VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

Matjaz Vidmar, S53MV

A simple RF/Microwave
frequency counter
I decided to design a simple, easily
reproducible counter around a PIC
16F876A. The basic counter range is
extended to at least 180MHz using two
74Fxx devices. A divide-by-64
prescaler is used for higher
frequencies up to at least 4.5GHz. All
results of the measurement are shown
on an inexpensive, 2x16 alphanumeric
LCD module with large characters. A
block diagram of the counter is shown
in Fig 1.

gate timing.

The counter has three front ends: a

microwave (prescaled) input, an RF
input and a TTL input. The
microwave and RF inputs are AC
coupled and terminated at low
impedance (around 50). The TTL
input is DC coupled and has high input
impedance. A progress bar indicator is
provided on the LCD display for the

1.

Both the microwave and RF inputs

have an additional feature, usually not
found in frequency counters: a simple
signal level detector driving a bar
indicator on the LCD display. This is
very useful to check for the correct
input signal level as well as an
indicator for circuit tuning or
absorption wave meter dip display.

The counter
The whole counter design is based on a
16F876A PIC microcontroller. This
includes several peripherals but just a

Fig 1: Block diagram of the frequency counter.

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few of them are used in this project. The
most important in this project are two
internal hardware counter/timers called
TMR0 and TMR1. The TMR0 timer
generates very precise interrupts every
100 microseconds (10kHz) from the
20MHz clock/reference. All required
timings for the counter timebase are
simply integer multiples of this basic
period.
The TMR1 is used as a 16bit (binary)
input signal counter. Its maximum
counting frequency is just around
16.7MHz. Therefore, the first four flipflops of the input signal counter chain are
added externally as 74Fxxx logic
devices. The first two stages use one of
the fastest 74Fxxx series devices, the
74F50109 dual J/K flip-flop. The
74F50109 is also specified as metastable
immune and is therefore the ideal
component for the counter gate. The
circuit diagram of the counter is shown in
Fig 2.
A more conventional 74F74 dual D flipflop is used in the third and fourth stages.
The TTL flip-flops require pull-up
resistors to drive the PIC ports RC0,
RC1, RC2 and RC3. RC0 is used as a
clock input to the TMR1 at the same
time. Replacing the 74F74 with a
74ACT74 could save some current and
two pull-up resistors. The 74F50109 has
the same pin-out and logical function as
the 74F109, but the latter has a lower
frequency limit and is not specified
metastable free.
The typical frequency limit of the
74F50109 is specified as 150MHz.
Driving the 74F50109 with a fast
switching transistor 2N3960 (f t =
1.6GHz) and a schottky diode 1N5712 to
prevent saturation, reliable counting can
be achieved up to 190 - 200MHz! Unlike
conventional AND or OR gates, the J/K
gate minimises the jitter of the counting
result (wandering of the last digit)
regardless of the input signal. Since the

/K input of the 74F50109 is inverted, two

port pins (RA2 and RA3) of the PIC are
required to drive the J and /K inputs with
minimal skew.
On the other end, the counter needs to be
extended beyond the 4 bits of the 74Fxxx
logic and 16 bits of the TMR1 are used
adding up to 20 bits of resolution. To
avoid disrupting the operation of the
main 100s timer, the TMR1 is not
allowed to generate interrupts. The
TMR1 overflow (interrupt) flag is
checked during every 100s (TMR0)
interrupt. The overflows are counted in
two additional 8 bit registers. The overall
counter resolution is therefore 36 bits.
These 36 bits are truncated to 32 bits, the
upper 4 bits are not used. 32 bits allow
counting beyond 400MHz with a
resolution of 0.1Hz (gate time 10s). None
of these counters is ever reset! The
counter value at the beginning of the
measurement is stored and subtracted
from the end value. Finally, the 32 bit
binary result is converted to a 10 digit
decimal number and the latter is
displayed with the leading zeros blanked,
decimal point and units (MHz or kHz).
The basic counter software allows three
resolutions (selected with RC4 and RC5):
10Hz, 1Hz and 0.1Hz in direct counting
mode (no prescaler), corresponding to
gate times of 100ms, 1s and 10s. When
used with a divide-by-64 prescaler, the
three available resolutions become 1kHz,
100Hz and 10Hz, corresponding to gate
times of 64ms, 640ms and 6.4s. All these
gate times are obtained by counting the
100s (10kHz TMR0) interrupts.
The PIC 16F876A drives a standard LCD
module with a HD44780 controller and a
resolution of two rows of 16 characters
each. The HD44780 requires 8 data lines
(port B of the 16F876A) and three
control signals: Register Select (RC6),
Read/Write (GND) and Enable (RC7).
Since the data presented on the 8-bit131

VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

Fig 2: Circuit diagram of the frequency counter.

wide output port RB0-7 is only written to
the HD44780, the R/W input is
hardwired to ground (/Write). The LCD
back light LEDs are supplied through

two 10 current limiting resistors.

Fig 3: PCB layout for the frequency

counter.

Fig 4: Picture of the component side

of the counter PCB.

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The input signal level is fed to the only

VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

Fig 5: Picture of the track side of the counter PCB with SMD compoenets
fitted, note the 0R links.
remaining PIC peripheral used in this
project, the A/D converter. The latter has
a resolution of 10 bits, but only the most
significant 7 bits are used. These drive a
bar indicator on the LCD module with 36
segments, corresponding to an input
voltage between zero and 1.4V (full
scale) on the analogue inputs RA0 (MW
mode) or RA1 (RF mode). The operating
mode is selected with switches driving
the digital inputs RA4 and RA5.
The main counter module is built on a
single sided printed circuit board
measuring 60mm x 60mm. Good quality

IC sockets are used for the PIC 16F876A

and as connectors. The PCB layout is
shown in Fig 3 and the component layout
in Figs 4 and 5.
Most of the components are in SMD
packages and are installed on the bottom
(solder) side of the printed circuit board.
Due to the single sided circuit, many
jumpers are required. The PCB is
designed for 0805 jumpers shown as 0R
on the picture of the completed board Fig
5.
A 20MHz crystal is used both as a clock
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Fig 6: Circuit diagram of the microwave prescaler.

source for the PIC and as a frequency
reference for the frequency counter.
20MHz crystals are usually designed
either for 20pF - 32pF parallel resonance
or series resonance. Since the internal
oscillator inside the PIC 16F876A is not
able to oscillate on the correct frequency
with large capacitors, a series inductor is
required to bring the crystal on the exact
frequency. The recommended 2.2H
inductor is suitable for 32pF parallel
resonance crystals.
Of course, the PIC 16F876A is also able
to operate with an external clock source.
This has to be connected to pin 9 while
pin 10 is left open. If a high quality
frequency reference for 5MHz, 10MHz
o r 1 0 0 MH z is a v a ila b le , it is
recommended to multiply or divide its
output to obtain the required 20MHz
clock.
Other clock frequencies than 20MHz can
be accepted by modifying the software to
obtain the 10kHz TMR0 interrupt. The
TMR0 time constant allows changing the
clock in 80kHz frequency steps (4 clock
cycles per instruction and divide-by-2
prescaler for the TMR0). Smaller clock
steps of 40kHz can be obtained by
inserting NOP instructions in the TMR0
interrupt routine, for example using a
high quality (telecom SDH) TCXO for
19.44MHz.
134

2.
Front ends
The counter is equipped with three
different front ends. The front ends are
built as separate modules to allow an
easy interchange as better components
(prescalers) become available or new
requirements show up.
2.1 Microwave prescaler
The microwave prescaler front end is
designed around the NEC PB1505 chip,
the circuit diagram is shown in Fig 6.
This counts up to 4.9GHz and unlike the
products from some other manufacturers
it is very reliable. An ERA-2 MMIC is
used to boost the input sensitivity and
provide some protection for the
PB1505. The ERA-2 can accept input
signal levels up to +15dBm (30mW). A
6dB attenuator behind the ERA-2
prevents saturating the PB1505.
A 33k resistor can be used to kill the
self oscillation of the PB1505 around
2.6GHz, but this resistor also adversely
affects the sensitivity and the maximum

VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

Fig 7: PCB layout for the microwave

prescaler.

(as offered in many counters) is actually

a disadvantage for RF measurements, last
but not least corrupting the
measurements due to low frequency
(50Hz mains or switching powers
supply) interference. The RF front end
includes a simple RF amplifier with a
BFP196 transistor, an input protection
with a 33 resistor and a LL4148 diode
and a signal level detector using a
BAT62-03W zero bias schottky diode.

frequency of the prescaler. A BAT6203W zero bias schottky diode is used as a

signal level detector. The gain of the
ERA-2 sets the full scale on the bar
indicator to about 0dBm.

The RF front end is built on a single

sided printed circuit board measuring
20mm x 60mm. The PCB layout is
shown in Fig 10 and the component
layout in Fig 11

The microwave prescaler front end is

built on a single sided printed circuit
board measuring 30mm x 60mm. The
PCB layout is shown in Fig 7 and the
component layout in Fig 8. The 50
lines are built as coplanar waveguides on
a 1.6mm thick FR4 substrate. The input
cable is soldered directly to the PCB. To
avoid parasitic resonances between the
PCB and metal ground plane, two
additional 39 damping resistors are
installed in series with two mounting
screws.

The input cable is soldered directly to the

PCB. Since the RF front end does not
include any hysteresis, it is not able to
operate with sine wave signals at very
low frequencies.

2.2 RF front end

The RF front end is designed for a high
input sensitivity and low (close to 50)
input impedance. The circuit diagram is
shown in Fig 9. A high input impedance

2.3 TTL front end

The TTL front end is a high impedance
input. DC coupling is necessary to
measure pulses with arbitrary duty
cycles. The circuit diagram is shown in
Fig 12 Further it includes hysteresis for
reliable low frequency measurements,
regardless of the waveform. The circuit
includes a BF998 MOSFET source
follower and a 74F04 schmitt trigger.
The output of the schmitt trigger is again
DC coupled to the 2N3960 in the main
counter module.
Fig 8: Component
layout for the
microwave
prescaler.

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VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

Fig 9: Circuit diagram of the RF front end.

3.
Assembly
Fig 10: PCB layout for the RF front
end.
The TTL front end is built on a single
sided printed circuit board measuring
20mm x 60mm. The PCB layout is
shown in Fig 13 and the component
layout in Fig 14. The input cable is
soldered directly to the PCB. Input
protection is provided by the 470
resistor and the zenner diodes inside the
BF998 (breakdown voltage between 8V
and 12V). Further protection could be
obtained by additional zenner diodes,
however the latter may include a large
capacitive loading (more than 100pF).

All counter modules require a +5V

power supply. A 7805 regulator is a
simple and efficient solution. Some
additional components are required for
interference and switching transient
suppression. The circuit diagram of the
power supply is shown in Fig 15 The
7805 regulator is bolted directly to the
rear panel for heat sinking.
Two DPDT switches are used for front
end selection. An additional switch is
used to select the gate time.
All four printed circuit boards are single
sided, etched on 1.6mm thick FR4
laminate (image resolution is 150dpi).
Fig 11: Component
layout for the RF
front end.

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VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

Fig 12: Circuit diagram of the TTL front end.

4.
Operation
Fig 13: PCB layout for the TTL front
end.
The counter is installed in a box made of
aluminium sheet shown in Fig 16. The
bottom is made from 1mm thick
aluminium sheet, the cover is made from
0.6mm thick aluminium sheet and the
LCD is protected by a small piece of
plexiglass. The internal width is 200mm,
depth 100mm and height 45mm.
The RF connectors, switches and LCD
module are installed on the front panel.
The power supply connector is installed
on the rear panel.

Immediately after power up, the counter

displays the software version/date for
about one second.
During normal operation, the leftmost
characters of both rows are used as a
vertical bar display of the gate progress
with 10 horizontal segments. The
remaining 15 characters in the top row of
the display show the measured
frequency. Three characters in the bottom
row show the operating mode ("MW",
"RF" or "TTL") and the remaining 12
characters are used as a horizontal bar
display of the signal strength with 36
vertical segments.
In the microwave mode both prototypes
Fig 14: Component
layout for the TTL
front end.

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VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

Fig 15: PSU circuit
diagram for the
frequency counter.

operated reliably up to 4.9GHz with an

input signal level of 0dBm (self
oscillating PB1505 without 33k
resistor). Below 3GHz the sensitivity
improves to -30dBm. The 33k
unbalancing resistor to stop self
oscillations degrades this sensitivity by
more than 10dB! Below 500MHz the
sensitivity degrades again: the counter
may count odd harmonics with too low
signal levels. The minimum usable
frequency was found around 12MHz. Fig
17 shows the counter in the microwave
mode with a gate time of 640ms
corresponding to a resolution of 100Hz.
In the RF mode the 74F50109 allows
counting up to about 220MHz. Reliable
operation is possible up to 190-200MHz,
depending on the internal wiring to the
switches, with an input-signal level of
0dBm. The sensitivity improves from 20dBm at 180MHz down to -50dBm at

10MHz. The RF signal-level meter

follows a similar increase
in its
sensitivity. This increase at lower
frequencies matches the performance of
the described loop probes!
Unfortunately, the 74F50109,
manufactured by Signetics (Philips) is
not easily available. A 74F109 from the
same manufacturer only operated up to
about 140MHz. A combination of
74AC109 and 74AC74 (both from
National Semiconductor) counted up to
about 170MHz. The 74ACxxx logic
circuits require a different input DC bias:
replace the 2.2k resistor between the
input and the collector of the 2N3960
with a 47k resistor. All four pull-up
resistors can be omitted with 74ACxxx
logic. Finally, the 2N3960 itself does not
have many valid replacements. A
2N2369 will decrease the 74F50109
counting rate down to just 165MHz while
RF and microwave transistors provide
Fig 16: A picture
of the completed
frequency counter.

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VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

Fig 17: The counter in the microwave mode with a gate time of 640ms
corresponding to a resolution of 100Hz.
even worse results!

to a frequency counter.

In the TTL mode the prototypes operated

reliably beyond 100MHz. This frequency
limit is however reduced by the coaxial
cable feeding TTL signals and even more
when using oscilloscope probes. The
input signal level is not indicated in the
TTL mode. The built in hysteresis allows
reliable counting of very low frequencies,
like the 50Hz mains.

Last but not least, all detailed

information like PCB files or software
source code are available on Matjaz
Vidmar's web site [2].

The current software version does not

detect the mode switching before the end
of the gate period. Therefore one may
have to wait up to 10 seconds for the gate
period to expire and another 10 seconds
to get some meaningful reading. The
current software also does not make any
use of the measured signal level.
Therefore it will display the self
oscillating frequency of the prescaler
with no signal input in the microwave
mode or any other invalid data due to low
signal levels in the RF or microwave
modes.
The software is designed using the same
rules as the whole counter: keep this
project useful, simple and
straightforward. A simple prescaler is
therefore used in place of a considerably
more complex direct microwave counter.
Some simple 74Fxxx logic ensures
enough overlap between the prescaled
microwave frequency range and the
direct RF frequency range. A TTL input
with hysteresis is an efficient solution for
low frequencies and extreme duty cycles.
Finally, an input signal level indicator is
an inexpensive but very useful addition

Probes

5.

A very common problem of many

frequency counters is that these are
supplied to the end user without (any)
s u i t a b l e p r o b e s ! I n f a c t , mo s t
RF/microwave sources cannot be
connected directly to a counter input. The
conventional oscilloscope probe is not a
good solution for most RF/microwave
measurements either. Worst of all, most
counters are not even designed to be used
with some useful probe types.
Any serious RF/microwave engineer has
his/her own set of suitable attenuators,
circulators, loads and directional couplers
to connect spectrum analysers, power
meters, counters and other instruments to
the circuit under test. A complete set of
transitions between different RF
connectors is also required. Finally, a
number of pigtailed connectors to be
soldered directly to the circuit under test
is always of great help.
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VHF COMMUNICATIONS 3/2007

test is not very efficient, it is rather
unlikely to damage the counter with large
RF signal levels.

Fig 18: Loop probes.

A very useful probe to be used with

RF/microwave counters is a simple
inductive pickup or in other words a
5mm diameter loop at the end of a short
length of 50 coaxial cable. According
to my own experience it does not make
sense to make this loop much smaller or
larger than 5mm. The same loop can be
used from a few MHz up to several GHz.
A small resistor (around 50) can be
installed in series with the loop to
suppress any cable resonances.
The loop is simply approached to
inductors or resonators in the circuit
under test (Fig 18). The undesired
loading of the circuit can be minimised
by keeping the loop at the maximum
distance that still provides a stable
reading on the counter. Finally, the loop
probe is never affected by low frequency
(50Hz mains or similar) interference.
Since the coupling to the circuit under

A standard oscilloscope probe is a

practical solution to measure low
frequencies, pulsed signals and in some
cases even RF signals. In order to use an
oscilloscope probe efficiently, the
internal operation of the probe has to be
understood (Fig 19). Most probes are
equipped with a X1/X10 switch. Further
there is a series damping resistor (around
500) to avoid cable resonances that
could both corrupt the oscilloscope
display and severely disturb the circuit
under test. Finally, one should
understand that although the TTL input
of the counter operates in excess of
100MHz, the oscilloscope probe may
reduce the upper frequency limit to
50MHz or even less!

6.
References
[1] 13GHz prescaler, Zeljko Bozic, VHF
Communications Magazine, 2/2006, pp
89 94
[2] Matjaz Vidmar web site for
frequency counter
http://lea.hamradio.si/~s53mv/counter/his
tory.html

Fig 19: Circuit diagram of a standard oscilloscope probe.

140