Using The Syncrometer

Using The Syncrometer

Fill a saucer with cold filtered tap water. Fold a paper towel
four times and place it in this dish. It should be entirely wet.
Cut paper strips about 1 inch wide from a piece of white,
unfragranced, paper towel. Dampen a paper strip on the towel
and wind it around the copper pipe handhold to completely cover
it. The wetness improves conductivity and the paper towel keeps
the metal off your skin.

• Start with the test plate switch at OFF.
• Turn the control knob (potentiometer) on, and to near
maximum.
• Touch each plate with the probe, while holding the copper
pipe with one hand. Only the left plate should give you a
sound from the speaker. Turn the test plate switch ON.
Now both plates should give you a sound when the probe
touches them.
• Turn the test plate switch OFF again.
• Pick up the handhold, squeeze it free of excess water.
• Pick up the probe in the same hand, holding it like a pen,
between thumb and forefinger.
Dampen your other hand by making a fist and dunking your
knuckles into the wet paper towel in the saucer. You will be
using the area on top of the first knuckle of the middle finger or
forefinger to learn the technique. Become proficient with both.
Immediately after dunking your knuckles dry them on a paper
towel folded in quarters and placed beside the saucer. The degree
of dampness of your skin affects the resistance in the circuit
and is a very important variable that you must learn to keep
constant. Make your probe as soon as your knuckles have been
dried (within two seconds) since they begin to air dry further
immediately.
With the handhold and probe both in one hand press the
probe against the knuckle of the other hand, keeping the knuckles
bent. Press lightly at first, then harder, taking one half second.
Repeat a half second later, with the second half of the probe at
the same location. There is an additive effect and you get two
chances to listen to the current. All of this takes less than two
seconds. Don't linger because your body will change and your
next probe will be affected.

Subsequent probes are made in exactly the same way. As you
develop skill, your probes will become identical. Plan to
practice for one or two hours each day. It takes most people at
least twelve hours of practice in order to be so consistent with
their probes that they can hear the slight difference when the
circuit is resonant.
For reference you may wish to use a piano. The starting
sound when you touch down on the skin should be F, an octave
and a half above middle C. The sound rises to a C as you press to
the knuckle bone, then slips back to B, then back up to C-sharp as
you complete the second half of your first probe. If you have a
multitester you can connect it in series with the handhold or
probe: the current should rise to about 50 microamps. If you have
a frequency counter the frequency should reach 1000 Hz. You
should arrive at C-sharp just before the probe becomes painful.
Two things change the sound of the probes even when your
technique doesn't change.
1. The patch of skin chosen for probing will change its properties.
The more it is used, the redder it gets and the higher
the sound goes when you probe. Move to a nearby location,
such as the edge of the patch, when the sound is too high to
begin with, rather than adjusting the potentiometer.
2. Your body has cycles which make the sound go noticeably
higher and lower. If you are getting strangely higher sounds
for identical probes, stop and only probe every five
minutes until you think the sound has gone down to standard.
This could take five to twenty minutes. Learn this
higher sound so you can avoid testing during this period.
You may also find times when it is impossible to reach the
necessary sound without pressing so hard it causes pain. You
may adjust the potentiometer if that helps.