I bought one and waiting for it to arrive. I'm restoring an old Lafayette Comstat 25 CB from the 60's, an want to check the crystals. It is good to see and here people are having good luck with this product. Thank you for the build and review on this item.
Great build and a nice little tester Peter. The price is right also. Thanks for sharing this. Should help folks on a budget. Would be interesting to see the counter function. Also watch where your thumb ends up. Ouch!!!
the frequency counter of this project was originally developed by Wolfgang Büscher, DL4YHF. Trust me, it works PERFECTLY. The Chinese just added a simple oscillator to test the crystals... you can read about this on his website.
I bought a kit of these however when mounting did not work when analyzing the circuit I noticed that I send the same with the KYX3561BS which is a common anode display, being what works in this circuit without any change is the KYX3561AS common cathode, after searching the display I noticed that the project and the DL4YHF, I ended up changing the Pic File to Counter 3 , also changing the position of the diodes d2, d3, d4 and in place of U3 a BC557 and the diode d5 must have katodo connected in the emitter of the transistor U3 and the Anode connected to vcc .....
One thing to remember when testing crystals is load capacitance and inductance will change the oscillation frequency. People frequently ask me if they can send me crystals for a old tube type radio so I can test them to see if they are in spec. Unfornately I have to say no. I have a Sencore frequency counter with built in crystal tester but what the crystal oscillates at in the counter is going to be different from what it will be in the radio. Still a nice tester for testing to see if the crystal is still good and see if it's close to the listed frequency. One suggestion would be to add a transparent red window over the display. It would make it a lot easier to read. Thanks for sharing.
Very important point to tell and especially for crystals in tube circuits. All new crystals are very close together in spec's but not in the early days. Thanks for comment Mike!
Hi, it's been four years since the video was released, but it won't work for me, the readability of the display has been reduced by not removing the protective film, it creates annoying reflections and the camera doesn't give it. Using a red filter will improve readability, even for the eye 👍
Good presentation! You covered all the points I teach my grandson about assembly, except for one. That is to cover the board with one hand while you clip the leads with the other - just to control where the cutoff piece goes. He wears safety glasses anyway, but safer is better. Now I'm off to order the kit!
Aaah, another Sunday with Peter....Makes for a good day no matter what he's up to. Thanks Peter. Used to be when we owned an FM broadcast station that our crystals lived in a heated oven, supposedly to assure correct frequency.
Crystals are sensitive to temperature so running them at a controlled, constant temperature will keep them closest to the oscillator's designed frequency (OCX)
Peter: Thanks for the good video about the crystal tester. I just completed one with a couple of modifications. I moved the crystal socket up to be even with the top cover and added an HC-6/u crystal holder to the front side for all the older crystals.
I was surprised how accurate this thing was on the 10.000 MHz crystal.. cool! I didn't even really need one but since it looked like an interesting kit, I purchased it off ebay (cheap). I wonder if one could extend that three pin socket for the crystals up higher to be flush with the top of the case. That would really help.
You see Peter if you put the display in up side down, dots at the top, when you switch it on all the numbers would fall out of the bottom of the display hi hi, I have built one actually nice for the crystals to see if they work, I used a dremmel to make the slot bigger. Paul
I have the lesser expensive red pcb model & it's good but does not appear to have the freq range of this yellow board model. Thanks again TRX Bench for your wonderful videos.
Just built mine. The values for C2,C3 should be 47p or and C4,C5 22p. I was able to measure a small pile of old used crystals and the frequencies are all close to the fundamental value. FYI this circuit will not measure all crystals it just depends on the crystal. This was a interesting build for the price.
You are absolutely right Dino. It is a nice little lab helper and will give you additionally a idea on the crystal frequency even it is not 100% accurate.. Thanks for stepping in 73
Got my kit in and built it. When I apply power, the display shows 8888(blank). 3 eights and the last digit blank. I double checked all components and everything looks in the correct position and the no solder bridges. I wonder if the PIC is acting up. Just thought I would send you what my experience is so far. I am not sure what to do at this point but will try to see if I can find out the problem. I also had the screws for the case were too short so I will have to go to hardware tore to get correct size. 73, ad0am
Oh yeah, I never build a kit or replace a component without checking it first. I used one of my own 5V fixed positive regulators and it's working great.I informed them about the problem. They offered to give me a refund of a few dollars but I told them not to worry about it. I'm sure I'll need the JFET sooner or later. I just let them know so they could be careful and not get a bad name from newbies and people that don't check components before they start soldering.
I've had a very similar version (but the one on a red PCB) for some time. It cost about £5 and actually is a pretty good frequency counter as well as crystal tester
Nice job showing us the kit. I would of liked for you to test the counter too. Ya I know that it is not a high end counter but it would be nice to compare it with a good counter. just a note, some xtals require some parallel capacitance to bring it on freq. So the two that showed off freq might need a external cap. I think I am going to buy a kit... TU
So this device measure the frequency from the quartz oscillator; why do you not trust it as a frequency meter for external signals as you said in the beginning of the video? If it count the frequency well does it matter if the input signal that it counts came from its crystal oscillator or another source?
That was good Peter different but good, you didn't press the button. What was the button, I was hoping you would press the button. Well anyways you just can't help it, your troubleshooting picture's now (LOL). I like using blue tack when populating boards, I put some in the middle of the board. Stick it to the bench then solder, as the component gets taller add a little more. It just helps to keep the board from moving and the component well seated. Have a nice day and Cheers ... 73 Out
Thanks for watching Tom! Of course I pressed the bottom. It switches in a kind of programming mode with different commands by stepping through. May be a boot loader function or so? Nothing mentioned in the manual.. Cheers
Mine came from aliexpress with bad PIC. Showed only single zero in all modes. Internal quartz check circuit was ok. I rechecked schematics and PCB and everything was fine. Tried to re-flash it - no luck. Wasn't able to erase it with ExtraPIC, PICKit 3 and Triton - it seems that PIC had some memory issues. Replaced it - and now everything works fine. Search for TheHWcave/PIC-freq.counter-modification GIThub repo for firmware.
just soldered it together, not sure how high it will go, my 50MHz crystal reads 16,8MHz, but it could be that the crystal is trippeled in the equpment were it came out, measuring 1MHz big housing crystal failed not sure why
I wonder if that crystal testing functionality can be integrated into those 3 wire component testers that are all the rage on ebay for quite some time now.
Yeah that is the 40+ years old discussion and still going on LOL. It has been told that you should cut leads before you solder them because the cutting could cause micro cracks which can make gear fail. For production that is certainly right but for rework I have never done it and I don't do it in the future. I have never experienced any problem with electronic gear doing it my way..What is your opinion on that?
I have the same unit and another different "red" unit with a trimmer capacitor. Both units will NOT read above 20 MHz properly. example, 37.600 MHz displays 15.53xx. Other 37, 38 45 MHz crystals show similar results. They 'divide' by 3-ish and that's what they display. Anyone know the fix?
my friend has to send the instruction manual so I can mount my frequency meter because my aki my mother threw it out unintentionally thank you if you can help me
Putting the jumpers on the lower two pins will invoke the frequency counter mode and the terminals ... ground and signal .... are for the input signal to be measured/counted.
Hi Peter built 2 of these and both give me the exact same fault just displays 8.8.8.8., double checked soldering and components, my display are both KYX3561BS ? any idea's i have a crappy circuit diagram ? 73 James
I haven't put mine together yet, but instead of the 7550-1 5V regulator, they sent me a 7550A-1 which is a N-ch JFET according to my Peak Atlas DCA 75 Pro analyzer. That might have something to do with it not working right. The schematic shows a voltage regulator with grn, in & out, but of course, a JFET has gate, source, and drain. It's also a strange JFET that has the gate at Pin 1. I can only find data sheets that show the gate at Pin 3.They also sent me 2 102 caps and 3 22p caps.
i seen you had uploaded a video on the crystal tester so i made a quick video for you to see what my findings were all the best Barry G0SCI ruclips.net/video/5b3nBhZnT0s/видео.html
I bought one and waiting for it to arrive. I'm restoring an old Lafayette Comstat 25 CB from the 60's, an want to check the crystals. It is good to see and here people are having good luck with this product. Thank you for the build and review on this item.
Great build and a nice little tester Peter. The price is right also. Thanks for sharing this. Should help folks on a budget. Would be interesting to see the counter function. Also watch where your thumb ends up. Ouch!!!
Thanks my friend. My car door was faster than my thump :^) 73
the frequency counter of this project was originally developed by Wolfgang Büscher, DL4YHF. Trust me, it works PERFECTLY. The Chinese just added a simple oscillator to test the crystals... you can read about this on his website.
Thanks for feed-back 73
I bought a kit of these however when mounting did not work when analyzing the circuit I noticed that I send the same with the KYX3561BS which is a common anode display, being what works in this circuit without any change is the KYX3561AS common cathode, after searching the display I noticed that the project and the DL4YHF, I ended up changing the Pic File to Counter 3 , also changing the position of the diodes d2, d3, d4 and in place of U3 a BC557 and the diode d5 must have katodo connected in the emitter of the transistor U3 and the Anode connected to vcc .....
One thing to remember when testing crystals is load capacitance and inductance will change the oscillation frequency. People frequently ask me if they can send me crystals for a old tube type radio so I can test them to see if they are in spec. Unfornately I have to say no. I have a Sencore frequency counter with built in crystal tester but what the crystal oscillates at in the counter is going to be different from what it will be in the radio. Still a nice tester for testing to see if the crystal is still good and see if it's close to the listed frequency. One suggestion would be to add a transparent red window over the display. It would make it a lot easier to read. Thanks for sharing.
Very important point to tell and especially for crystals in tube circuits. All new crystals are very close together in spec's but not in the early days. Thanks for comment Mike!
Hi, it's been four years since the video was released, but it won't work for me, the readability of the display has been reduced by not removing the protective film, it creates annoying reflections and the camera doesn't give it. Using a red filter will improve readability, even for the eye 👍
Good presentation! You covered all the points I teach my grandson about assembly, except for one.
That is to cover the board with one hand while you clip the leads with the other - just to control where the cutoff piece goes. He wears safety glasses anyway, but safer is better. Now I'm off to order the kit!
Aaah, another Sunday with Peter....Makes for a good day no matter what he's up to. Thanks Peter.
Used to be when we owned an FM broadcast station that our crystals lived in a heated oven, supposedly to assure correct frequency.
Glad that you liked it 73
Crystals are sensitive to temperature so running them at a controlled, constant temperature will keep them closest to the oscillator's designed frequency (OCX)
Peter: Thanks for the good video about the crystal tester. I just completed one with a couple of modifications. I moved the crystal socket up to be even with the top cover and added an HC-6/u crystal holder to the front side for all the older crystals.
Ah that sound very good and especially the solution for the older crystals.. Thanks for feed-back 73
I was surprised how accurate this thing was on the 10.000 MHz crystal.. cool! I didn't even really need one but since it looked like an interesting kit, I purchased it off ebay (cheap). I wonder if one could extend that three pin socket for the crystals up higher to be flush with the top of the case. That would really help.
Hi Michelly, yes would be a good improvement to bring the 3 pin socket up. Thanks for watching 73
I had some extra sockets so I added 2 stacks to the existing ones and they just sit slightly above the case top which is perfect.
You see Peter if you put the display in up side down, dots at the top, when you switch it on all the numbers would fall out of the bottom of the display hi hi, I have built one actually nice for the crystals to see if they work, I used a dremmel to make the slot bigger.
Paul
:-) very good Paul...The dremmel is an excellent idea..
I have the lesser expensive red pcb model & it's good but does not appear to have the freq range of this yellow board model. Thanks again TRX Bench for your wonderful videos.
Thanks for watching Ted! 73
Just built mine. The values for C2,C3 should be 47p or and C4,C5 22p. I was able to measure a small pile of old used crystals and the frequencies are all close to the fundamental value. FYI this circuit will not measure all crystals it just depends on the crystal. This was a interesting build for the price.
MORE KIT BUILDING PLEASE !!!
Thanks for the great Videos Peter nice work your doing
Thanks for watching Rocky 73
TNX for sharing the build Peter...not a bad little gadget for quick simple go/no-go testing. 73 - Dino KL0S
You are absolutely right Dino. It is a nice little lab helper and will give you additionally a idea on the crystal frequency even it is not 100% accurate.. Thanks for stepping in 73
Looks great. I just ordered one. I love to build kits and will put this to use. Thanks for showing it. 73, ad0am
Good luck with the project 73
Got my kit in and built it. When I apply power, the display shows 8888(blank). 3 eights and the last digit blank. I double checked all components and everything looks in the correct position and the no solder bridges. I wonder if the PIC is acting up. Just thought I would send you what my experience is so far. I am not sure what to do at this point but will try to see if I can find out the problem. I also had the screws for the case were too short so I will have to go to hardware tore to get correct size.
73, ad0am
Nice kit, the picture of the one upside was mine,,LOL no I may have to get on also kits are fun thank you for your time Peter
LOL that would not happen to you :^) Thanks for watching Dennis.
Thanks Peter. Mine just arrived yesterday and they gave me a 7550A-1 instead of a 7550-1. The 7550A-1 is a N-ch JFET.
Hi Robert, oh waht a shame mixing up the components, well you found it early enough... hope it works...73
Oh yeah, I never build a kit or replace a component without checking it first. I used one of my own 5V fixed positive regulators and it's working great.I informed them about the problem. They offered to give me a refund of a few dollars but I told them not to worry about it. I'm sure I'll need the JFET sooner or later. I just let them know so they could be careful and not get a bad name from newbies and people that don't check components before they start soldering.
I've had a very similar version (but the one on a red PCB) for some time. It cost about £5 and actually is a pretty good frequency counter as well as crystal tester
You did a good job at selling it my friend, and not a bad quicky tester either... I just bought one :)
Cheers Peter
John
LOL and I don't even get a kickback :^) Thanks for watching John!! Cheers
Frequency differences will be due to designed load capacitance.
yes especially for the older crystals....73
Nice job showing us the kit. I would of liked for you to test the counter too. Ya I know that it is not a high end counter but it would be nice to compare it with a good counter. just a note, some xtals require some parallel capacitance to bring it on freq. So the two that showed off freq might need a external cap. I think I am going to buy a kit... TU
for und 10 bugs you can't do wrong... Thanks for watching 73
Mmm a frequency counter for $10 that happens to test crystals too! Well spotted Peter, I will order one!
Yeah for under 10€ no question. Have fun with the project. 73
Very nice, Peter. Thanks for video. 73
Thanks for watching Larry 73
So this device measure the frequency from the quartz oscillator; why do you not trust it as a frequency meter for external signals as you said in the beginning of the video? If it count the frequency well does it matter if the input signal that it counts came from its crystal oscillator or another source?
Hi Peter , nice video. In the wrong mounted circuit on the web R5 is missing too. 😱
LOL yes I have seen it :^)
Great video! I got the kit here but haven't had the time to build it yet!
Thanks for watching! It seems to be a good little lab helper. 73
That was good Peter different but good, you didn't press the button. What was the button, I was hoping you would press the button. Well anyways you just can't help it, your troubleshooting picture's now (LOL). I like using blue tack when populating boards, I put some in the middle of the board. Stick it to the bench then solder, as the component gets taller add a little more. It just helps to keep the board from moving and the component well seated. Have a nice day and Cheers ... 73 Out
Thanks for watching Tom! Of course I pressed the bottom. It switches in a kind of programming mode with different commands by stepping through. May be a boot loader function or so? Nothing mentioned in the manual.. Cheers
I like to use Rodico putty. You can get it where watchmaking and jeweler tools are sold.
Mine came from aliexpress with bad PIC. Showed only single zero in all modes. Internal quartz check circuit was ok. I rechecked schematics and PCB and everything was fine. Tried to re-flash it - no luck. Wasn't able to erase it with ExtraPIC, PICKit 3 and Triton - it seems that PIC had some memory issues. Replaced it - and now everything works fine.
Search for TheHWcave/PIC-freq.counter-modification GIThub repo for firmware.
just ordered one from e-bay, 7,31 euro houding included, but christals change with age so this is a handy tool
very good..have fun with the little project 73
just soldered it together, not sure how high it will go, my 50MHz crystal reads 16,8MHz, but it could be that the crystal is trippeled in the equpment were it came out, measuring 1MHz big housing crystal failed not sure why
Excellent, as usual..
Thanks Glenn 73
Hi Peter,
Nice build and review of the kit. 73 WB3BJU
Thanks for watching Donald 73
Will it work with larger crystals if some wires are used to connect it to the little socket?
Hi Seth you can buy both Items on eBay 145 Crystal Tester Kit $9.50 and $3.00 for the Leg bender position block good luck mate.
I wonder if that crystal testing functionality can be integrated into those 3 wire component testers that are all the rage on ebay for quite some time now.
Well for under 10 bugs it makes no sense. But basically it could be added to that circuit .. 73
Do you solder the components THEN cut the leads or do you cut the leads to size first?
Yeah that is the 40+ years old discussion and still going on LOL. It has been told that you should cut leads before you solder them because the cutting could cause micro cracks which can make gear fail. For production that is certainly right but for rework I have never done it and I don't do it in the future. I have never experienced any problem with electronic gear doing it my way..What is your opinion on that?
@@TRXLab I have always found it easier to position the components if you don't cut the leads first. And I have never experienced micro cracks either.
What's the button for?
Prima Peter, wie immer!
Danke Olaf
very good video and very good advise
Thank you John 73
Nice vid. Looks like a good kit. How is your thumb? Looks like it is working ok, but that had to hurt.
All fine Peter no pain any more :^) Thanks for watching 73
What's the button for? Thanks!
I have the same unit and another different "red" unit with a trimmer capacitor. Both units will NOT read above 20 MHz properly. example, 37.600 MHz displays 15.53xx. Other 37, 38 45 MHz crystals show similar results. They 'divide' by 3-ish and that's what they display. Anyone know the fix?
Hello, how are you? Is it possible to measure 32,768khz crystal?
good job.
Around 00:30 in the video a Microsoft update announcement pop up is showed on the TRX Bench logo screen. Just noticed, nothing more ;-)
Ah now I got it :^) 73
I bought the same, but C1 burnt out with the magic smoke, I will put another 104 cap in and see if it works. M3KQW 73s
Oh must have been a shorted cap.. Hope it works out good Howard....73
Check your voltage regulator - if the part # is 7550A-1 then it is a N-ch JFET, not a voltage regulator.
ive just built this kit but was not sure on the translation of how to use it
i ordered a new one works perfect!
ah very good !
nice video My friend
Thank you Santos 73
I was given some resistors that we're purchased from eBay. Turned out the value bands did not match the actual resistance. Buyer beware.
the transistor U2 and U3 is s8550 or is s8050?
I'm on an iPad, dunno if that effects things but Where's the link for this kit?
www.ebay.de/itm/1Hz-50MHz-Crystal-Oscillator-Frequency-Tester-Meter-Counter-Digital-LED-Set-Case-/382168201177?hash=item58fafff7d9:g:Z9kAAOSwceNZQPNQ
Gents, please assit to update the present tester for possibility to test the whatch cristal. Thanks in advance.
can someone provide a link to this kit and the yellow jig thing he used to bend the leads please
www.ebay.de/itm/1Hz-50MHz-Crystal-Oscillator-Frequency-Tester-Meter-Counter-Digital-LED-Set-Case-/382168201177?hash=item58fafff7d9:g:Z9kAAOSwceNZQPNQ
How does it works that kit with an overtone crystal !? '73
not tested yet, Alessandro 73
Curious to see what's the lowest and highest frequency it can handle. Also whether it can test both fundamental tone crystal and overtone crystal?
Hi Kerry, the advertising is saying from 1Mhz up to 70Mhz. No information given on overtone functionality...Thanks for watching
If it can test up to 70MHz (correctly) I'm willing to bet that it does overtone just fine since the majority of >20MHz XTAL's are not fundamental.
There is a good chance that you are right but I can''t confirm it as I have not tested it yet....
The only one I can find on ebay goes up to 50MHz, which is a shame as I have some 63-64MHz crystals I need to test!
Build an osc. that goes that high and use it with your own counter.
friend tell me the values of capacitors C2, C3, C4, C5 because I think in the instruction manual is wrong
The values for C2,C3 should be 47p and C4,C5 22p if you have this same version.
so where do you order one of these?
Where did you put your thumb?
LOL my car :^)
my friend has to send the instruction manual so I can mount my frequency meter because my aki my mother threw it out unintentionally
thank you if you can help me
Looks good Peter, handy and cheap...Fred g4vvq;
Yes it is really not to bad..nice go- no go tester...73
Would it be good to have a fuse on the board?
Hi Peter, no that is not really necessary Cheers
do the ceramic caps go a specific way ?
no
iceberg789 so they can go either way?
ceramics, polyester yes. electrolytic, tantalum no.
Santos 14279 Only if you are concerned about RFI. Paul at Mr. Carlson's Lab has a video on finding the shielded side of a ceramic cap.
You are cool my friend :)
Thank you Fred 73
all components are good i gues the micro controler went south
hope the new one is working now
can you explain what the terminals are for please
Putting the jumpers on the lower two pins will invoke the frequency counter mode and the terminals ... ground and signal .... are for the input signal to be measured/counted.
Nice video Peter. 73s de IW0HEX Pasquale.
Thank you Pasquale ... Hope you found something exiting in Friedrichshafen 73
Hi Peter, many items :) It always a great time to spent it in Friedrichshafen. Bodensee is also a great place for holiday. 73s !!!
Good Video Peter :-) 73
Thank you Jim 73
Where can I buy this kit?
www.ebay.de/itm/1Hz-50MHz-Crystal-Oscillator-Frequency-Tester-Meter-Counter-Digital-LED-Set-Case-/382168201177?hash=item58fafff7d9:g:Z9kAAOSwceNZQPNQ
Hi TRX can this unit read 55.390 Crystal.
The unit don't read overtone crystals...
Hello can somone send me firmware because mine is missing
Hi Peter built 2 of these and both give me the exact same fault just displays 8.8.8.8., double checked soldering and components, my display are both KYX3561BS ? any idea's i have a crappy circuit diagram ? 73 James
Hi James, some one here on this threat has reported a wrong component with the kit. Just go down and read the comments....73
Circuit diagram gives me
He, update availble (screen background) :-)
Hi Joop, not sure what you mean...73
i get all 8.8.8.8 's
Does it work or not?
TRX Bench no does not
check your components and your solder work!
TRX Bench I sent video the ebay seller hopefully they can help me
I haven't put mine together yet, but instead of the 7550-1 5V regulator, they sent me a 7550A-1 which is a N-ch JFET according to my Peak Atlas DCA 75 Pro analyzer. That might have something to do with it not working right. The schematic shows a voltage regulator with grn, in & out, but of course, a JFET has gate, source, and drain. It's also a strange JFET that has the gate at Pin 1. I can only find data sheets that show the gate at Pin 3.They also sent me 2 102 caps and 3 22p caps.
i seen you had uploaded a video on the crystal tester so i made a quick video for you to see what my findings were all the best Barry G0SCI ruclips.net/video/5b3nBhZnT0s/видео.html
In all my testing of various items, these are for 4-7 year olds only as a joke a bit like your English. Bis Spater.