Surecom SF401 Plus Frequency Counter VS. Fumei Frequency Counter

“Frequency counters are test instruments used in many applications associated with radio frequency engineering to measure the frequency of signals very accurately”

We ALWAYS have to test our equipment before we put it to real world use. I 100% believe in this. So I have two new frequency counter. These were to be part of my SIGINT kit I was putting together. The use of frequency counter in a SIGINT team is to find frequencies in use close to us. It basically works like a scanner but there is no volume just a frequency, strength of that signal and some of them will give you the CTC/DCS tones.

I set both of these up on my truck tailgate. I was using the MURS frequency 151.820. I turned both on, stepped back one step, and keyed the mic. The Fumie immediately picked up the signal. The Surecom nothing…. I stepped closer to the Surecom and….. nothing. I ended up having to move the antenna of my HT to about 2 to 3 inches away from the antenna of the Surecom to finally pick it up. I went through the sensitivity settings and adjusted them and still nothing. So I hooked up my magnet mount antenna thats on top my truck to the Surecom. I was at the tailgate still and keyed the mic…… nothing. I had to move the HT all the way to the truck antenna with the mic keyed to get the Surecom to pickup the signal. I put a CTC into the radio and keyed the mic right next to the antenna and the Surecom did decode that so thats a plus.

Back to the Fumie. It picked my signal with stock antenna to about 10 yds away. I hooked the truck antenna up to the Fumie and it picked me up about 25 yds away. I put a CTC tone in the radio and it wouldn’t decode it. If you had a digital scanner also it should give you the code after you captured the frequency and put it in the scanner. The Fumie will not hold after it captures a frequency so you have to be watching the whole time. It has a hold feature but I cannot get it to work. I had to video it with my phone to know if it was picking me up.

My final thoughts on both these are I personally don’t feel they are worth the money. I can tell you right now that the Surecom is COMPLETELY worthless the way it worked during my evaluation. Maybe I have one of the settings off but I don’t think I did. The Fumie is much more usable in the SIGINT world I think as long as you just stare at it the whole time. You definitely need a better higher antenna on the Fumie. They both feel like cheap toys to me also. They could easily be damaged in the field.

One final note. Where I work we use analog radios constantly. All day long for our whole shift with multiple crews and people using radios. I took both of these devices with me to work with me. I use work as a testing ground also. The Surecom acted exactly as described above. The Fumie would pick up my crews frequency but would not pickup other crews signals.

When it comes to testing scanners and monitoring equipment with analog radios I have a pretty good testing ground at my place of employment and I ALWAYS do my first tests there.

Where I go during my shift I get to test the monitoring equipment against DMR radios on UHF.

I hope this give you an idea of my evaluation environment.

These are my thoughts. If anyone has had different experiences with these let me know I would like to hear it.