[time-nuts] Re: [OT] MB506 pre-scaler module ??

[Richard (Rick) Karlquist]

I worked for the HP Santa Clara Division frequency counter
R&D section in the mid-1980's.  Although I was not personally
involved in designing microwave counters, I did pick up
a considerable amount of knowledge about them.  The idea
that a simple frequency divider could replace the
traditional harmonic sampler architecture used in microwave
counters is way too simplistic.  Especially if that divider
is the dynamic variety, which is the only kind available
on the open market, AFAIK.  Trying to take the entire LF to
18 GHz spectrum, and somehow process it as a single
broadband signal without filtering, and then trigger a
flip flop is not realistic, as a general purpose piece of
test equipment, when there is noise and spurs that have
to be tolerated.  The HP 5340, circa 1970, actually
achieved a single coaxial input that could measure
any frequency from 10 Hz to 18 GHz, automatically.
I would venture to say that this 50+ year old technology
could still handily beat any prescaler IC today.  The
project manager of the 5340 happened to sit in the
cubicle next to me.

Rick N6RK

On 5/12/2023 10:13 AM, ed breya via time-nuts wrote:
> There are lots of newer, high performance prescalers available too, for 
> the much higher frequencies - especially in GaAs and other technologies. 
> Check this out:
> 
> https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/hmc493.pdf
> 
> Note that the architecture is basically the same as in the oldies. With 
> the right combination of prescaler stages and baseband counting, you 
> could conceivably build yourself a fairly decent 18 GHz CW microwave 
> counter. Modern parts that are in production usually have evaluation 
> boards available, so putting something together isn't too hard (but 
> costs extra for convenient packaging).
> 
> Ed
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