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Mechanica

Frequency counters

The best tool for finding those elusive frequencies is the Frequency Counter. These come in a number of guises with Optoelectronics and Watson being the the more commercially known brands.

So how do they work?

In laymans terms I'll try not to be too technical here, (Maybe because I'm not quite so sure myself) basically a frequency counter is a tool used by radio manufacturers, Programmers etc. to fine tune radio transceivers to check the frequency output of a radio, the frequency counter is constantly "listening" for frequencies being transmitted when it receives (hears) a frequency the frequency received is displayed on the lcd screen. This little tool has now been adopted by Scanner enthusiasts for finding radio frequencies, Imagine you are in your shopping precinct and you see a shoplifter being chased by a security wouldn't it be good to know the frequency that security guard is transmitting on? Well with a frequency counter you will have his frequency logged as soon as he keys up his radio.

What range have they got?

Some owners are a little dismayed at first I know when I got mine I was expecting to pick up all the same frequencies my scanner could receive plus the ones I had missed, but in reality you have to be very close, Why? I hear you ask. Well if it received everything at once it would have great difficulty distinguishing between signals, heres how I had it explained to me. Imagine being in a football ground and everyone shouts at the same time would you be able to distinguish between the voices what was being said? Well it works the same for a frequency counter. Also there are other factors to consider, such as frequency range being monitored some counters work better on different frequency ranges, My Optoelectronics Scout receives over a greater range on UHF than it does on VHF.

You can of course help things in your favour. e.g. Say you want to find the local ambulance station, you know that they operate on VHF you dont want to get to close to the Station as you do not want to sit outside and arouse suspicion so you "plot up" in the pub across the road. Now your best bet would be to attach a VHF ariel to the frequency counter as this will somewhat filter out UHF signals and give your counter a greater receive range than if you had a wideband or UHF ariel attached.