Further Debunking the K-II - Dealing with RF Sensitivity
By Eric Martin
By now, there is no question that controversy surrounds the K-II meter, also known as the Safe Range EMF meter. After its use by various well-known paranormal
investigators on TV and at a multitude of paranormal conferences, the K-II has seen a surge in sales on the Internet and through various other distribution channels.
Many folks are running around with this flashy little device comprised of a pushbutton and 5 lights, thinking that they are communicating with the dear departed.
Once again, it seems, popular culture has slapped the face of serious paranormal research.
Upon opening the K-II and examining the contents, it appears to be a fairly basic circuit. There's the 9 volt battery, a momentary "on" switch, 5 LED lights, a LM324
quad operational amplifier, 7 medium-gain PN100/200 amplifier transistors, 3 diodes, and various resistors/capacitors. Overall, rather unimpressive for such a
highly-touted piece of electronic wizardry! Upon comparing it to the contents of my trusty EMF-822A, there seems to be one obvious difference. There seems to be no
Hall effect detection components of any type. The EMF-822A has a large coil just under the digital readout. Basic electrical engineering tells us that you must have
a Hall effect probe in order to detect EMF. This can be in the form of a coil, such as in the EMF-822A, or a sensor in transistor packaging. However, the K-II has
neither of these, nor anything even similar. I'm at a loss to explain how this thing picks up anything! After reading several comments on the Internet, I don't
appear to be the only one baffled by the design. However, the general consensus seems to be that the long traces around the perimeter of the PCB and/or the PCB
itself, must act as the "coil". Despite the hype surrounding the K-II, the fact of the matter is that this device is subject to a number of inadequacies when it
comes to utilizing it for paranormal research.
Most people within the paranormal community are aware that the momentary switch makes it quite easy to manipulate the device so it appears that something is
communicating with you. This is due to the power-on sequence, which flashes the 5 LEDs before returning to the base reading of a single green LED. With a bit of
practice, it is quite easy to fool bystanders into thinking the device is responding to yes-no type questioning. Even honest individuals will have a hard time
keeping steady pressure on the switch when their thumb starts to get tired. Many have rectified this problem by simply jamming a penny or dime into the switch to
keep it in the on position. Other solutions have included hard-wiring an external toggle switch to the device. While this seems to be a reasonable solution, we'll
discuss in a moment why this is a problem.
*** WARNING: Cool science stuff ahead! ***
The secret of the K-II, as advertised by at least one online retailer, is its high sensitivity to electro-magnetic fields. This, combined with the wide range of the
K-II, is where things start to go wrong. The K-II is capable of picking up frequencies in both the extremely low frequency (ELF) and very low frequency (VLF)
ranges. According to the manufacturer's website,
http://www.kiienterprises.com, the device covers (50 to 1,000Hz) and (1,000 to 20,000Hz) in the ELF and VLF ranges, respectively. The
problem here is that nearly every electronic device which utilizes radio frequencies creates an electro-magnetic field. Thusly, it is detectable by the K-II. This
includes cell phones, walkie-talkies, Wi-Fi access points, radio transmitters, and even radar detectors. While not an all-inclusive list, it is easy to see why so
many people are picking up "ghosts" on their K-II meters. However, to a properly trained eye, it becomes quite apparent when a K-II is picking up a stray RF signal,
as the meter will pulse in synchronization with the sine wave of the signal. Unless you're "in the know", you've probably seen this and maybe even thought you were
getting a positive hit. Now, you're "in the know"!
Remember that toggle switch that I referred to earlier? If you didn't buy it already "modified", you probably installed one on your own K-II, didn't you? Independent
research by one of my colleagues has confirmed that adding a toggle switch can act as an antenna, and actually increase the receiving capability of the device. He
found that in a controlled test, the "modified" K-II picked up signals that the stock model did not. Read about it on his website,
http://www.ghosttech.net/articles.html. What's the lesson to be learned here? Obviously, you're not going to want to increase the sensitivity of a device that
is already overly sensitive!
With all this talk of sensitivity, antennas and RF ranges, it seems that the K-II is destined to become a parlor trick, or at most, only used for its original
purpose...detecting EMF from ordinary, everyday objects.
While at a recent paranormal conference, some colleagues and I made what we believe is a breakthrough regarding the K-II and other wide-range, sensitive EMF
detectors. I was going to be lecturing on advanced EVP techniques and was experimenting during some down time with a faraday cage I had just constructed, which have
been long-used in EVP research. I was putting my cell phone in the cage and was attempting to call it. Having just had a discussion on the K-II and its extreme
sensitivity to RF less than an hour before, one of my associates suggested we put one in the faraday cage and see what happens. After thinking about it a moment and
concluding that it should work...in theory...I put my own K-II (with a toggle switch installed, mind you) into the cage.
We then attempted to create RF interference around the cage through various means, including several cell phones and walkie talkies. You can't imagine the excitement
in the room when my rather crudely constructed faraday cage blocked nearly all the RF interference. Only one cell phone managed to trigger the K-II. The phone had to
be right next to the cage and the reaction from the K-II was minimal. Seeing this, I have no doubt that a properly constructed faraday cage would be nearly 100%
effective, all but eliminating the possibility of false positives from the device. Any EMF spike measured by the device would have to be created inside the cage by
an "unseen force". Only something extremely high power, such as an EMP from a nuclear blast, should be able to overpower a properly constructed, portable cage. If
that happens, you have bigger problems than worrying about the RF sensitivity of your little K-II meter!
I will continue to utilize this new technique and experiment with better faraday cages and other manufacturer's EMF meters, as well as other sources of RF
interference. I hope you will now do the same while attempting to use EMF meters as "spirit communication" devices.
(Special thanks to Vince Wilson and Russ Noratel of The Baltimore Society for Paranormal Research, who contributed to this breakthrough.)
