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H Fundamentals of Microwave Frequency Counters Application Note 200-1 Electronic Counters Series 1 Table of Contents Down-Conversion Techniques for Automatic Microwave Frequency Counters ... 3 Prescaling ... 3 Heterodyne Converter ... 4 Transfer Oscillator ... 5 Harmonic Heterodyne Converter ... 6 Comparing the Principal Microwave Down-Conversion Techniques ... 8 Measurement Speed ... 8 Accuracy ... 8 Sensitivity and Dynamic Range ... 10 Signal-to-Noise Ratio ... 11 FM Tolerance ... 12 AM Tolerance ... 14 Amplitude Discrimination ... 14 Summary of the Comparison ... 15 Additional Considerations in Choosing a Microwave Counter ... 16 Signal Inputs ... 16 Systems Interface ... 16 IF Offsets ... 16 Microwave Power Measurements ... 16 Some Applications of the HP 5342A Microwave Frequency Counter ... 17 2 Down-Conversion Techniques for Automatic Microwave Frequency Counters A frequency counter, being a digital instrument, is limited in its fre- quency range by the speed of its logic circuitry. Today the state of the art in high-speed logic allows the construction of counters with a frequency range of around 500 MHz. Continuing advances in IC tech- nology should extend this range beyond 1 GHz in the not-too-distant future. The desi