TA-0371: Racal Dana 1992 Frequency Counter 1.3 GHz - Calibration

The Racal Dana 1992 Teardown Calibration do and don't.
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RG316 Cable BNC-BNC: go.tonyalbus.com/316BB_B
50_Ohms-BNC: go.tonyalbus.com/50A
50_Ohms-BNC-inline: go.tonyalbus.com/50B1
50 Ohms-BNC-inline: go.tonyalbus.com/50B2
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#1992 #racal #racaldana

[@timgraham8975]

Wow makes me feel old, I can remember using them when they were new! Were the cat’s meow back in the day.

[@TonyAlbus]

Cool!, would love to have looked at then new... they just look so cool!

[@TheDefpom]

Yes indeed I did some videos on fixing these units, I also did one on replacing the TCXO with a better one, I made my own.

[@TonyAlbus]

Hi Scott, yes its a simple improvement for a lot of joy! nice!

[@tedcuff9155]

I used Scott's video to replace the switches in mine. I have 2 of them with the military ocxo and they are rock solid.

[@grerlab2777]

Always interesting to follow... Nice video... Thanks Tony...✌

[@TonyAlbus]

Thanks Grer!

[@davidv1289]

Very nice counter, Tony. The TI A ---> B button is Time Interval A to B for measuring timing or phase relationships. That and ratio measurement is what makes it a "universal" counter. I have been looking for one to repair, but they are very popular (aka expensive). Regards, David

[@TonyAlbus]

Thanks David.. good info , i never looked into that and its great to know now! yes still very popular :)

[@davidbrowne1588]

Hi Tony I have one of these, I got it some years ago from eBay,it was sold as not working, But worked fine, I have now changed all of the switches, as some of mine were hard, It was made for the MOD, so all possible options the best TCXO is fitted, but like you I am running from Ext, GPS ref, I was the one that asked about a prescaler, as you are going to do a video on one, soon I hope, I also had to replace the resistors for the 50ohm load, I don't know if it was me that blown them,😢 A great counter from the 1980, My not as fast as some of the new hp counters, but very happy Thanks Dave 2E0DMB

[@TonyAlbus]

Hi David! wow you have a very cool version with all options. sorry i forgot about the prescaler, i will put it on my list again.

[@davidbrowne1588]

@@TonyAlbus thanks Dave

[@johnwest7993]

I'm a sucker for any counter with 9 or more 7-segment LED displays. They are so easy to read, and they look almost as cool as Nixie's!

[@TonyAlbus]

Oh yes :) here too, can't have too many counter :)

[@Stephen_Heathcote]

Excellent! Mine is still going strong. Have the TCXO option on mine, but have all my instruments on 10mhz ref. Even on the TCXO it tracks well, but has to be on for around 2 hours to become stable, hence the use of the external ref :)

[@TonyAlbus]

Great Stephen, cool you have the TCXO ! yes hopefully it will run for years.

[@piotr-Garou]

👍

[@TonyAlbus]

Thank you!

[@gregreynolds5686]

I always think the controls and displays are really nice on later Racal kit - I used to have a signal generator that was lovely to use.

[@TonyAlbus]

Thanks! yes agree, i somehow just like the design.

[@Runco990]

I was about as hot for one of these as I am for Russian Redheads!!! 😍 UNTIL I got my 12 digit resolution HP counter that was way cheaper AND had all working buttons. But for the right price, (NOT possible on ebay) I'd absolutely take one!

[@TonyAlbus]

Hi, i am more hot for latins :) but love this counter. HP is very nice too, had one upto 1200 MHz but was LCD no backlight , not always easy to read.

[@zdzisiek1979]

Fajny miernik :)

[@TonyAlbus]

Thank you! yes happy man here :)

[@TheDefpom]

Yeah those big caps might need doing, I found about half of them tended to be bad.

[@TonyAlbus]

Yes indeed if they are also from the 80 .. then they have a nice age by now :)

[@User-rm9cw]

Sid with Racal Dana! Great! Save the Sid button here 👇

[@TonyAlbus]

Thank you!

[@User-rm9cw]

@@TonyAlbus you're welcome! Have a great day! Respect and best wishes ;)

[@marcinmakan9710]

Hello, what is the maximum voltage (or amplitude) of a signal that the BGT7TBL FA-3 (or FA-2) frequency counter can handle? I would appreciate your support a lot!

[@TonyAlbus]

the manual says the power measure can go upto +20dBm , so it can take that for sure. no other specs found so far.

[@MarcelHuguenin]

Hey Tony! Mooi exemplaar wederom toegevoegd aan de collectie. Uit hoeveel van dit soort mooie vintage dedicated counters bestaat deze inmiddels?

[@TonyAlbus]

Hi Marcel, dank je, ja erg blij mee. ik heb geen idee hoeveel, maar niet genoeg :)

[@MarcelHuguenin]

@@TonyAlbus 😂

[@MarioRiesebeek]

Mooie counter! Ik heb de 1998 met militaire tcxo. Deze heeft ook een gatetijd van 20 seconden door de up button drie seconden in te houden. Erg benieuwd of deze dat ook heeft

[@TonyAlbus]

Hallo Mario, ja de 1998 is ook erg mooi, die komt ook nog op video :) oh dat ga ik eens proberen of deze dat ook heeft, dank je voor de tip!

[@CasualInventor]

Regarding the big capacitor at 13:10, I also found a couple of these peculiar caps in my Racal-Dana 9906 UTC. They checked out OK but I was a bit puzzled by the six uniform indentations around the middle. Do you know why they have these dents? Is it a factory tuning method to get the right capacitance? (Doubtful since they only seem to be bulk decoupling caps). Would like to know what you think about it. Love the Racal-Dana systems though - really nice to work on and quite hackable.

[@piotr-Garou]

Cześć. Tak wykonane kondensatory spełniają wymagania przemysłowe lub wojskowe. Posiadają, wykonane przez producenta, wgniecenia technologiczne. Ich zadaniem jest dociśnięcie zwijki kondensatora w taki sposób, aby pod wpływem drgań, nie przemieszczała się wewnątrz obudowy. Mają też dużo większe gabaryty, ponieważ wykonane są ze znacznie grubszej folii, stanowiącej okładziny kondensatora, oraz dielektryk. I przez to powinny być długowieczne ;)

[@TonyAlbus]

Looking at Piotr answer we could have let them stay in..as they are military long lasting onces ..

[@TonyAlbus]

@@piotr-Garou Thanks you! nice information!

[@CasualInventor]

@@piotr-Garou To fascynujące. Dzięki!

[@davidbrowne1588]

I just did a post and it has gone ? anyway i have just got a S/H Prescaler XP12-10, 12V, input frequency range 50MHz - 12.5GHz it is a true divide-by-10 prescaler i have tested it with my 1992 counter and it works great very sensitive, only tested to 4.4GHZ as that is all my gen will go up to, so now my 1992 will do all that i need Thanks Dave Browne 2E0DMB

[@TonyAlbus]

Thanks David, can you send me a link by email of that divider, very interesting. (youtube does not allow links in comments, and removes, even if i allow all) find my email in the about