Many radio applications require frequencies that are higher than can be directly input to the digital counter. To overcome this, the entire counter could be constructed using high-speed logic such as ECL, or more commonly, using a fast initial division stage called a "prescaler" which reduces the frequency to a manageable level. Since the prescaler is part of the overall division ratio, a fixed prescaler can cause problems designing a system with narrow channel spacings – typically encountered in radio applications. This can be overcome using a dual-modulus prescaler.