Count the all the freqs! Scout RF Frequency Counter

This is an Optoelectronics Scout frequency counter I bought years ago. This is a near-field receiver, and will capture radio frequencies transmitting nearby. This model is from the mid-90's.
www.optoelectr...

[@mreverybody1150]

The replacement batteries from the Watson FC-130 frequency hunters which are easier to find, also work in this one.

[@TheSmokinApe]

I like it 👌

[@temporarilyoffline]

Indiana James!

[@richard180961]

Excellent.. I still have Optoelectronics Handi-Counter Model 2300 1MHz to 2.4 GHz Frequency Finder. it's many years old & LED display. Manufactured. FortLauderdale Florida. Paid £159.95 in U.K 30/12/93 Which seems like a lot of money compared to the cheap electronics available today. Unfortunately it now just gets very hot when attempting to charge it up. So guessing the battery pack is old.

[@FEPLabsRadio]

Yessir, mine is late 90's vintage, popping the cover off and replacing the batteries was easy enough, and breathed new life into it. Thanks for watching!

[@ronwolenski-n8wcr]

Nice

[@lurpenstein]

good video. I too bought one of these back in the nineties, its batteries went bad I tried to build a replacement pack but was not able to cram it back in the radio because of the size of the batteries, so I boxed it up and put it in a drawer of projects ill complete some day in the future . this may be my lucky day if you have the info on what battery pack you used and where you got it. i would like to get my counter up and working again

[@FEPLabsRadio]

I will have to double check, and get back to you. I believe I just used AA size rechargeables? I'll go pop the cover and update this in a little while.

[@EricCampbell-kf2ui]

What it did in the day was capture cell phone frequencies. Then you could use a scanner and listen in to cell phone conversations. It was a spy tool used in PI work....before the FCC blocked cell phone frequency ranges on scanners...pretty much obsolete tech today..if you got close to someone on a cellphone in the 90's you could grab that phones frequency and tune in to it on the scanner.

[@FEPLabsRadio]

It also let you find P25 P1 frequencies (and others ) for your scanner. It's just a near-field frequency counter, I wouldn't call it a spy tool.

[@williamsantuzzi5808]

i worked as a doorman on park Ave and used to carry an optoelectronics 1300ha model counter and whenever a motorcade going to the regency hotel with a foreign dignitary came into NY the secret service would give them a detail and a motorcade to address the United Nations. I was able to pick up their frequencies from up to 2 blocks away and those ss agents never even encrypted their comms. they would advise "summit c.p." of arrival times and departure times while guarding the Israeli prime minister. not too bright if you ask me.

[@FEPLabsRadio]

Yes, I did the same thing when they rolled out the PS trunking system around here back in the early 2K's. Love it!

[@williamsantuzzi5808]

@@FEPLabsRadio how long have you been into scanners? i started in the early 70`s with a multiband tunable radio then bought my first crystal scanner from rat shack it was a 4 channel handheld from that point on it became an obsession now my wife wont let me buy any more radios.

[@TheNoCodeTech]

All of your frequencies are belong to me!

[@yyzca1234]

What distance would it pick up from ?

[@FEPLabsRadio]

Hey, it's a near field reciever. It really depends on the strength of the signal, vs ambient. I have driven around town, and had it picking out the 800mhz trunk freqs that the city/county use. But I was in a metro area, where there were towers pretty close by, and very strong signals. it is not gonna pick up an HT too far away. I wouldn't imagine more than 25 feet for something like that. There is a lot of attenuation built in the front end.

[@nataliegrn17]

Can it be programmed to detect certain frequency ranges with certain types modulation?

[@FEPLabsRadio]

No. This thing is 25 years old. It detects near field RF. That's all it does.