oh Bob you are such a tease! :) no but ... i am deeply grateful for your help. i am in here way over my head... i was hoping that if i did everything 'by the book' that i would be able to get it to work. it doesnt seem like a simple circuit to me... ive never worked on anything with a microprocessor before. when i did my undergrad in physics we just calculated far far simpler LCR circuits etc ... apart from that its just been 'hobbyist' type soldering jobs... but i do not want to be overly dependent on anyone here.... of course i want to encourage people to be helpful and not be a drain on people so i get that. but yeah i think thats the right response... you have to encourage people to learn what they do not understand! and transistors and ICs have always been a real weak spot for me... i feel a bit lost when it comes to such things...
so ill try to take over from here i guess...
incidentally... i remember putting in that zener and wondering how on earth one can distinguish them from 1N4148 diodes... they are identical in almost every way... so i just take it on faith that the zeners i was sent were not mixed up for 1N4148s by the seller! but who knows. my next step is to replace ALL the resistors for ones from another supplier since i checked them for capacitance and they have unusual properties in that regard... (a head scratcher)