reciprocal frequency counter

[Toby Paddock]

I've got a Fluke 867B at work that I got mainly because it 
makes a good low freq counter.  I use it a lot down to 5Hz.
At 5 Hz it gives 3 digits (5.00) and has probably a 1 Hz update rate.
I like it a lot.  You can see simultaneously VAC true-RMS, Hz, and
the waveform. As a scope, it's pretty limited, but a couple times I've been 
measuring voltage and noticed nasty noise or oscillation that I wouldn't 
have caught with just a voltmeter.  Only one input, so no X-Y.
Also it does component testing (kind of like a Huntron Tracker), 
duty cycle, pulse width, has an opto serial port, battery powered,
blah blah blah.

The price is about $750 US (too much for me to buy one myself).
It's at:
http://www.fluke.com/graphical/catalog.htm

My old favorite low-f counter was a Fluke 8060 (down to 20Hz).  Almost 
interesting side-note: I was doing some vibration testing for someone and
saying that I liked the 8060 counter for low f.  They grinned real big and said,
"Thanks, glad you like it. I was in charge of the group that designed that".
Small world.

Sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch.  I don't work for Fluke (but they are
just up the road from me).

Hoping this finds you,
Toby Paddock
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>Sometimes it would be nice to have a DVM and a frequency counter
>as a module for a modular system. E.g for tuning and trimming procedures
>as well as for practical work.

>Most frequency counters suffer from the fact that they need very
>long gate times for audio frequencys, ie. much latency.