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All rights reserved.

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Wimborne Publishing Ltd and TechBites Interactive Inc — are copyrighted. TechBites Interactive Inc and Wimborne Publishing Ltd have used their best efforts in preparing these materials and works. However, TechBites Interactive Inc and Wimborne Publishing Ltd make no warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, with regard to the documentation or data contained herein, and specifically disclaim, without limitation, any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Because of possible variances in the quality and condition of materials and workmanship used by readers, EPE Online, its publishers and agents disclaim any responsibility for the safe and proper functioning of reader‐constructed projects based on or from information published in these materials and works. In no event shall TechBites Interactive Inc or Wimborne Publishing Ltd be responsible or liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or any other damages in connection with or arising out of furnishing, performance, or use of these materials and works. READERS’ TECHNICAL ENQUIRIES

We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase, repair or modification of commercial equipment or the incorporation or modification of designs published in the magazine. We regret that we cannot provide data or answer queries on articles or projects that are more than five years’ old. We are not able to answer technical queries on the phone.

PROJECTS AND CIRCUITS

All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that the advice and data given to readers is reliable. We cannot, however, guarantee it and we cannot accept legal responsibility for it. A number of projects and circuits published in EPE employ voltages that can be lethal. You should not build, test, modify or renovate any item of mains‐powered equipment unless you fully understand the safety aspects involved and you use an RCD adaptor.

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NOT SO long ago the fascinating storyof Dr. Royal Raymond Rife and hisRife Generator was related in the

pages of EPE (An End To All Diseases –April ’01 Supplement). This device wassupposedly capable of curing many ail-ments including some cancers, and a largenumber of Internet sites devoted to it canbe found.

However, it was complex and used aspecial valve similar to an X-ray device,which renders it difficult and possibly dan-gerous for most home constructors toexperiment with. To compound the prob-lem, no-one seems to be sure exactly howit worked, and apparently some of theremaining examples may even be “red her-rings’’, non-working devices constructedto discredit Dr. Rife during some politicalskullduggery!

For enthusiasts and experimenters withbio-electronic devices however, RoyalRaymond is far from being the only sourceof interesting ideas. Another prominentworker in this field is Dr. Hulda RegehrClark, the originator of a design for anelectronic “Zapper” which is also claimedto cure most ills, including cancer. Thisdevice is very simple and can be built eas-ily by anyone with electronic construction-al knowledge, so it can be presented herefor readers to try for themselves if theywish.

As in Rife’s case, there may be some

political intrigue in the story of the Zapper.It was originally brought to the attention ofEPE editorial staff some three years agothrough an email from an enthusiast inNew Zealand. A copy of this was forward-ed to the present author who did not haveInternet access at the time.

No details of the device were given butit was stated that they were to be be foundin a book entitled The Cure For AllCancers by Dr. Clark. At the time thisbook was listed with other works by her inan American catalogue, so it was suggest-ed that EPE might order it via the Interneton the author’s behalf. A prompt reply stat-ed that Dr. Clark’s books were out of printand no longer available, but somethingabout its tone suggested that further

enquiries might be unwise! Being ratherfond of life, both the author and EPE’sstaff dropped the matter.

Since then time and the Internet haveeliminated much of this kind of secrecyand an advertisement offering Dr. Clark’sbooks has appeared in a magazine entitledNexus, placed by a stockist in Devon,England, so a copy of the one containingthe Zapper circuit was promptly orderedfor study.

Dr. Clark’s theory is that all cancershave a common cause and can thereforebe cured by the same means. She claimsthat most people have in their bodies tinyparasites called “Human IntestinalFlukes’’. Normally these only live outpart of their life cycles within us but theadditional presence of a substance called“Isopropyl Alcohol’’ in our bodies causesthem to remain within us for their cycle.During later parts of this they produce agrowth-inducing substance that can trig-ger cancer. Many readers will knowIsopropyl Alcohol as the stuff recom-mended for cleaning tape recorder heads,but it is apparently present in many otherproducts.

The book also claims that most of us arecontaminated by many other toxins, rang-ing from heavy metals to all kinds ofunnatural chemicals originating from

substances encountered in modern dailylife. Dr. Clark says, obviously enough, thatto cure the problem we should get rid ofthe flukes, stop ingesting isopropyl alcoholand flush out the toxins.

This is a simplified description of thebook’s main theme and readers wishing tolearn more are advised to purchase a copy.The suggested treatment is partly herbalbut consists largely of eliminating contactwith the contaminants. Since these arecontained in a vast array of processedfoods and in materials such as plastics andproducts like shampoo and detergentssome dedication would be required to fol-low the regimen to the letter.

It is also claimed that metals used in den-tistry are harmful and should be removed.Whilst one of these is mercury, a highlytoxic substance known to cause seriousproblems for some people, the usual alter-native to mercury amalgam fillings is a typeof plastic which also meets with disap-proval. In short, the options for the trueClark treatment enthusiast are a bit thin.

However, the book also offers a couple

of electronic circuits. One of these is for adevice called the Synchrometer, which isclaimed to detect the presence of parasitesand contaminants within the body. It uses“samples’’ placed on two test surfaces,plus a handheld electrode and a probeelectrode.

The basic circuit diagram for theSynchrometer is shown in Fig.1. Readers

184 Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2002

bc

e

LOUDSPEAKERAND

AMPLIFIERUNIT

HANDHELDELECTRODE

PROBE

100n

4n7

50k AUDIOTRANSFORMER

8Ω

900Ω

MPS2907(PNP) ON/OFF

SENSITIVITY

"SUBSTANCE"

"SUBSTANCE"

"TISSUE"

"TISSUE"

TEST SURFACES

4 5VTO6V

B1S1 S2

C1

C2

VR1 T1

TR1 S3

Fig.1. Circuit diagram for the Synchrometer.www.epem

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can decide for themselves whether theyfeel it would work or not. It has been re-drawn for this article since the layout inthe book is difficult to follow, to put itmildly.

It appears to be a form of oscillator withthe bias current for the transistor passingthrough the user’s body so that variationsin body resistance will alter the frequencyto some extent. Dr. Clark suggests that the‘quality’ of the sound produced by the cir-cuit alters in some way when the contami-nant being tested for is present and sherefers to this effect as “resonance’’.

Readers wishing to investigate this areaare advised to purchase the book for fur-ther details as the procedures given forusing this circuit are too complex to bedescribed here.

The second circuit given is the Zapper,

which has generated a great deal of inter-est. A quick search with one of the Internetsearch engines will reveal a large numberof sites concerned with Dr. Clark and herZapper and it is even possible to find cir-cuits and construction details amongstthese. Since it is easy to construct and useand so many people swear by its effective-ness, it is hard to dismiss the Zapper as“quackery’’ without putting it to a test.

The Zapper circuit given in the book isshown in Fig.2. It is essentially the stan-dard 555 oscillator circuit, operating atabout 28kHz. The user holds two elec-trodes connected to ground (negative) and

The original book circuit was tried using

a standard 555 timer (IC1) in preference toone of the CMOS variants in case the tran-sition speed of the output waveform wasimportant. The only modifications to theoriginal circuit are shown in Fig.3. Theseare the addition of a couple of supplydecoupling capacitors C1 and C2 and theomission of the l.e.d.

Inclusion of the l.e.d. is supposed toindicate that the circuit is operating butit would not tell the user if a faultcaused the output of the 555 to be per-manently high! Most EPE readers willhave better ways to check the outputanyway, such as a meter which will indi-cate somewhere close to half the supplyvoltage if the circuit is operating, or an

Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2002 185

the output of the cir-cuit (positive) so thata small current flowsthrough the body,pulsed on and off atthis frequency. Thistreatment is carriedout for seven minutes,repeated three timesin succession withintervals of twenty tothirty minutes.

The claim is thatthe first treatmentkills the parasites andon dying theserelease bacteria andviruses, so the secondis necessary to kill these and the third killsany remaining viruses released by dyingbacteria. The book warns that once the firsttreatment has been administered it isunwise to miss the two follow-ups asreleased bacteria and viruses might causehavoc if not subsequently “zapped’’.

An interesting observation is that thecurrent applied to the body is unidirection-al, in that when energized one electrode isalways positive and the other always nega-tive. This is the opposite to the recommen-dation for most bio-electronic devices suchas TENs pain-relievers, but the prevailingwisdom seems to be that the Zapper’s cur-rent flow should be unidirectional. To datethe author has not encountered any opinionas to which hand should be positive andwhich negative, or even if this matters!

LED

S1

2mA

ON

TRIG

RST

OUT

+VE

GND

THRESHBYP

DISCH

IC1555ON/OFF

OUTPUT(ELECTRODES)

2

7

6

8

1

5

3

4

a

k

B19V

C14n7

R23k9

R11k

R43k9

R31k

C210n

D1

Fig.2. Circuit diagram for the original Zapper.

TRIG

RST

OUT

+VE

GND

THRESHBYP

DISCH

IC1555

1k

3k9

4n7

10n

S1

ON/OFF

OUTPUT(ELECTRODES)

2

7

6

8

1

5

3

4

1k

100n

10µC1

C2

C3

C4

R2

R1

R3

B19V

+

Fig.3. Original Zapper circuit with minor changes.

Approx. CostGuidance Only ££55

excluding electrodes & batt.

Modified Original Zapper

ResistorsR1, R3 1k (2-off)R2 3k9

All 0·6W 1% metal film

CapacitorsC1 10 radial elect. 50VC2 100n ceramicC3 4n7 ceramicC4 10n ceramic

SemiconductorsIC1 555 timer

MiscellaneousS1 s.p.s.t. toggle or slide switch

Stripboard 0·1in. matrix, 9 strips by 15 holes;8-pin d.i.l. socket; 9V battery (PP3 type); 22mm dia.copper tube for electrodes; solder tags (2 off);solder pins; solder etc.

115mm x 22mm COPPER PIPE

4mm PLUGFLEXIBLE LEAD

SOLDER(COVER WITH GLUE)

0BA SOLDER TAGUSED AS STRAIN

RELIEF

Fig.5. Suggested electrode construction.

1

1

5

5

10

10

15

15

A

DEFGHI

BC

A

DEFGH

I

BC

C1

R3

R1 R

2

C2

C3

C4

IC1+

TO S1 AND

BATTERY +

TO BATTERY

TOELECTRODES

Fig.4. Stripboard construction of the original Zapper.

SeeSSHHOOPPTTAALLKKppaaggee

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oscilloscope for inspecting the outputwaveform.

The constructional method described inthe book involves holes punched in a card-board box and a lot of wire and croc clips!This is hardly a reliable form of construc-tion so a simple layout using stripboard isshown in Fig.4.

Many constructors will already have thecomponents to hand and will be able to putthis circuit together very easily if they wishto simply try the idea. The handheld elec-trodes can be made from 22mm copperplumbing pipe. The method used by theauthor is shown in Fig.5. The connectingwire is soldered to the inside of each pipeand an 0BA solder tag soldered inside atthe other end is used for strain relief. Someglue spread over the solder connectionsprevents corrosion.

The electrodes should be wrapped incloth or paper kitchen towel which hasbeen dipped in water with a small amountof dissolved salt to aid conductivity for agood contact. One of these should be heldin each hand and the treatment repeatedthree times as explained earlier. After usethe electrodes should be well rinsed toavoid corrosion due to the salt.

SummaryEnthusiasts for this device claim that it is

effective in dealing with most viral

infections, some going so far as to claimthey haven’t had even a common cold inyears! Apparently they either ‘zap’ everyfew days as a general precaution or theyuse it at the first signs of a cold or other ill-ness before it has had time to take holdproperly. Sounds worth trying at least, butthe author is still waiting for the onset of acold in order to experiment!

A search on the Internet revealed further

circuits for the device, some of which rep-resent improvements on the original. Oneof these is shown in Fig.6 as an example ofanother circuit which could easily be puttogether from parts many readers willalready have. However, these basic circuitsare tedious to use because they involveclock-watching to time both the treatmentsand the intervals, or operation of a timer ofsome kind which is awkward when one isholding two electrodes which have beendipped in salt water!

Another design found on the Internetwas for a PIC-driven device which provid-ed not only the treatment but also all thetimings, which struck the author as a par-ticularly good idea. The purveyor of thiscircuit also felt that a lower operating fre-quency of about 2·5kHz was better as itwould penetrate further into the user’sbody tissues.

This is probably so,but there seems to be aconsiderable body ofopinion that the actualoperating frequency ofthe Clark Zapper isrelatively unimpor-tant. Since EPE read-ers deserve only thebest a PIC-drivendesign has been devel-oped for this articleand it has to be saidthat it is a much easierway to try out thisform of treatment.

The status of the unit is indicated bythree coloured l.e.d.s. A Yellow one indi-cates a treatment in progress, a Green onedisplays for the periods between eachtreatment, and a Red one warns the userwhen battery replacement is due. A bleep-er indicates the start and end of eachtreatment, making it easy to use whilstwatching TV or during any other occupa-tion for which one normally sits still foran hour or so.

The full circuit diagram for the PIC

Virus Zapper is shown in Fig.7. The mainsupply is provided by a 9V PP3 type bat-tery. This voltage is too high for the PIC(IC2) so it is reduced to 5V by regulatorIC1 which is a low-dropout micropowertype, better suited for battery operationthan the standard 78L05.

The PIC’s oscillator uses a 4MHz crys-tal X1 to give an internal clock of 1MHz.The three l.e.d.s D1, D2 and D3 are low-current (2mA) types driven directly by IC2through current limiting resistors R3 andR4. Since D2 and D3 are never “on’’together they share the common resistorR4.

Bleeps are produced from piezoelectricsounder WD1. This is a type without aninternal drive circuit as the author feels it ischeating to use a d.c.-operated type whenthe PIC can be programmed to generate asquarewave signal for sounder driving!

Battery voltage sensing is carried out byone of the PIC inputs (RB0). This “sees’’an input voltage as being either “high’’ or“low’’ so preset potentiometer VR1 isadjusted so that it is seen as “low’’ whenthe battery voltage falls to about 7V. Whenthis is detected red l.e.d. D1 is turned on.

The Zapper output is controlled by PICoutputs RB4 and RB5 which go highalternately. When RB4 goes high it turnson transistor TR1 which turns on TR2 topull the output up to full battery supplyvoltage. When RB4 goes low RB5 goeshigh to turn on transistor TR3 to pull theoutput low. This generates a squarewaveat the full battery supply voltage from alow impedance, suitable for applicationthrough the electrodes. Resistor R9 limitsthe maximum output current to a safevalue if the electrodes are accidentallyshorted together.

One further point regarding the circuit isthe connection of RA0 and RB7 to the pos-itive and negative supply lines respectively.This is simply for convenience in the phys-ical layout where it enables these voltagesto be routed around the printed circuitboard (p.c.b.) without the need for“between pin’’ tracks.

Constructors who make their own p.c.b.sfrom the magazine artwork will probablyappreciate this. One of the many advan-tages of designing with PIC microcon-trollers is that it is perfectly acceptable todo this so long as the pins concerned aredesignated as inputs by the program.

Most of the components for this project

are mounted on a p.c.b. and the topsidelayout and full-size foil master are shownin Fig.8. This board is available from theEPE PCB Service, code 337.

Assembly should present no real prob-lems for most constructors. An 18-pin d.i.l.

186 Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2002

Completed PIC-based Virus Zapper together with copper tube electrodes.

IC1a IC1b IC1c

IC1d

IC1e

IC1f

CD4069 CD4069 CD4069

CD4069

CD4069

CD40691 2 3 4 5 6

9

11

13

8

10

12

7

14

+9V

0V (GND)

OUTPUTR11M

R2100k

C11000p

R31k

Fig.6. Another Zapper circuit from the Internet.

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Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2002 187

Approx. CostGuidance Only ££2222

excluding electrodes & batt.

PIC-based ZapperResistors

R1 15kR2 4k7R3, R4 680 (2 off)R5, R7, R8 10k (3 off)R6 22kR9 470

All 0·6W 1% metal film

PotentiometerVR1 10k 22-turn cermet

preset, vertical

CapacitorsC1 100 radial elect. 16VC2, C3, C4 100n ceramic (3 off)C5 10 radial elect. 50VC6, C7 22p ceramic

SemiconductorsD1 2mA red l.e.d.D2 2mA yellow l.e.d.D3 2mA green l.e.d.TR1, TR3 BC184L npn silicon

transistor (2-off)TR2 BC214L pnp silicon

transistorIC1 LP2905 5V micropower

positive regulatorIC2 PIC16F84

microcontroller,pre-programmed

MiscellaneousX1 4MHz crystalWD1 piezo sounder, 4kHzS1 d.p.d.t. slide switchSK1, SK2 4mm chassis socket and

plug (1 red, 1 black)

Printed circuit board available from theEPE PCB Service, code 337; case, size34mm x 80mm x 145mm; 18-pin d.i.l.socket; multistrand connecting wire;22mm dia. copper tube for electrodes;solder tags (2 off); solder pins; solder etc.

SeeSSHHOOPPTTAALLKKppaaggee

MCLR

RB0

RB1

RB2

RB3

RB4

RB5

RB6

RB7

RA0

RA1

RA2

RA3RA4

OSC IN

OSC OUT

VDD

VSS

PIC16F84

TREAT PAUSELOW BATT.

N.C.

N.C.

N.C.

N.C.

IC2

+

+

SK1

SK20V

+VE

+V

0V

bc

e

bc

e

b

c

eR115k

VR110k

R24k7

R3680Ω

R4680Ω

R510k

R622k

R710k

R810k

R9470Ω

C1100µ

C2100n

C3100n

C4100n

C510µ

C622p

C722p

X14MHz

TR1BC184L

TR2BC214L

TR3BC184L

B19V

SETLOW BATT.

OPERATINGPOINT

IC1LP2905

IN

COM

OUT

a a a

k k k

D2YELLOW

D1RED

D3GREEN

WD1PIEZO

SOUNDER

16

15

17

3

6

7

8

9

10

11

5

12

13

18

1

2

14

4

S1a

S1b

ON/OFF

ON/OFF

OUTPUTTO

ELECTRODES

Fig.7. Complete circuit diagram for the PIC Virus Zapper.

337

VR1

R1

R3

R4 R

2

IC2

IC1C1

C5

TR1

TR2

TR3

X1

C6

C7

C4

C2

R7

R8

R9

R5

R6

C3

WD1

e

e

e

bb

b

c

c

c

+

+INCOMOUT

LOW BATT.TREATPAUSE

B19V

RED

RED

BLACK

BLACK

+VE

+VE

+VE

0V

0V

0V

SUPPLY

S1

ON/OFF

D1D2D3REDYELLOWGREEN

a aak kk

OUTPUT

SK1

SK2

FLAT

EEPPEE PPIICC VVIIRRUUSS ZZAAPPPPEERR

Fig.8. Printedcircuit boardcomponent layout,interwiring to off-board componentsand full-sizecopper foil masterpattern. Details ofelectrodeconstruction aregiven in Fig.5.

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socket is recommended for the PIC, IC2.Two different types of sounder can be usedfor WD1 so holes are provided to suit thepins of either. The type used should have aresonant frequency of 4kHz as this is thedrive frequency used and these devicesgenerate a lot more noise at resonance.

The power supply should be testedbefore insertion of the PIC by poweringthe circuit and checking for the presenceof 5V across pin 5 and pin 14 of thesocket for IC2. After that it’s just aquestion of inserting the PIC,completing the assem-bly and checkingthe opera-tion.

The board is designed to fit onto the

mounting pillars of a widely available andinexpensive plastic case (with batterycompartment) measuring just 145mm ×80mm × 34mm. Interwiring from the cir-cuit board to off-board components is alsoincluded in Fig.8. Two robust 4mm socketsare used for the electrode lead connectionsand the slide switch S1 is fitted for turningthe unit on and off.

The three l.e.d.s are connected using ashort length of ribbon cable and glued intoposition. The actual soldering of the rib-bon cable to the l.e.d.s should be done asquickly as possible, as one of these failedon the prototype and it seems likely thatheat from soldering was the cause.

Because the sounder is inside the caseits sound is muffled to some extent and itwas found that the bleeps could sometimesbe missed when watching television. Arow of five small holes drilled in the sideof the rear half of the case adjacent to thesounder overcame this problem.

It is necessary to set up preset VR1 to

the correct point. If an adjustable powersupply is available this can be set to about7V and VR1 adjusted so that the Red l.e.d.D1 just illuminates.

Immediately following switch-on, theunit should bleep once and the Yellowl.e.d. D2 should flash for thirty seconds.This allows the user to moisten the elec-trodes and take a firm hold of them beforetreatment commences. After this there willbe another bleep and the Yellow l.e.d. willstay on continuously for seven minutes.During this period the output should bepresent so a meter across it will read abouthalf the battery supply voltage or an

oscilloscope will show the 2·5kHz outputsquarewave.

Next there will be a further bleep, theYellow l.e.d. will extinguish and the Greenone (D3) will light to indicate the intervalbetween treatments. After 28 minutes therewill be a further bleep, the green l.e.d. will

extinguish and theyellow one will

begin flashingagain, and the

s e q u e n c ew i l l

repeat.

This should happen once more, but follow-ing the third treatment the green l.e.d.should remain on indefinitely and the unitshould bleep every five seconds to remindthe user to switch off.

Supply current taken by the circuitvaries according to the stage reached in theprogram but the prototype takes about4mA when flashing l.e.d. D2 and about7mA plus whatever is delivered throughthe electrodes (usually about 2mA) whentreating, and about 6mA during the inter-vals. This is small enough to allow a lot ofuse from an alkaline PP3 battery.

The software for the PIC Virus Zapper

is available on a 3·5 inch PC-compatibledisk from the EPE Editorial office, forwhich a nominal handling charge is made.It is available for free download from theEPE ftp site. More details are given on theEPE PCB Service page.

Ready-programmed PIC16F84s are beingmade available to readers by the author. Forfurther details see the Shoptalk page.

So there you have it, a de-luxe Dr.

Clark Zapper as good as any likely to be

found on the Internet or elsewhere andcertainly much better than the onedescribed in the book! It can be built fora fraction of the price of those availableready-made.

Does it work? American Internet sitesoffering Zappers all state that they are notapproved by the FDA (their official govern-

ment medical body) andare “for experimental useonly’’ but at least their salehasn’t been banned yet.

To date, it’s too earlyfor the author to give anopinion one way or theother, but there are a lot ofusers who praise this littledevice so it’s worth trying.As always with experi-mental projects of thistype, feedback from read-ers who build and try itwill be most welcome asthis may eventually proveits worth.

188 Everyday Practical Electronics, March 2002

Further ReadingThe Cure For All Cancers – Dr. Hulda Regehr

Clark, New Century Press (US). ISBN1-890035-00-9. Melanie Davies, The Cottage, BovisandLane, Down Thomas, Devon, PL9 0AE. Phone:01752 862411 (UK suppliers of Dr. Hulda Clark’sbooks)Interesting Zapper websites:www.zapperplans.com/plans.html (circuit of

Fig.5, how to construct).www.drclark.net/disease/zapper.htm more info

on Dr. Clark and the zapper.www.relfe.com/hulda_clark.html (an objective

review of Dr. Clark’s books).www.ess-in.com/index.htm (view pictures of

two commercially produced zappers).www.home.att.net/~dennis.shepard/health.htm

(another site selling a zapper, pdf file about it).www.huldaclark.com/BuildZapper.htm (book

sales and construction details).www.zapperplans.com/plans.html (pdf file of a

PIC-based circuit, no program given).

(Above). General positioning of components

inside the plastic case of thePIC Virus Zapper. The finished circuit

board is shown below.

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