Does anybody know if I can use a Frequency counter as a digital dial
on a hygain cb board PTBM036AOX?
I purchased a used Heathkit IM-4100 at a hamfest. Would appreciate
your feedback on this.
Dennis
Using a Frequency Counter as a digital dial
Using a Frequency Counter as a digital dial
Hello all...........
Does anybody know if I can use a Frequency counter as a digital dial
on a hygain cb board PTBM036AOX?
I purchased a used Heathkit IM-4100 at a hamfest. Would appreciate
your feedback on this.
Dennis
Does anybody know if I can use a Frequency counter as a digital dial
on a hygain cb board PTBM036AOX?
I purchased a used Heathkit IM-4100 at a hamfest. Would appreciate
your feedback on this.
Dennis
-
nomadradio
- Technical Helper
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Saturday 21st Aug 2004, 16:17
- Location: Louisville, KY USA
- Contact:
Well, let me say this about that.
A so-called "Digital Dial" will show your operating frequency while actually reading one or more of the radio's INTERNAL frequencies. A digital dial contains a frequency counter, but displays a calculated number that's NOT really the actual frequency that is fed into it.
The general-purpose counter you mention is built to start counting up from zero, to display the ACTUAL frequency you feed into it.
What you are looking for is a display that counts up from an "offset" number greater than zero.
The cheap external add-on displays sold to fit Galaxy mobile radios, like the FC-390, use this "count up from an offset number" technique to display the channel frequency full-time, during receive and transmit.
The IM-4100 can be tapped into the radio's coax, and will read your actual carrier frequency on AM or FM. Just don't modulate the radio too hard, or the counter's display will start to jitter. Won't tell you a thing on SSB, unless you whistle into the mike. And the frequency it reads that way will change with the pitch of your whistle.
But the IM-4100 does NOT have the added 'offset' feature in it. Not something you can easily add onto it.
I'm too lazy to go and look up that main pc-board number, but I'll bet the radio uses an IF frequency of 10.695 MHz. That should make it compatible with the cheap Galaxy external displays on AM and FM. Not sure about SSB on that radio, whatever model "Hy-Gain" it is.
Oh, and the "PTBM" boards are made by a manufacturer named "Cybernet". "Hy-Gain" was only a client of theirs, a private-label brand that hired Cybernet to make radios on contract. CB-radio manufacturing has been "outsourced" for two-plus generations now, mostly. The name on the front is nearly always different from the name on the inside.
73
A so-called "Digital Dial" will show your operating frequency while actually reading one or more of the radio's INTERNAL frequencies. A digital dial contains a frequency counter, but displays a calculated number that's NOT really the actual frequency that is fed into it.
The general-purpose counter you mention is built to start counting up from zero, to display the ACTUAL frequency you feed into it.
What you are looking for is a display that counts up from an "offset" number greater than zero.
The cheap external add-on displays sold to fit Galaxy mobile radios, like the FC-390, use this "count up from an offset number" technique to display the channel frequency full-time, during receive and transmit.
The IM-4100 can be tapped into the radio's coax, and will read your actual carrier frequency on AM or FM. Just don't modulate the radio too hard, or the counter's display will start to jitter. Won't tell you a thing on SSB, unless you whistle into the mike. And the frequency it reads that way will change with the pitch of your whistle.
But the IM-4100 does NOT have the added 'offset' feature in it. Not something you can easily add onto it.
I'm too lazy to go and look up that main pc-board number, but I'll bet the radio uses an IF frequency of 10.695 MHz. That should make it compatible with the cheap Galaxy external displays on AM and FM. Not sure about SSB on that radio, whatever model "Hy-Gain" it is.
Oh, and the "PTBM" boards are made by a manufacturer named "Cybernet". "Hy-Gain" was only a client of theirs, a private-label brand that hired Cybernet to make radios on contract. CB-radio manufacturing has been "outsourced" for two-plus generations now, mostly. The name on the front is nearly always different from the name on the inside.
73
Freq counter as digital dial
Thanks for the info, can I build a unit like the Texas Ranger Counter,
I have some chips, do you have a diagram like that?
I have some chips, do you have a diagram like that?