HP 5328A Specifications

• The 5328A measures electrical frequencies. Substance/Valueline/Getty Images

  Hewlett Packard released the HP 5328A universal counter in 1975 to give scientists a small and inexpensive way to measure electrical frequencies. The machine is now known as the Agilent/HP 5328A, since all the non-computer divisions of HP were spun off to become Agilent Technologies.

Physical and Power

• The HP 5328A was designed to be used on top of a desk or table or mounted in a rack. The unit, including the rack mount ears on the front of the machine, measures 18 1/8 inches in length, 18 1/4 inches deep and 3 1/2 inches high. The unit weighs in at 18.73 pounds. The 5328A requires 100/120/220/240 Volt outlet that is between 48 and 66 Hz. This device also comes with a 7 1/2-foot-long power cord.

Channels

• The standard unit has two channels, normally referred to as A and B. Both channels can measure frequency between 0 and 40 MHz with 25 mV rms, and between 40 and 100 MHz with 50 mV rms. The channels can have either AC or DC coupling, determined by a switch on the machine. Both channels have an impedance of one million Ohms and have X1, X10 and X100 attenuators available. The channels have a maximum input voltage of 250 Volts.

Measurements

• The 5328A frequency counter can make a direct frequency count for frequencies between 0 and 100 MHz, with a resolution of 1 MHz to .1 Hz, and can display the results in kHz and MHz. The 5328A can also make period and period average measurements, time interval and time interval average measurements, channel B to A ratio measurements, and totalizing and scaling measurements.

General

• The 5328A has an 8-digit LED screen where the measurements are displayed. The machine can hold readings between samples and has a sample rate of less than 2 milliseconds. The machines has two rear ports for the gate output and the timebase output, along with trigger lights on the front which blink when a channel is triggering. The 5328A comes with an arming switch, which allows measurements to start from a signal on a channel other than the recording channel.

Options

• The 5328A comes with a wide variety of additional options that give the frequency counter a much wider range of applications. Option 020 and 021 are digital volt meters which allow the counter to measure voltage. Options 030 and 031 add an additional channel and increase the upper range of the machine to 512 MHz and 1300 MHz, respectively. Option 011 allows the 5328A to connect to the HP Interface Bus which centrally controls several devices.