selected at test block 98 then the circuitry to generate the 4 0 mhz carrier is selected at block 108 and control passes to a series of test blocks 110 112 114 which test respectively whether the cut hemo or fulgurate modes have been selected by the user by means of upper and lower switches 16 which then provide the rf energy at 4 0 mhz at the monopolar connector output 20 if also the footswitch 34 was pressed then the footswitch 34 can control when the rf energy is supplied to the handpiece 26 otherwise the fingerswitch 26 on the unipolar handpiece 26 contols the delivery of rf energy to the patient in operation the ground plate 30 is always attached to the patient and the surgeon can perform any desired unipolar or bipolar electrosurgical procedure when both the unipolar and bipolar handpieces are plugged into the instrument console 12 then the desired operating conditions for each can be preset as desired then whichever handpiece is picked up and operated by the surgeon will automatically determine which is supplied with the appropriate rf currents thus if the bipolar handpiece is selected and the footswitch activated the bipolar handpiece will be supplied with 1 7 mhz currents at the power setting selected by the user on the other hand if the unipolar handpiece is selected and its fingerswitch 36 activated the unipolar handpiece will be supplied with 4 0 mhz currents at the power setting selected by the user this operates on a first come first served basis which.