Well I had a short time this morning to take my multimeter to the circuit and check it out. I'm starting to wonder about this diode I'm using. I was always taught that I diode is a short one way and an open the other. Is this not entirely correct because the diode that I have in my circuit has a resistance of almost 2Mohm (1.7M to be exact) and it is open in the other. Also the cord I was using has a 2 ohm resistance on either lead. Could those two factors be why it won't work at all? I still cant get the bars on the calibration screen to move at all.

thanks Brian