GRJ, I've heard good things about Rigol as well, very nice. I am still an apprentice and will probably have trouble using the Hantek. I saw something the other day about the Hantek 70Mhz model ($199) actually being the 200Mhz model and could be 'unlocked' with some kind of tweak or something? That was over my head, also sounded a bit questionable? Think I'll stick with the 100Mhz one we were recently looking at, the bait is working and very close to setting the hook.
I added an LED on the breadboard from pin 3 of the 555, what I was trying to time with my watch. I am not 100% confident the DMMs I have are measuring HZ as accurately as your frequency counter would? They do seem to be in the ballpark with the 555 calculator findings though.
Stan, all my watches are analog, I'm using Mickey's hands to do the synch test. I was trying to make use of one of the new fangled features (Hz) on some of the DMMs I have accumulated, all inexpensive of course. Good idea on the smartphone, hadn't thought of that. I'll give it a try with the LED and blink counting.
