Free Zone Advanced Organization

Mark X Faultless

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Well, I have spent a lot of time on this thing, and I have come up with a prototype meter that works well both in solo and dual auditing.

There have been several electrical improvements over the design of the CO$ Mark X meters.   In the main, the new meters use an improved integrated circuit design that is far superior to the old transistor design. The second major improvement is that they do not have a "set" knob in order to compensate for the split battery design of the old meters, but rather use a voltage regulator which produces a constant voltage, independent of battery state of charge.

The meter has a provision for a remote TA and Sensitivity knob. This is what it looks like.

This remote ta/sensitivity combo is controlled by two front panel switches. You can choose either the meter or the remote Tone Arm and sensitivity potentiometers.

On a standard meter, you must estimate the tenths of a division from the tone arm. This meter has a analog dial that you can easily read tenths of a division from, and estimate to .05 of a division. If you prefer, you may use the standard markings for the TA to determine the position.  On the digital models, there will be no analog calibration, but be shown with a 3 digit LCD.

I have ordered the IC chips to drive a digital TA counter, which is much easier to read than this dial, but this option will add to the overall price of the meter substantially.

An improvement over the normal adjustments of a standard meter has been included in this design. Sometimes when you are going to do an assessment list on a pc, you want to increase the boost to make sure you get the reads. Once the reads are noted, then the sensitivity is returned to normal.  I have provided on the remote two added controls. The slider on the side of the remote adjusts the boost ratio of the momentary push button switch. These controls will be duplicated on the meter body for normal auditing.

At the bottom sensitivity, when the button is depressed, the boost is increased to approximately a factor of 1.5. At the top gain, sensitivity is boosted by a factor of 5.  The gain is reduced to the normal setting when the button is released.

I have wished for a boost button that increases gain a standard amount for some time, and this meter makes that wish a reality.

I hope that this makes everyone excited as I am. I have spent a great amount of time getting this prototype built. It is a pleasure to audit with, and there is no mistaking reads, or f/ns.