Prescaler
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything seems a bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that will stretch to about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be ideal.
Hi
There are a lot of chips that will divide down from a couple of GHz. Once you have a chip, what do you do with it? There is more to a practical counter front end than just the divider. Getting it all to work requires a bit of time and a pretty good pc board.
This guy:
Will do a divide by 10 and go higher than your counter will. It’s a bit expensive … The eval board is cheaper than a single piece and it will give you a pretty good start.
This guy:
Will only divide by 8, it still goes higher than your counter. The eval board is a bit over $200. One piece of the Ic is < $12.
Bob
On Mar 27, 2016, at 3:45 PM, Bob Albert via time-nuts time-nuts@febo.com wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything seems a bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that will stretch to about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be ideal.
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Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes
beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything
seems a bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that
will stretch to about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be
ideal.
If you're good at kit-building, you might take a look at the Ebay items
160703629055, 181982380658, 400265187641, and 60703624281. These are PCBs
made to specifically fit a number of frequency divider chips. Each board
holds a single divider chip and associated components, such as the
decoupling caps, bias resistors, and pads for interconnections.
A series of these boards that add up to a divide-by-100 can get you to 2 -
5GHz easily. I've never used any of these boards or dividers, but I have
used a few of the seller's amplifier boards, with great success.
There's also a construction article from Silicon Chip magazine (Oct, 2006)
dedicated to constructing a 2.8 GHz 1000:1 prescaler for counters. The PCB
layout and all the active parts are available. Send me an email for a copy
of the article.
I don't know of any prescaler chips that get you a divide-by-10 prescaler at
your target frequency range. There might be (probably is) one available...
I just haven't run across it.
BTW, which frequency counter do you have? There might be a better solution
for you than an external prescaler.
Cheers,
Dave M
there is a very inexpensive one ADF4118 works up to 3GHz
which has a programmable prescaler
http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADF4116_4117_4118.pdf
more here:
http://www.qsl.net/bg1ceo/Tech_topic/rf/7G_prescaler/prescaler.html
or here: http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/pre/prescaler.pdf
73
KJ6UHN
Alex
On 3/27/2016 1:41 PM, Bob Camp wrote:
Hi
There are a lot of chips that will divide down from a couple of GHz. Once you have a chip, what do you do with it? There is more to a practical counter front end than just the divider. Getting it all to work requires a bit of time and a pretty good pc board.
This guy:
Will do a divide by 10 and go higher than your counter will. It’s a bit expensive … The eval board is cheaper than a single piece and it will give you a pretty good start.
This guy:
Will only divide by 8, it still goes higher than your counter. The eval board is a bit over $200. One piece of the Ic is < $12.
Bob
On Mar 27, 2016, at 3:45 PM, Bob Albert via time-nuts time-nuts@febo.com wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything seems a bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that will stretch to about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be ideal.
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HMC363 is available for $25. Most hobbyist designs use a board very much
like the eval board with no protective circuitry. I have margined the input
waveforms up and down and seems to work nicely in counting the edges I want
with waveforms across a 20 dB dynamic range from 1 GHz to 8Ghz.
After the HMC363 I use a ECL prescaler that I built 30 years ago! 11C90!
Tim N3QE
On Sunday, March 27, 2016, Bob Albert via time-nuts time-nuts@febo.com
wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes
beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything seems a
bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that will stretch to
about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be ideal.
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and follow the instructions there.
Dennis, that looks interesting but it seems to be a complete counter. I wonder if I could cannibalize it to get the important input circuitry adapted to my counter.
Maybe some info on it is available; I'll take a look.
Bob
On Sunday, March 27, 2016 6:04 PM, Alexander Pummer <alexpcs@ieee.org> wrote:
there is a very inexpensive one ADF4118 works up to 3GHz
which has a programmable prescaler
http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADF4116_4117_4118.pdf
more here:
http://www.qsl.net/bg1ceo/Tech_topic/rf/7G_prescaler/prescaler.html
or here: http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/pre/prescaler.pdf
73
KJ6UHN
Alex
On 3/27/2016 1:41 PM, Bob Camp wrote:
Hi
There are a lot of chips that will divide down from a couple of GHz. Once you have a chip, what do you do with it? There is more to a practical counter front end than just the divider. Getting it all to work requires a bit of time and a pretty good pc board.
This guy:
Will do a divide by 10 and go higher than your counter will. It’s a bit expensive … The eval board is cheaper than a single piece and it will give you a pretty good start.
This guy:
Will only divide by 8, it still goes higher than your counter. The eval board is a bit over $200. One piece of the Ic is < $12.
Bob
On Mar 27, 2016, at 3:45 PM, Bob Albert via time-nuts time-nuts@febo.com wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything seems a bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that will stretch to about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be ideal.
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and follow the instructions there.
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No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2016.0.7497 / Virus Database: 4545/11897 - Release Date: 03/27/16
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The first reference is a board for a two stage divider. They mention
that a /2 and a /5 chips can be combined, so you can make a /10 prescaler.
Regards,
Ignacio, EB4APL
El 27/03/2016 a las 23:24, Dave M escribió:
Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes
beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything
seems a bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that
will stretch to about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be
ideal.
If you're good at kit-building, you might take a look at the Ebay
items 160703629055, 181982380658, 400265187641, and 60703624281. These
are PCBs made to specifically fit a number of frequency divider
chips. Each board holds a single divider chip and associated
components, such as the decoupling caps, bias resistors, and pads for
interconnections.
A series of these boards that add up to a divide-by-100 can get you to
2 - 5GHz easily. I've never used any of these boards or dividers, but
I have used a few of the seller's amplifier boards, with great success.
There's also a construction article from Silicon Chip magazine (Oct,
2006) dedicated to constructing a 2.8 GHz 1000:1 prescaler for
counters. The PCB layout and all the active parts are available.
Send me an email for a copy of the article.
I don't know of any prescaler chips that get you a divide-by-10
prescaler at your target frequency range. There might be (probably
is) one available... I just haven't run across it.
BTW, which frequency counter do you have? There might be a better
solution for you than an external prescaler.
Cheers,
Dave M
On Sun, Mar 27, 2016 at 07:45:23PM +0000, Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter
that goes beyond 2 GHz?
A few years ago, I was looking for something cheap to build
a PIC based GHz counter and I stumbled over the LMX23xx
chips from TI (PLL frequency synthesizers), which have
a prescaler built in.
Specifically the LMX2322 and LMX2364, which are quite cheap
and easy to use (older ones available on eBay, the newer
ones at your favorite distributor).
I would actually like to find a kit but everything seems
a bit pricy.
I have designed breakout boards for both, so if that looks
like something which could be useful to you, just drop me
a note and I'll make them available.
Best,
Herbert
I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that will
stretch to about 700 with care.
So a divide by 10 would be ideal.
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Dave, my counter is a 5328A with channel C to 500 MHz. It actually counts well to about 700 MHz.
Yes I would like a copy of that article; my email is bob91343 at yahoo dot com. I will also check out the ebay references to boards; I hadn't seen those.
Thanks for the help!
Bob
On Monday, March 28, 2016 7:20 AM, Bob Albert via time-nuts <time-nuts@febo.com> wrote:
Dennis, that looks interesting but it seems to be a complete counter. I wonder if I could cannibalize it to get the important input circuitry adapted to my counter.
Maybe some info on it is available; I'll take a look.
Bob
On Sunday, March 27, 2016 6:04 PM, Alexander Pummer alexpcs@ieee.org wrote:
there is a very inexpensive one ADF4118 works up to 3GHz
which has a programmable prescaler
http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/ADF4116_4117_4118.pdf
more here:
http://www.qsl.net/bg1ceo/Tech_topic/rf/7G_prescaler/prescaler.html
or here: http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/pre/prescaler.pdf
73
KJ6UHN
Alex
On 3/27/2016 1:41 PM, Bob Camp wrote:
Hi
There are a lot of chips that will divide down from a couple of GHz. Once you have a chip, what do you do with it? There is more to a practical counter front end than just the divider. Getting it all to work requires a bit of time and a pretty good pc board.
This guy:
Will do a divide by 10 and go higher than your counter will. It’s a bit expensive … The eval board is cheaper than a single piece and it will give you a pretty good start.
This guy:
Will only divide by 8, it still goes higher than your counter. The eval board is a bit over $200. One piece of the Ic is < $12.
Bob
On Mar 27, 2016, at 3:45 PM, Bob Albert via time-nuts time-nuts@febo.com wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything seems a bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that will stretch to about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be ideal.
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and follow the instructions there.
time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com
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and follow the instructions there.
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2016.0.7497 / Virus Database: 4545/11897 - Release Date: 03/27/16
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Good catch on that board, Ignacio. I didn't read the complete description
before posting. Given that it seems to be a 1-board solution, I might buy
one and see how it turns out. My frequency counting capabilities are
limited to 1.3 GHz right now, as is my signal generation capabilities, so I
really haven't had a need to go higher.
I need to investigate the input and output conditions and limitations of
these Hittite chips. Might have to add an amp and/or attenuator pad to make
it work with my instruments.
Cheers,
Dave M
EB4APL wrote:
The first reference is a board for a two stage divider. They mention
that a /2 and a /5 chips can be combined, so you can make a /10
prescaler.
Regards,
Ignacio, EB4APL
El 27/03/2016 a las 23:24, Dave M escribió:
Bob Albert via time-nuts wrote:
Does anyone know of an inexpensive prescaler for a counter that goes
beyond 2 GHz? I would actually like to find a kit but everything
seems a bit pricy. I currently have capability of 500 MHz and that
will stretch to about 700 with care. So a divide by 10 would be
ideal.
If you're good at kit-building, you might take a look at the Ebay
items 160703629055, 181982380658, 400265187641, and 60703624281.
These are PCBs made to specifically fit a number of frequency divider
chips. Each board holds a single divider chip and associated
components, such as the decoupling caps, bias resistors, and pads for
interconnections.
A series of these boards that add up to a divide-by-100 can get you
to 2 - 5GHz easily. I've never used any of these boards or dividers,
but I have used a few of the seller's amplifier boards, with great
success. There's also a construction article from Silicon Chip magazine
(Oct,
2006) dedicated to constructing a 2.8 GHz 1000:1 prescaler for
counters. The PCB layout and all the active parts are available.
Send me an email for a copy of the article.
I don't know of any prescaler chips that get you a divide-by-10
prescaler at your target frequency range. There might be (probably
is) one available... I just haven't run across it.
BTW, which frequency counter do you have? There might be a better
solution for you than an external prescaler.
Cheers,
Dave M
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When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the
government fears the people, there is liberty -- Thomas Jefferson
Dave M