting is 
important...

Good example:

         I got a  HMR StrobeTune 220....a real piece of garbage, in my 
opinion (poorly built).  But, I got it for free, managed to make it more or 
less functional.

         But I agree with Tim....I can't think of any HP equipment that I 
would call lemons.  Same with Tektronix.

-Jim

At 12:34 AM 7/18/2003 -0700, Tim Ressel wrote:
>Glen,
>
>For the money you're talking you may not get a choice.
>The good news is lemons are few and far between with
>the old HP gear. I just got a 5328A for real cheap
>because it has a bad digit on the display, which I can
>fix. The 5316 is a good little counter as well. You
>want to look for a box that has scope-like controls on
>the input. The 5382, for example, has minimal input
>features. I like to have more options on the input.
>
>One suggestion I have for any box you get: if you have
>access to any known good gear (or a cal lab!) have
>your box checked for basic accuracy. It'll take 2
>minutes and let you know your timebase is doing its
>job.
>
>--tr
>
>
>
>
>--- Glen <mclilith at charter.net> wrote:
> > I've been thinking of getting one of those HP
> > frequency counters that I see
> > on eBay. However, I'm not that familiar with the
> > different models. I
> > wouldn't want to unknowingly get a model that was
> > considered a "lemon" for
> > some reason.
> >
> > I want one of the "Universal" counters. I'm not
> > interested in GHz
> > bandwidths or anything like that. I just want an
> > accurate and precision
> > instrument for signals under 100 MHz. In fact, I
> > would use the counter
> > mostly in or near the audio range. In such cases,  I
> > expect I would be
> > using period measurement more than actual frequency
> > measurement, for the
> > added precision that would provide. Being able to do
> > frequency ratio
> > measurements would also be a nice feature to have.
> >
> > So which models of HP Universal Counters should I be
> > considering? I should
> > also mention that my budget is really small. I
> > absolutely couldn't afford
> > to spend more than $100 at the moment. (Yes, I
> > realize how small that
> > amount is compared to new HP gear prices, but I'm
> > looking for an older eBay
> > bargain here.)
> >
> >
> > thanks for any advice,
> > Glen Berry
> >
> >
>
>
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